by Mark Silva

We knew that Vice President Dick Cheney had left Yale under less than honorable terms - "by mutual agreement,'' as he put it today -- but maybe we had forgotten, until today, that he also was kicked out of Kindergarten.

That's what the vice president told radio's Chaz and A.J. in the Morning Show, in an interview with the Connecticut broadcasters conducted today in the Senate office of Sen. Joe Lieberman (notice how Lieberman, the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2000, keeps showing up with Republicans such as Sen. John McCain and Dick Cheney these days?)

Cheney had returned to Lincoln, Nebraska, his birthplace, a couple years ago and "the candidate I was there to speak for arranged for my two Kindergarten teachers to come visit me... Of course, I was a lot older than I had been when I was in Kindergarten. But they found them both. They were both still alive, and you might ask why I had two kindergarten teachers...

"I got kicked out of one school and had to go to the other one,'' he said, to which his interviewer suggested: "Well, you showed them, huh?''

Cheney likes to talk about his experience at Yale during college commencement addresses that he delivers. "I did two years at Yale and then left by mutual agreement,'' he noted today, with Lieberman interrupting to say that, 'This is an encouragement for anybody who's ever been kicked out of college.''

"The president went up there right after we were elected,'' Cheney said. "Of course he was a graduate of Yale, I think, with a 'C' average, and he said to the student body that day, the graduating class, he said, "You know, if you graduate from Yale with a 'C' average you can be president of the United States.' He said, of course, 'If you (get) kicked out, you can be vice president.' So he reminds me of that periodically.''

And Cheney, of course, wasn't supposed to be the vice president in the first place. He was in charge of Bush's search for a running mate.

"The way it actually worked was, they talked to me about whether or not I was interested in the job originally, and I said, 'No, definitely not interested.' and then they came back and said, 'Would you help us find somebody?' and I said, "Sure, I'd be happy to do that.' We got through doing the search. It took a couple of months, and at the end of the day, the president, after we reviewed all the candidates, looked at me and said, you know, you're the solution to my problem. I took that as a threat and redoubled my efforts... (But) it's been well worth the efforts.''

See excerpts of that radio interview here, courtesy of the White House:

by Mark Silva

Near the end of his tenure, the most powerful vice president in the history of the United States pauses to assess "the most important achievements of the administration and any disappointments.''

That was the question put to Vice President Dick Cheny at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Most important achievements of our administration, well, I would point to what we've done with respect to the global war on terror,'' said Cheney, calling all that the Bush administration has done in response to the terrorist attacks of 2001 the most significant achievement - and counting the administration's tough interrogation of suspected terrorists among those achievements.

There were not, however, any "disappointments'' enumerated in the vice president's response.

"I would put foremost among what we accomplished as an administration the president's judgment and then decision that we then acted upon and have implemented,'' Cheney said of the terrorism of 9/11. "Since it was a strategic threat... we needed to martial all of the elements of strategic power to deal with it and try to defeat it....

"I mean, when we ran in 2000 and I remember signing on with the [resident, we had a number of issues we were focused on,'' the vice president said. "We wanted to strengthen national defense. We wanted to improve our educational system, No Child Left Behind. We wanted to cut taxes. We thought it was important to reduce the overall tax burden on the American people. We had budget surpluses at that point and we didn't want government to take any more money than it needed.

"That's sort of the basis upon which we ran and I think we were able to deliver on most of those. We got the education program passed; the tax package passed finally in '03, for example; and put in place a lot of those cuts that I talked about here today. So I feel good about that.

"What we did not anticipate when we ran, obviously, was 9/11,'' Cheney said in reply to the question at the U.S. chamber yesterday, across the park from the White House. "And what 9/11 represented was, sort of, the culmination, if you will, of a series of attacks on Americans and American interests that went back a good 10 years.

by Matthew Hay Brown

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who introduced legislation last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, is now aiming higher.

On the House floor this evening, the Ohio Democrat proposed impeaching President Bush. In language similar to that in the articles of impeachment he raised against Cheney, Kucinich sought support for a 35-count indictment charging Bush with misleading Congress and the American people into war with tales of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Democratic House leaders have opposed impeaching Bush or Cheney as an unhelpful distraction. They were nearly embarrassed last year when Republicans voted to take up Kucinich's effort against Cheney in order to force a debate; they are unlikely to let the matter get so far this time.

Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com, one of the groups pushing for impeachment congratulated Kucinich on his "historic leadership."

"We've waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died," Fertik said. "We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot."

by Katie Fretland and updated

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has called on Dick Cheney to apologize for remarks he made about the state today at the National Press Club.

And indeed the vice president has apologized.

Cheney had spoken of his family history and said he had Cheneys from both sides of his family. "And we don't even live in West Virginia," Cheney said. "You can say those things when you're not running for re-election."

Cheney's words sparked this response from Manchin, who defended the state:

"I truly cannot believe that any vice president of the United States, regardless of their political affiliation, would make such a derogatory statement about my state or any state for that matter," Manchin said in a statement on his Web site.

"West Virginia is home to some of the most patriotic people in the nation and our sons and daughters have answered the call to duty every time a president has needed their service. They deserve better from the vice president, and so I would simply ask for his apology."

And this evening, the vice president's office said no offense was intended.

"The vice president's off-hand comment was not meant to hurt anyone,'' said Lea Anne McBride, spokeswoman for Cheney. "On reflection, he concluded that it was an inappropriate attempt at humor that he should not have made. The vice president apologizes to the people of West Virginia for the inappropriate remark."

by Mark Silva

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has served four presidents in his time, looks at the controversy surrounding this administration and suggests, this is nothing.

Cheney, who spoke at the National Press Club today, was asked about the new book by the former White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, who has written of the Bush White House and Washington's "culture of deception.''

"I haven't read Scott McClellan's book,'' Cheney said. "I don't plan to read Scott McClellan's book any time soon.

"There's a lot made of how difficult it is to operate in Washington, how partisan it gets at times, how tough the battles get,'' said the vice president, who made his first White House tour of duty with President Richard Nixon.

"One of the things... if you go back and you look, have the perspective of time and have the benefit of being a student of history, as difficult as it may be now in terms of a partisan standpoint... I can remember the Watergate years... Certainly I would say, in terms of trying to match up the degree of partisan dialog and disputes we have now with that period in time, this doesn't look nearly as tough.''

by Mark Silva

Vice President Dick Cheney - the "magic man'' of the Bush administration, in the words of the now-renowned Scott McClellan - stirred up the Republican faithful last night in New York, scene of the party convention that nominated President Bush and Cheney for a second term in 2004.

"New York certainly knows how to throw a party,'' Cheney said at a $1,000-per-plate dinner of the New York Republican State Committee in Manhattan attended by the former mayor and erstwhile GOP presidential candidate, Rudy Giulianii. "We have fond memories of that week -- the great hospitality, the superb convention, and the momentum that brought us to an historic re-election victory.

"Now, of course, we've begun to focus on another big election,'' Cheney said. "And if we all put our shoulders to the wheel between now and November, I'm confident we'll see John McCain as the next president of the United States.''

Cheney has held extraordinary sway in the administration that McClellan, the former press secretary, accused this week of waging a "political propaganda machine'' for the promotion of the war in Iraq. But Cheney made no mention of the McClellan book which so many in and around the administration have been ready to criticize this week. And here Cheney, stirring the party for the 2008 contest, was returning to the themes that he and Bush pushed in 2004 - tax cuts and national security.

"President Bush and I look forward to helping our candidates, up and down the ticket, throughout the important election year,'' he said last night in New York. "And the stakes are very high. Whether the issue is the economy, or energy, or the federal courts, or national security, the right answers for our nation are not coming from Democrats, but from Republicans.

"Right now, with the economy going through a rough patch, some in Washington view it as an excuse for expanding the size and scope of the federal government. Republicans believe that when Americans are facing tough times, the first thing we should do is let them keep more of their own money. That's why the President proposed and signed a stimulus package with immediate, direct relief to the American taxpayer.''

by Mark Silva

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has gotten into a pretty good rhythm of telling jokes on himself near the end of his term, told a crowd at a Republican Party fundraiser in Tulsa, Olka., last night: "I don't care what you say, I'm not running again.''

Appearing there with Sen. Jim Inhofe, Cheney said: "Kim didn't mention that Sen. Clinton has taken to calling me Darth Vader... Actually, I asked my -- it was a little disturbing when that first happened -- I asked my wife, Lynne, the other day, 'But doesn't that bother you?'

"And she said, 'No, it humanizes you.'''

As low as the president and vice president - and the Democratic Congress for that matter - have fallen in public approval ratings, Cheney was downright bullish about the GOP's chances this year.

"I'm proud to note that four years ago, (President Bush) and I received more votes than any other presidential ticket in American history. We, for now, hold the record. But we won't mind at all if you set a new record in November, when you help elect John McCain as the United States president...

"The president and I look forward to helping our candidates, up and down the ticket, throughout this very important year. And the stakes are very high,'' Cheney said. "Whether the issue is the economy, or energy, or national security, the right answers are coming not from Democrats, but clearly from the Republican side of the aisle....

"John F. Kennedy once said, 'There is no way to maintain the frontiers of freedom without cost and commitment and risk.' We are learning this lesson once again, in these decisive early years of a new century. And when the history is written, it'll be said that we lived in a safer country, and a more hopeful world, because George Bush was President of these United States.''

by Matthew Hay Brown

Republicans have taken to calling the 50 percent increase in gasoline prices since Democrats took over last year the "Pelosi Premium." Democrats say Republicans are looking at the wrong time frame.

"When President Bush took office, gas prices were less than half of what they are today - and oil was less than one-third," Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey says in today's Democratic radio address. "Then, seven years ago, President Bush and Vice President Cheney secretly invited executives from the big oil and big energy companies to the White House to write our national energy policy. ...

"Now, they are hauling in record profits," Lautenberg says. "We are paying record prices. And their profits are coming out of our pockets."

Republicans have been hounding Pelosi to explain the "commonsense plan" to hold down gas prices that Democrats promised two years ago.

"Two years later, they appear to have no plan other than to increase taxes on energy companies and stand in the way of increased domestic production," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said. "So what we want to know is, where is the 'commonsense plan' to lower gas prices? And what is taking them so long to unveil it? The American people are waiting--and paying more at the pump each day they wait."

In fact, Pelosi has spent a good part of the last week calling on Republicans to help pass legislation to crack down on price gouging, hold OPEC accountable for price fixing and end tax breaks for oil companies and invest the savings in renewable energy.

On Thursday, Pelosi urged Bush to halt deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. On Friday, Democrats called on the Federal Trade Commission to use the authority recently granted by Congress to investigate prices for possible market manipulation.

The larger problem is that for a price surge linked to market speculation, unrest in the Middle East, the week U.S. dollar and growing demand from China and India, there are no easy solutions. Lautenberg's address follows.

by Mark Silva

Vice President Dick Cheney cannot get enough of the news cycle today, it seems.

First his radio interviews denouncing the remarks of Barack Obama’s longtime pastor as “appalling'' and calling John McCain "head and shoulders'' above Obama, then the flyfishing sunglasses reflecting something, but certainly not a naked woman.

Now the 2007 tax return:

The vice president and his wife, Lynne Cheney, today reported a taxable income of $2,528,068 last year – and report owing $602,651 in taxes.

They already had $466,165 of that tax bill withheld through withholding and pre-estimated tax payments, but will write a check for the remaining $136,486 when they file their 1040.

So much for the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.

This White House Web-site photograph of Vice President Dick Cheney happily fly-fishing on the Snake River in Idaho has sparked idle speculation on the Internet about what's reflected in those sun glasses. White House photo by David Bohrer

by Mark Silva

People seem to be having so much fun with Dick Cheney's sunglasses -- judging from comments already logged at this site and queries on the Internet -- that we thought we'd reprise some of the suggestions for what's actually reflected in the dark shades of the vice president flyfishing on the Snake River in Idaho:

"It's a pack of Camels,'' C. Morris wrote to the Swamp.

"The flashback from the WMDs he's using to blow up fish with,'' writes John E.

"Of course she's a naked lady,'' writes Dawn Miller.

"Looks like someone next to a Ski-doo,'' writes Liz.

Well, it's not a naked lady, the vice president's office assures all. And in fact an enlargement of the photo bears out the official explanation: It's a hand on the fly fishing rod.

But, heck, this is Friday. The board is open. Weigh in here, or join a conversation already underway: Cheney's Shades: "A Naked Lady?''

You could also see this enlargement, but that spoils all the fun.

This White House Web-site photograph of Vice President Dick Cheney happily fly-fishing on the Snake River in Idaho has sparked idle speculation on the Internet about what's reflected in those sun glasses. White House photo by David Bohrer

by John Riley of Newsday

So, the Web sensation of the day is this picture from the White House Web-site of Dick Cheney, wearing sunglasses and flyfishing.

The reason: Some think they see a naked woman reflected in the shades.

We don't see it. But if you put "Cheney" and "sunglasses" into Google, you'll find lots of speculation.

And there's a story about the phenomenon below, which says the image -- enlarged -- is actually that of a hand casting a rod.

by Mark Silva

Vice President Dick Cheney, calling some of the remarks of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright “absolutely appalling,’’ is holding back his view of how Sen. Barack Obama has “dealt with’’ his retired pastor’s words.

“I've watched what's going on on the Democratic side with great interest, and sort of blowing hot and cold in terms of who is going to win -- whether it is going to be Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama,’’ Cheney noted in a telephone interview with conservative talk show host, Sean Hannity, today.

“I thought the controversy over Rev. Wright was remarkable,'' Cheney said. “I thought some of the things he said were absolutely appalling. And, you know, I haven't gotten into the business of trying to judge how Sen. Obama dealt with it, or didn't deal with it, but I really, I think – like most Americans – I was stunned at what the Reverend was preaching in his church and then putting up on his website.’’

Obama, the Illinois Democrat leading in the Democratic Party’s contest for the party’s presidential nomination, has disavowed the most “incendiary’’ remarks of the retired pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, but has refused to disown the man, Wright, whom Obama has known for two decades.

Controversy over Wright’s most inflammatory remarks about racial power in America has subsided in recent weeks, opinion polls show, but the flap prompted Obama to deliver a speech about race and unity that was inevitable in his campaign as potentially the first African-American nominee of a major political party.

(Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others watched President Bush's war address in the Cross Hall of the White House today. AP Photo by Gerald Herbert)

by Mark Silva

Dick Cheney, home from a 10-day tour that ranged from Iraq and Afghanistan to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, “is not your regular road warrior.’’

So writes Deb Reichmann, of the Associated Press, who accompanied the vice president who travels with “a green duffel bag stuffed with nonfiction books about military campaigns and political affairs… an iPod and noise-canceling earphones to listen to oldies and some country-western.’’

The vice president managed to squeeze some tourism into this last trip. He and his wife, Lynne, and daughter Liz saw Topkapi Palace, seat of the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years. “For all his globe-trotting,’’ Reichmann writes, “Cheney had never been to Istanbul, home of the Bosphorus Bridge that links Europe and Asia.

“More often, Cheney's days on the road are spent holed up on planes, helicopters, hotel rooms and stuffy government buildings,’’ she notes in an AP dispatch from Washington. “They are long, grueling days.

“His staffers say they have to run fast to keep up with a schedule that seems especially rigorous for a 67-year-old man who has had four heart attacks,’’ she notes. “Like the gadget inside his chest that makes sure his heart is beating in sync, Cheney paces himself.

”Pack the Diet Sprite — a Cheney favorite,’’ Reichmann notes. “Keep the decaffeinated lattes flowing and tune the tube to Fox News.''

In January, Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali I. Al-Naimi had said the Saudis would not be boosting oil production for Washington. Photo by Mark Silva

by Mark Silva

With gasoline pushing $4 a gallon and oil already topping $100 per barrel, the only word of relief today coming out of Vice President Dick Cheney’s meetings with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is an agreement that “longer-term’’ solutions are necessary.

Solutions such as drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Abdullah, who had made commitments of new Saudi investment in oil production as crown prince a few years back when he visited President Bush at his Texas ranch and also met with Cheney in Dallas, told the vice president that they are following through on those investments, according to an account after their dinner at Janadria Farm.

(The Web-site for Janadria Farm is sort of like the oil discussion itself -- "Please return soon for updates.'')

President Bush had visited and dined with the king earlier this year as well, and the Saudis publicly and firmly rejected the idea of any immediate increase in oil production as a means of satisfying the demand that has helped drive prices higher..

A senior administration official said no breakthroughs on short-term relief for tight energy markets had come out of Cheney’s meetings with Abdullah.

by Mark Silva

Hopping from war zone to war zone, Vice President Dick Cheney has used a palatial hotel on the Gulf of Oman in Muscat as a launching pad for surprise journeys into Iraq and now Afghanistan this week.

“During the last six years, the people of Afghanistan have made a bold and confident journey, throwing off the burden of tyranny, winning your freedom and reclaiming your future,’’ Cheney said at the presidential palace in Kabul today with President Hamid Karzai. “The process has been difficult, but the courage of the nation has been unwavering.

Cheney was asked in a joint press availability today at the palace -- reachable after a gauntlet of cement barriers in the war-torn capital, though Cheney's party flew from the air base in Kabul in CH-47 Chinook choppers to the palace because the roadway is so risky -- about the future deployment of U.S. troops and NATO forces in Afghanistan and the country's own role.

“Our general view is that we need to do both: That is to say that the United States and the other members of the coalition need to have a sufficient force here to be able to ensure security, to deal with a threat that's been represented by continuing activities by the radicals and extremists, and the likes of the Taliban and al Qaeda, but that ultimately security in Afghanistan will depend upon the ability of the Afghan people to provide adequate forces that are well trained and well equipped,’’ he said.

“So we are moving forward on both fronts, working with your government here in Afghanistan, to at the same time have U.S. forces continue to work in security and reconstruction, while at the same time we work with you to train the forces sufficiently so that someday Afghanistan will be able to stand on its own.’’

Sultan Qaboos bin Sayed the Sultan of Oman received Vice President Dick Cheney, left, in Muscat, Oman today. AP Photo by Hamid Al-Qasmi

by Mark Silva

Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledges that it's understandable that people might read planning for a war in Iran into his Middle East trip.

Asking Cheney, in Oman, if he can foresee any point where military action might be taken, the interviewer explained that she was asking this "because when you come over here, people in the region start thinking you're over here to plan some sort of military action.''

"Well, I suppose that's because of my past history,'' Cheney replied.

"I've been pretty consistent over time about Iran,'' Cheney said in his interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz at the opulent Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa on the Gulf of Oman, across the water from Iran. "I don't think I've ratcheted up the rhetoric. I felt strongly for a long time, and a lot of us have, that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.''

Cheney declined to comment on Adm. William Fallon, the Centcomm commander who has announced his retirement after Esquire magazine reported that Fallon was concerned about the administration ratcheting up war talk about Iran. "The admiral had many years of distinguished service in the United States Navy,'' Cheney said. "I think he deserves our thanks for his service.''

But Cheney spoke at length about continuing concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions -- which he considers both ongoing and unacceptable.

"I think the important thing to keep in mind is the objective that we share with many of our friends in the region, and that is that a nuclear-armed Iran would be very destabilizing for the entire area,'' the vice president said, asked about the National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had suspeded a nuclear-weapons building program four years before.

by Mark Silva

Leave it to the Heritage Foundation to hold a dinner celebrating “the 25th anniversary of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative.’’

And leave it to Vice President Dick Cheney to deliver the keynote address.

”Well, if we're going to talk about Star Wars, we might as well invite Darth Vader,’’ Cheney joked about the intentions of his hosts last night. “I'm happy to accept.

“It's plain to see that the world around us gives ample reason to continue working on missile defense,’’ said Cheney, commenting on the passing of the Cold War and the start of a dangerous new era in international relations. “In the ongoing political campaign, there's been discussion recently about 3 a.m. phone calls,’’ he said to laughter.

“We all hope that a commander in chief never has to pick up the line and be told that a ballistic missile is heading toward the United States,’’ he said. “In such an instance, catastrophe would be minutes away. And the best tool we can leave to a future commander-in-chief is a weapon of defense to blow that missile out of the sky.’’