From: AdmrlLocke@aol.com Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 10:29 PM To: undisclosed-recipients: ; Subject: LibertyNet: ACU, NRA, NTU on Cheney LibertyNet A Drop of Reason in a Sea of Irrationality 7/27/00 Dear Friend of Liberty, I would like to offer my sympathies to the people who lost loved ones in the crash of the Concorde, flight AF4590. I don't know what comfort I can offer except to say that you're in my thoughts and prayers. Bush Chooses Cheney ------------------- Well it's official: George W. Bush has chosen Dick Cheney to be his vice presidential running mate. In case you haven't read the reports yet I've included one from the Associated Press as the first item below. Publicly, Republican officials greeted the choice positively, but in private some said they wish Bush had chosen someone more exciting, someone with appeal to voters in a sharply-contested region, and someone who would assuage conservative suspicions that Bush really isn't very conservative. First Impressions ---------------- I reacted negatively myself at first. One conservative activist told me that Cheney had scored poorly in the American Conservative Union ratings of Congress, while another sent out some intensely anti-Cheney writings from yet other conservatives. Liberal news media reports, in their early coverage, seemed to stress that in Congress Cheney was "conservative yet reasonable"--typically liberal media code words for "moderate supporter of Big Government." Monday, before Bush had finalized his decision, a few figures announced public concerns about Cheney. The second item below, an analysis from Reuters, contains concerns from figures. Christian Pinkston, press secretary to vice presidential running mate Jack Kemp in 1996, asserted that Cheney adds nothing to the ticket. John Zogby, generally regarded by conservatives as the fairest of big-name pollsters, worried about putting a man with a history of heart troubles "a heartbeat away from the presidency." In the same item, an anonymous Republican activist also worried that choosing Cheney would make G.W. Bush appear to need baby-sitting by one of his father's old advisors. I'd also heard concerns from Republican activities that Bush's selection of Cheney will allow opponents to tar Bush with the "Big Oil" brush, since Cheney served as the CEO for an oil company. Indeed I've already heard allegations from Democrat activists that the selection of Cheney somehow indicates that "oil interests" or "Big Oil" control Bush. At least one Republican expressed the sentiment that even if Cheney does come across as conservative, he draws no voters to the ticket beyond the Republican core and won't draw the moderate swing voters Bush needs to win. ACU and NRA On Cheney --------------------- Just how conservative is Dick Cheney? I'd already been to the website of the American Conservative Union; each of three times I tried to access records of former members of Congress, the ACU website caused my computer to crash. I had prepared to go with the information given to me by others--until I received a liberal media report claiming that Cheney "had a nearly-perfect ACU rating." Contrary to what some conservatives believe, most members of the liberal media don't simply lie. They distort, covertly editorialize, report without double-checking, give liberal politicians the final word and so forth, but rarely do the major liberal media outlets blatantly lie. So I decided that I'd better do some double-checking myself. Braving the ACU website's archives a fourth time, I found Cheney's rating for each of his ten years in Congress, 1979-1988. It turns out that Cheney had a moderate rating only in 1980, and that with three years of perfect ratings, he scored a lifetime average of 91. How conservative is 91? U.S. Senator Phil Gramm of Texas has earned a lifetime score of 94. California's Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, the notorious staunch conservative, has earned an impressive score of 96. Barbara Cubin, who currently occupies the seat once held by Cheney, has also earned a 96. Congressmen Dick Armey, Republican Majority Leader, and Tom DeLay, Republican Majority Whip, have each earned an outstanding score of 97. My own choice for Bush's running mate, Congressman Chris Cox of California, has earned an incredible score of 98. So on the surface, Cheney's score of 91 seems solidly if unexcitingly conservative. I called the NRA-ILA yesterday, and the employee with whom I spoke said that NRA personnel are compiling information on Cheney's voting record. She told me that they would send a Fax Alert on Friday discussing Cheney's record. For the time being, she would say only that Cheney has a pro-gun record. By now you've probably even heard the liberal media attacking Cheney as a radical defender of your right to bear arms, voting against even a ban on so-called "plastic guns." Apparently even the NRA failed to oppose the ban. (Note that every one of the so-called "plastic guns" which the ban would have outlawed in fact contains far more than enough steel to register clearly on a metal detector.) When attacked by a reporter for not supporting a gun-ban even the NRA apparently supported, Cheney demonstrated his intellectual quickness by retorting that his vote showed that he's not in the pocket of lobbyists. You've got to love that! I already knew, however, that Cheney had voted in support of your right to keep and bear arms. I carefully analyzed the votes which cost him the 9 points between his score of 91 and a perfect 100. Not a single vote against the ACU's position involved guns, or for that matter, abortion. On all the roll-call votes included in the ACU's scoring system, Cheney voted consistently in favor of both your right to bear arms and the right to life of an unborn child. Cheney, like probably every other member of Congress at one time in his career, supported a pork-barrel spending bill or two that we conservatives would rather he'd opposed. Other than getting a little pork for Wyoming, however, Cheney departed from the ACU's positions primarily in supporting more foreign aid. Keep in mind that during eight of Cheney's ten years in Congress, Ronald Reagan served as president. Cheney, as well as many other conservatives, supported Reagan's use of foreign aid to oppose Communism and to promote democracy and markets. With the rise of democracy and move toward markets in Latin American during the 1980s, and in Eastern Europe in the 1990s as a direct result of Reagan's final push to win the Cold War, we can surely forgive Cheney for supporting a relatively small amount of foreign aid opposed by the ACU. We must also consider that Cheney's voting record was tarnished by voting in favor of the two tax hikes that Bob Dole persuaded a too-trusting Ronald Reagan to support. Cheney, unlike his colleagues who remained in Congress through the 1990s, never got a chance to recoup his tax-hike minuses by opposing the Clinton tax hike, or the myriad other outrages of the Clinton years, like bans on "assault weapons" and "large capacity magazines." Nor did Cheney remain in Congress long enough to see Republicans take it back for the first time in 40 years; thus he never got the chance to vote for the myriad conservative planks in the Contract With America. I have little doubt that had Cheney declined President Bush's request to become Defense Secretary, Cheney would have earned an even higher lifetime average score from the ACU. Perhaps Cheney's score wouldn't have risen to the stellar heights of Cox's score. All things considered, however, Cheney's ACU score indicates that Cheney is pretty darned conservative. Second Impressions ------------------ Just after I reviewed the ACU's rating of Cheney's voting record, I started receiving liberal media news reports lambasting him as "hard-right" and as a "very hardline conservative." You can read an excellent summary of liberal media news attacks on Cheney in the third item below, which contains excerpts from yesterday's Media Research Center Alert. In addition to alleging "hardline" conservatism--as though that were a crime--the liberal media coverage discusses Cheney's history of heart troubles, and intimates that his involvement in the oil industry somehow makes him a representative of evil "oil interests." According to Cheney's doctor, however, surgery and medication returned Cheney's medical condition to excellent years ago. In fact, more than a decade ago, even Democrats attested to Cheney's good health. Back on March 17, 1989, for instance, Democratic Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia said that "the committee also discussed Representative Cheney's medical condition in both public and executive sessions. The committee concluded that there is no medical reason that would preclude Representative Cheney from serving as Secretary of Defense" (Congressional Record). More than representing any "oil interests," likewise, Cheney represents the conservative, pro-growth, intellectual establishment of America. He co-founded Empower American along with conservatives Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett, while both Cheney and his wife Lynne hold fellowships with the American Enterprise Institute. Both organizations operate as think-tanks, creating thoughtful policies with which conservatives can counteract the baneful effects of the Big Government proposals of liberals and moderates. While concerns about health or oil interests certainly don't help Bush, they seem to have little merit and may simply disappear as quickly as they've materialized. NTA on Cheney ------------- Today I corresponded with Pete Sepp, Vice President for Communications at the National Taxpayers Union. Mr. Sepp kindly sent me a table of Cheney's voting record, which you can find as the fourth item below. Unlike the ACU and many other rating organizations which typically include only a sample of 15-30 roll call votes, the NTU considers "every roll call vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on taxpayers (typically 150-300 votes annually)." Where the ACU typically gives the same weight to each vote in its sample, except an occasional item to which the ACU assigns double weight, "NTU assigns weights to the votes reflecting the importance of each vote’s overall fiscal impact." The NTU score, then, reflects a complex analysis of the willingness of each member of Congress to reduce the tax, debt, and regulatory burden on the American taxpayer. So how willing did the NTU find Cheney? Compared to the other members of Congress, and indeed other Republicans in Congress, very willing. During his ten years in Congress, Cheney ranged from 5 to 15 points higher than the average Republican, and from 16 to 34 points higher than the House average. In some years, in fact, he came close to scoring twice as high as the House average. Most importantly, in eight of his ten years in Congress, Cheney earned the NTU's Taxpayers’ Friend Award, indicating, as I understand it, a letter score of A. (If you check the NTA's archives, which cover three recent sessions of Congress, you'll find letter scores next to the numerical scores; the table I received did not, however, contain letter scores.) By combing the NTU ratings with those of the ACU and with the information from the NRA we develop the portrait of a Cheney as man deeply committed to conservatism. Cheney Solidifies Base for Bush ----------------------------- Liberals in the media have probably forgotten for the most part that they started the whole groundswell for George W. Bush in the first place back in December of 1998. They assumed that Bush's "compassionate conservatism" meant "moderate supporter of Big Government." (Media liberals, as you may know, have many synonyms for "moderate supporter of Big Government.") Not until Bush angered them by refusing to give them a straight answer on the drug question did they largely swing to John McCain and begin creating the myth that Bush is "in the pocket of the Religious Right." Indeed, McCain's assault on social conservatives--and on your liberty to spend your money to support your political ideology--may have persuaded many conservatives to support Bush as, if not a pure conservative, at least conservative enough. Many conservatives haven't forgotten, however, that Bush broke his "no-tax-hike" pledge in Texas and lied about it, supported ludicrous Clinton-Gore gun-control opposed by even today's generally spineless congressional Republicans, and refused to commit to choosing a pro-life running mate. Recent desperate efforts by liberals in the news media to create support for McCain, Colin Powell, Elizabeth Dole or Tom Ridge as Bush's running mate have restored or even deepened conservative uneasiness with Bush. Thus while some conservatives sadly have accepted the timeworn liberal media myth that Republicans must abandon our conservative base in order to win the general election, Bush ran some risk of losing the base and the election with it. Liberal media demonization of Bush as an alleged conservative has caused at least some conservatives to forget that Bush IS the moderate who appeals to the moderate swing voters. Bush had no need for another moderate on the ticket. In poll after poll, his support among moderates and independents likely to vote runs much more strongly than does Al Gore's. In order to win Bush needed to solidify his base. Conservatives otherwise might have voted for Buchanan or simply stayed home. Some conservatives argued that even though Cheney has a solidly conservative record, nobody would know it so Bush's selection of him wouldn't solidify the base. Thanks to the current efforts of liberals in the news media to demonize Cheney, everybody will know. Cheney will solidify the base indeed. Many delegates to the national convention will feel much better about voting for Cheney for vice president than about voting for Bush for president. You can expect virtually all conservatives to support the Bush-Cheney ticket wholeheartedly now. In fact, even the perpetually-dissatisfied Al Keyes has announced, in the final item below, that he supports Bush-Cheney. I've been predicting for the past year and a half that Bush would be the next president of the United States, and I stand by that prediction. In choosing Cheney, Bush took one more step toward making the prediction come true. Sincerely, David B. Levenstam, CPA, MT, MA Bush/Cox in 2000! To subscribe to LibertyNet, email me at AdmrlLocke@aol.com, with a message to the effect that you'd like to subscribe. LibertyNet and GrammNet back issues available at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3390/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Bush Names Cheney as Running Mate By TOM RAUM .c The Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (July 25) - Texas Gov. George W. Bush introduced his running mate Dick Cheney to a cheering crowd of supporters Tuesday, calling the former defense secretary a ''valuable partner'' who will help lead Republicans to the White House. A week before GOP delegates formally nominate the Bush-Cheney ticket, Bush turned to the man who headed his three-month search process - bypassing several prominent Republicans who had vied for the job. ''I was impressed by his thoughtfulness and the way he approached his mission and, gradually, I realized the person who was best qualified to be my vice president was working by my side,'' Bush said. With a pom-pom waving crowd shouting, ''Cheney! Cheney'' the former Pentagon chief said he never expected to land the job. ''I enthusiastically accept the challenge for this reason: I believe you have the vision and the courage to be a great president,'' Cheney told Bush. His wife, Lynne, and Bush's wife, Laura, shared the stage at a University of Texas conference room. Cheney, 59, brings the ticket a wealth of foreign policy experience and political stature - traits that Bush, a two-term Texas governor, lacks himself. He is a link between Bush, 54, and his father, former President Bush, who put Cheney in his Cabinet and promoted him for his son's ticket. After promising an ''electrifying'' choice, Bush took the safe route: Cheney is a rock-solid conservative who poses little or no political risk. Bolder choices were available, including abortion-rights Govs. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and George Pataki of New York. The newly minted ticket travels to Wednesday to Cheney's home state of Wyoming. Republican presidential candidates rarely visit the solid GOP state, but Bush ignored the usual geographical concerns in picking Cheney. Cheney had to switch his voter registration from Texas to Wyoming to avoid a constitutional problem when when a presidential and vice presidential candidate live in the same state. ''I saw first hand Dick Cheney's outstanding judgment,'' the Texas governor said, urging delegates to nominate the former defense secretary. ''I picked him because he is fully capable of being president of the United States and I picked him because he will be a valuable partner.'' Bush placed the call from the governor's mansion in Austin at 6:22 a.m. to offer Cheney the job. The offer was a mere formality; Republican officials had leaked news of the decision Monday night. Cheney suffered three heart attacks by age 48, and has undergone coronary bypass surgery. But a doctor commissioned by the Bush campaign issued a statement saying his health ''should not interfere with a strenuous political campaign.'' The campaign released a statement Tuesday from Cheney's doctor who said the nominee-in-waiting has been treated for skin cancer and high cholesterol. He takes ''a long list of medications,'' said the doctor, Gary Malakoff of George Washington University in Washington. ''Mr. Cheney is in excellent health,'' he concluded. Once Cheney accepted, Bush made calls to the also-rans, thanking them for their participation. Among those contacted: Sens. Bill Frist and Fred Thompson of Tennessee, John McCain of Arizona and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Govs. Ridge, Pataki, Frank Keating of Oklahoma and Christie Whitman of New Jersey, and former Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Other running prospects included Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Rep. John Kasich of Ohio, and former Missouri Sen. John Danforth. Fashioning an impressive resume in two decades of public service, Cheney served as President Ford's chief of staff, six terms in Congress from Wyoming and four years as Pentagon chief, where he successfully executed the Persian Gulf War. Republican officials welcomed the prospect of a Bush-Cheney ticket. Frist, a contender for the job until the end, called Cheney ''a man with substance (with) serious broad experience in the public as well as private sector.'' Hagel of Nebraska, another contender, said Cheney ''represents the quality, character and experience that America is searching for in national leadership.'' Vice President Al Gore, whose convention begins Aug. 14 in Los Angeles, is considering a number of candidates, including former Senate George Mitchell of Maine, Florida Sen. Bob Graham and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Cheney changed his voting registration from Texas to Wyoming last week to get around a constitutional problem that arises when both members of a presidential ticket live in the same state. All signs had pointed to Cheney for days. He told business associates he had a good chance of getting the job and leaving his company, Halliburton Co. of Dallas; and he forwarded an all-clear health report from his doctors to Bush. Cheney sold nearly half his interest in Halliburton stock - some 100,000 shares - last month, raising an estimated $5.1 million. Before the sale, Cheney held options on 229,000 shares. The health report came at the behest of Bush and his father, both of whom wanted to know whether Cheney's history of heart trouble would pose a problem in the campaign. Sensitive to suggestions that the elder Bush is a quiet power behind his son's White House bid, campaign spokeswoman Hughes said the call to Cheney's doctor was the only action taken by the former president in the review process. Cheney served as defense secretary under President Bush, helping the president forge an international coalition in the Persian Gulf War. Before that, he served in Congress and as chief of staff for Ford. Bush has faced questions about whether he is ready to be president, and advisers believe a running mate who knows his way around the White House - and around the world - would fill in the so-called gravitas gap. In Congress, Cheney appealed to moderates, but racked up a conservative voting record and was a solid Ronald Reagan supporter. He was mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for Bush in 1992. He is anti-abortion but says the party must accommodate Republicans on both sides of the debate. AP-NY-07-25-00 1557EDT Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Analysis: Cheney Seen as Solid, But Unexciting Choice By Alan Elsner Reuters WASHINGTON (July 24) - Republicans see former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney as a serious, safe, solid but unexciting choice of vice presidential running mate for George W. Bush -- and some still hoped Monday for a big surprise. With the Texas governor expected to name his running mate within the next two days, a series of signals emerged from his Austin headquarters that the soft-spoken Cheney, 59, who was heading the Bush vice presidential search, might be the man. ``It would be a good choice. It adds gravitas to the Bush ticket and sends a strong signal to voters that Bush is serious about governing this nation and also a strong signal to U.S. allies and adversaries overseas about how serious this candidate is,'' said Scott Reed, campaign manager for defeated 1996 Republican candidate Bob Dole. The assets brought by the 59-year-old Cheney, who ran the Pentagon under Bush's father, former President George Bush, during the 1991 Gulf War, include: deep experience, international stature, a long-time close and utterly loyal friend of the entire Bush family and a proven team player. ``Cheney would add intellectual heft and an image of stability and responsibility. Of course, the danger is that the bottom half of the ticket may look more qualified than the top half,'' said David Birdsell, a political scientist with Baruch College in New York City. FATHER'S EXPERT Cheney's weaknesses are also clear, best summed up by one Republican activist who asked not to be named. ``Choosing Cheney would be like telling the entire country that Bush needs one of his daddy's foreign policy experts to baby-sit him, because he's not ready,'' he said. ``Cheney would be a fabulous vice president for almost anybody else but not for this particular candidate.'' Reed called that criticism a ``cheap shot'' and said he did not believe it would stick with voters. Other Republicans could not bring themselves to believe that Cheney was actually the choice and were still holding out dim but flickering hopes for a big surprise. The ultimate big surprise would be retired Gen. Colin Powell, who has said numerous times he would not run for elected office but would consider a Cabinet appointment should Bush be elected. Some even thought the stream of reports that Cheney had changed his voting registration from Texas to Wyoming and had submitted to a thorough health check up was all part of an elaborate fake being orchestrated by the Bush campaign to throw the media off the trail and intensify the surprise when Bush finally announces his choice. ``The Cheney stuff is a fake. With all due respect, I can't imagine such a boring pick,'' said Christian Pinkston, who was press secretary for Dole's running mate Jack Kemp in 1996. ``Bush doesn't need a solid pick, he needs an exciting pick. Cheney wouldn't do anything for the ticket. He would be a letdown,'' said Pinkston. POWELL BOOM Republican strategist Joel Rosenberg sent out an e-mail to reporters that he had heard from a ``very highly positioned and reputable source'' that Bush's choice might be Powell, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War and is one of the most admired men in America. Others believed Arizona Sen. John McCain was still in the picture, despite denials last week from him and Bush aides. But the Bush team seems to be highly confident that the governor can beat Vice President Al Gore in the Nov. 7 election without making a dramatic choice or even the strategic choice of a politician who could help move a particular state to the Republican column. The biggest danger for Bush in choosing Cheney may be his history of having suffered four minor heart attacks in the 1980s and heart bypass surgery in 1988. Sen. Bill Bradley, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, was briefly sidelined with an irregular heartbeat. There was no threat to his health but the shadow never quite went away. ``I don't understand how a man who had three heart attacks gets to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. I think the heart issue is a big deal,'' said pollster John Zogby. Reuters 11:47 07-24-00 Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. ***Media Research Center CyberAlert*** Wednesday July 26, 2000 (Vol. Five; No. 122) Cheney Tagged "Hard Right"; Democratic Attacks Amplified; "Held Hostage" Over Abortion #### Distributed to more than 5,900 recipients by the Media Research Center, bringing political balance to the media. Visit the MRC on the Web: http://www.mediaresearch.org. Past CyberAlerts are available at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/cyberalert/ Subscribe/unsubscribe information at end of this message. #### 1) ABC, CBS and NBC descriptions of Dick Cheney: One of the "most conservative members" of Congress, "very hardline conservative," "a bedrock conservative," a "rock-solid conservative" with a "very conservative record." 2) Tuesday night the networks passed along Democratic attacks on Cheney and listed conservative votes to back up the attacks. Dan Rather relayed how Democrats put Cheney "outside the American mainstream." ABC's only Cheney expert put him "on the far right" while Linda Douglass reported how Cheney grew rich at an oil company while "consumers were paying a premium at the pump." 3) "Cheney's politics are of the hard-right variety," Bryant Gumbel asserted in a pejorative tag for Cheney. On GMA George Stephanopoulos and Dean Reynolds saw a contradiction between opposing the Department of Educations and caring about education. 4) MSNBC's Brian Williams suggested the GOP pro-life stance is "damaging" to party prospects while Tom Brokaw worried the party is "held hostage" to those with "strong anti-abortion views." 5) Clueless Brokaw. FNC's Brit Hume picked up on how Brokaw claimed Tom Ridge was vetoed because "the Catholic Church and Jesse Helms said no way." With a frown, a perplexed Hume repeated: "Jesse Helms?" > 1) ABC, CBS and NBC reporters are not hesitating to apply an ideological tag to Dick Cheney as they developed quite a list of modifying terms to put before the word "conservative" in describing him. On Tuesday alone viewers heard these descriptions for Cheney, Bush's VP pick: -- ABC: Linda Douglass referred to him as one of the "most conservative members" of Congress who had "a very conservative voting record." Diane Sawyer sighed that while he "doesn't look fire-breathing," he's "very conservative." George Stephanopoulos dubbed him a "very hardline conservative." -- CBS: Bill Whitaker managed three different adjectives, tagging Cheney "a bedrock conservative" and "a rock-solid conservative" with a "a solidly conservative voting record." Whitaker also relayed how Democrats are "planning to paint him as too far right and wrong for the country." Plus, Bryant Gumbel put Cheney outside the mainstream: "Cheney's politics are of the hard- right variety." (More on Gumbel in item #3 below.) -- NBC: Tom Brokaw noted Cheney's "stellar conservative credentials" before Anne Thompson stressed his "very conservative record." Lisa Myers agreed, recalling his days in Congress: "His voting record? Very conservative." As noted in the July 25 CyberAlert, there's nothing necessarily wrong with this labeling so long as the networks apply the same standard to Gore's VP candidates so viewers hear liberals described with the same creativity at the same frequency. More about the context for these quotes in items #2 and #3 below. > 2) "The Republican ticket is now exquisitely balanced: A man of the center who doesn't alienate the right has now chosen a man of the right who doesn't alienate the center." So observed John J. Miller and Ramesh Ponnuru in National Review's e-mailed Washington Bulletin on Tuesday afternoon. But that's not how the network media saw the choice since they certainly don't see Bush as any kind of moderate. Instead of concentrating on how the Cheney pick balances Bush the networks focused on depicting Cheney as on the "far right," illustrated by his strange votes against the ERA, funding abortion and Head Start. Tuesday night the broadcast network evening shows all passed long the Democratic spin about how Dick Cheney is out of touch, with some reporters eagerly providing evidence to back up the charge. Only NBC noted how Bush's pick was "applauded by the right." ABC's Linda Douglass offered only one expert opinion on Cheney's days in Congress and she insisted "he was on the far right." Douglass stressed how "he was one of the few to vote against more funds for the Older Americans Act, services for the elderly." Douglass reported that Cheney grew rich running Halliburton while consumers were getting screwed: "Records show he sold some of his holdings for $5 million last June, just as oil prices were skyrocketing and consumers were paying a premium at the pump." CBS's Dan Rather stressed how Democrats "blast Cheney's voting record in Congress as again quote ‘outside the American mainstream' because of Cheney's votes against the Equal Rights for Women Amendment, against a woman's right to choose abortion..." CBS also featured a soundbite from Democratic Senator Tom Daschle putting Cheney on "the far right." Here's a rundown of Tuesday night, July 25, broadcast network coverage, a night all the shows began with the Corcorde crash. -- ABC's World News Tonight. Dean Reynolds reported on the 3pm ET announcement of Cheney. Reynolds stressed: "Then too there's the issue of former President Bush's role in all of this. Sources say he was considerably more active as an advocate for Cheney than the campaign let on, though that may expose the Governor to charges that he's unduly influenced by his father." Linda Douglas then provided a brief for how right wing Cheney was in Congress and how his business dealing can be exploited by Democrats. She began, as transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "A close look at his ten years in Congress reveals that Cheney was one of its most conservative members, say analysts who have looked at his record." Sarah Binder, The Brookings Institution: "If you look at any of the big issues in the 1980s, he was on the far right." Douglas: "Democrats are already isolating the most controversial votes. On abortion, 26 of 27 times he voted to restrict women's access to abortion, including in cases of rape and incest. On gun control, he voted against restricting the sale of so-called ‘cop killer bullets' and against a waiting period before buying a hand gun. He voted against the Safe Drinking Water Act, against stiffer sanctions for air polluters. He was one of the few to vote against more funds for the Older Americans Act, services for the elderly, and he voted ten times against imposing sanctions on South Africa during the struggle over Apartheid. As Secretary of Defense, he defended the policy that did not permit gays to serve in the military." Cheney in an old clip: "It's based upon the proposition that gay lifestyle is incompatible with military service." Douglas moved on to his business career: "His years in the private sector will also be scrutinized. He became rich in his years as chairman of the oil services giant Halliburton. Records show he sold some of his holdings for $5 million last June, just as oil prices were skyrocketing and consumers were paying a premium at the pump." Jeffrey Freedman, Oil Industry Analyst: "The appreciation of Haliburton stock has everything to do with increasing oil prices and natural gas prices over the last twelve to fifteen months." Douglas concluded: "Cheney is one of the few vice presidential candidates who have come from the private sector. That means Halliburton, a company that does business in a hundred countries, may be examined as closely as the candidate himself. Democrats think they'll have a field day painting Cheney and George Bush as tools of big oil, but Cheney is an old Washington hand. Republicans are confident he can take care of himself." -- CBS Evening News. Anchor Dan Rather announced: "In the presidential campaign, the official announcement and first photo- op today of Republican George Bush and his running mate Richard Cheney. Democrats were quick to portray the ticket as quote ‘two Texas oilmen' because Cheney was chief of a big Dallas-based oil supply conglomerate. They also blast Cheney's voting record in Congress as again quote, ‘outside the American mainstream' because of Cheney's votes against the Equal Rights for Women Amendment, against a woman's right to choose abortion -- against abortion as Cheney prefers to put it -- and Cheney's votes against gun control. Republicans see it all differently, most of them hailing Bush's choice and Cheney's experience." Bill Whitaker opened his subsequent piece: "Though he promised an electrifying choice to fit his self-styled new Republican campaign, George W. Bush instead reached back to the past to the steady, tried and true." Whitaker later asserted that "Cheney's a rock-solid conservative who manages to appeal to party moderates." (Earlier, live on CBS just after Bush's 3pm ET announcement, Whitaker delivered a similar formulation: "Now Cheney is a bedrock conservative but he manages to reach out to moderates in this party.") After relaying how Democrats blasted his voting record against abortion and the ERA, Whitaker played this soundbite from Tom Daschle: "He is probably as far right as anybody in the Republican Party today." Whitaker concluded: "Now Democrats are going over Cheney's record with a fine-toothed comb. His voting record against gun control and environmental controls, his medical record of mild heart attacks, his business record as head of a huge energy concern, planning to paint him as too far right and wrong for the country." Rather added that a CBS News/New York Times poll of Republican convention delegates determined that just "one percent named Cheney as their first choice for Vice President. The delegates top choice, at 11 percent, was Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania." -- NBC Nightly News. David Gregory concluded his piece on the day's announcement: "The Gore campaign is sharpening its knives. Democrats will attack Cheney as too conservative and Bush as too influenced by his father to make a bolder choice. A senior aide to the Vice President says tonight Gore was quite ‘relieved' to hear of Bush's pick." Tom Brokaw introduced a look at Cheney's record by noting how "Dick Cheney is a veteran of the Washington scene, a hard-core Republican with stellar conservative credentials." Brokaw cautioned, "Cheney's long record in Washington is widely admired, but it also leaves a trail for Democrats to attack." Anne Thompson examined "some serious questions" about his heart before getting to his ideology: "Tonight Democrats raising questions about his political past, a decade in Congress, a very conservative record." Thompson offered some examples and then aired assessments of Cheney from the right and left: "Voting against the Equal Rights Amendment for Women, against funding for Head Start, and federal funding of any abortions. Voting for aide to the Nicaraguan Contras, prayer in schools and President Reagan's Star Wars missile defense program. The selection of Cheney applauded by the right." David Keene, American Conservative Union: "It really ratifies what conservatives have come to believe and that is George W. Bush is one of them." Thompson: "And that is fine with Democrats who now see a clear choice in November." Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif: "We're in the 21st Century, he's willing to take us way back into the 20th Century. This country is not going to go backwards." Nice of Thompson to give time to someone on the right, but I'm not sure all conservatives would agree that Bush "is one of them." > 3) You knew you could count on Bryant Gumbel to go beyond the "very conservative" and "solidly conservative" labeling of Dick Cheney. Tuesday morning Gumbel came through, MRC analyst Brian Boyd noticed, as he delivered a pejorative tag to paint Cheney as some kind of extremist: "Cheney's politics are of the hard-right variety." The same morning on ABC George Stephanopoulos labeled Cheney as a "hardline conservative." The ABC analyst, who appeared without a balancing conservative, also suggested, as did reporter Dean Reynolds, that Cheney's opposition to the Department of Education somehow conflicts with Bush's commitment to education. And Diane Sawyer was baffled that anyone could oppose the Head Start boondoggle. Here are some labeling highlights from Tuesday morning, July 25, starting with Gumbel: -- CBS's The Early Show. Introducing an excerpt of Dan Rather's interview with Bush, Gumbel gave a brief overview of Cheney's life, which ended: "Cheney's politics are of the hard- right variety. He's opposed to abortion and gun control and favors both capital punishment and school prayer." Do you think Gumbel will ever label Gore VP possibility John Kerry a "hard left" Senator? Immediately before that assessment from Gumbel, reporter Bill Whitaker had maintained: "Cheney brings a wealth of Washington and foreign affairs experience to the ticket, yet he seems a cautious choice by Bush, who calls himself a new Republican and talks of moving the party in a new direction. And Cheney has a solidly conservative voting record on issues like abortion that may not appeal to more moderate swing voters Bush says he's going after." -- ABC's Good Morning America. Diane Sawyer suggested to analyst George Stephanopoulos: "He is very conservative. Doesn't look fire-breathing, but he's very conservative. Take us through the issues." Stephanopoulos agreed, as noticed by MRC analyst Jessica Anderson: "Well, he really is. You know, he's a very nice man, lots of Democratic friends, including Gore's former chairman Tony Coelho. He's very hardline conservative on the issues, starting out on gun control. He voted against a ban on cop killer bullets, he voted against waiting period, and here's the interesting one. He voted against the ban on plastic guns, which could slip through airport metal detectors. Even the NRA was for that." Sawyer: "And there were only four people who voted against it." Stephanopoulos: "Only four people in the Congress who voted with him, so he was purer than the National Rifle Association on that issue. On abortion, hundred percent pro-life voting record. Voted for a ban on federal funding, even in cases of rape and incest. Now one the Democrats are really gonna focus on, I think, because George W. Bush has talked a lot about education. They're going to say Dick Cheney is as conservative as Newt Gingrich. Voted against the Department of Education, voted against Head Start funding." A befuddled Sawyer: "Head Start?" Stephanopoulos: "Even President Bush in 1988 was coming out for increases in Head Start. Dick Cheney was against it. Finally, they'll look at two more issues. He voted against the Older Americans Act and he also had a long record against environmental regulations, voting against the Clean Water Act and other regulations. So I think for Democrats, this is real red meat for liberals and there's kind of something for everyone." Later, during the 8am news update, Dean Reynolds also argued you can't care about education if you oppose federal funding of it. News reader Antonio Mora asked Reynolds: "Now, are there any aspects of Cheney's voting record in Congress that might also pose some problems for the ticket?" Reynolds replied: "Well, he came from a very conservative state, Wyoming, and he has a very conservative voting record. He voted against the Education Department, which could be problematic for Bush, who has made education a great theme of his campaign. He voted against a ban against armor-piercing bullets -- he's very much against gun control, he is pro-life. So there'll be some conservative questions that may undermine the compassionate message that Governor Bush has tried so hard to convey." -- NBC's Today. Lisa Myers culled Cheney's record for instances of his "very conservative" record: "His voting record, very conservative. Against abortion, against the Equal Rights Amendment for women, against sanctions on South Africa to protest Apartheid, against strengthening fair housing laws." > 4) GOP pro-life stance "damaging" to Republican prospects as the party is "held hostage" to those with "strong anti-abortion views." Two quick examples of how network stars see pro-lifers as a nuisance. -- MSNBC's The News with Brian Williams, July 24. MRC analyst Paul Smith caught this query from Brian Williams to Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson: "Dick Cheney is pro-life. You had, however, former President Gerald R. Ford on the op-ed page of the New York Times recently urging the party to perhaps pick a number two who is pro-choice in an attempt to broaden the base. Do you think both people on this ticket being of a pro-life stance is at all damaging to Republican hopes?" -- Today, July 25. Tom Brokaw came aboard to show more clips from his Bush interview, including this one observed by MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens which did not air on Nightly News the evening before: "May I ask you about a couple of other issues. Is the Republican Party still held hostage to some degree by people who have very strong anti-abortion views?" Bush: "Not if you got a leader that sets an agenda that is positive and optimistic. And that's the leader I intend to be." In another exchange shown on Today but not Nightly News Brokaw demonstrated a lack of basic knowledge of campaign finance rules: "A lot of your critics say that you are bought and paid for by big companies in America because you have been able to raise $100 million, spend $80 million so far. And it's all money that came in from people who didn't have to do any reporting." Bush set him straight: "That's just, they just don't know the facts. I mean the money I raised for the primaries is all reported and you know I've heard that campaign rhetoric before, but remember I'm running against people that sold the Lincoln bedroom to raise money...." > 5) FNC's Brit Hume picked up on how CBS News wouldn't let go of Dan Rather's story about how Bush made a last-minute plea to Colin Powell. Hume was also seemingly inspired by a CyberAlert item on Tom Brokaw's complete cluelessness about influences within the Republican Party. Hume told July 25 viewers of his Special Report with Brit Hume: "CBS News has continued to report Dan Rather's disputed story of eleventh hour so-called ‘deep negotiations' on the vice presidency between the Bush camp and General Colin Powell. This in the face of emphatic denials from Powell and Bush himself that any such thing had occurred. Indeed, George W. Bush specifically denied Rather's story to Rather himself in an interview on Monday. CBS kept the story on its Web site throughout the day and Rather repeated it on CBS Radio where it had first aired and on the CBS Evening News and the CBS News Web site continues to mention it." His next item: "Speaking of network anchors, NBC's Tom Brokaw suggested to his viewers in his interview with Bush Monday that Bush had rejected Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, whom Brokaw described as quote, ‘a guy with a great record, pro-choice,' because, said Brokaw, quote, ‘the Catholic Church and Jesse Helms said no way.'" With a frown, a dumbfounded Hume wondered: "Jesse Helms?" Hume's facial expression said it all. Sometimes it's amazing how New York media types see the whole Republican Party and conservative movement controlled by a few boogeymen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. National Taxpayers Union Rates Congress Results for Former Representative Dick Cheney (R-WY, 1979-89) The following evaluation of the fiscal record of Vice Presidential candidate Dick Cheney are based on the annual Rating of Congress conducted by National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and taxpayer rights at all levels. Every year NTU rates Members of Congress on every roll call vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on taxpayers (typically 150-300 votes annually). NTU assigns weights to the votes reflecting the importance of each vote’s overall fiscal impact. Each Member receives a “Taxpayer Score” based on his or her votes that measures the strength of support for reducing taxes, spending, debt, or regulation. In general, a higher score is better because it means a Member of Congress voted to lessen or limit the burden on taxpayers. Additional information on how the NTU Rating is computed is available online at www.ntu.org. Note: The following scores are provided for comparative purposes only, and do not imply an endorsement of any kind by National Taxpayers Union. Year Taxpayer Score House Average GOP Average 1979 60%* 37% 53% 1980 64%* 35% 52% 1981 56% 40% 51% 1982 68%* 39% 53% 1983 70%* 36% 59% 1984 65%* 36% 50% 1985 68%* 43% 56% 1986 64%* 38% 52% 1987 60%* 37% 53% 1988 50% 27% 37% 1989# n.a. n.a. n.a. * Received a “Taxpayers’ Friend Award” that year for consistently voting for responsible fiscal policies. This Award was issued impartially, based on the Taxpayer Score. In most years, the number of House Members qualifying for this Award was between 50 and 70. # Cheney’s 1989 score is not included because it is based on less than 1 percent of the fiscal policy votes taken that year. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Alan Keyes Backs Bush-Cheney for President conservativeinfo - Subscribe to the Conservative Information email list at http://conservativeinfo.listbot.com -------------------- From: The Pro-Life Infonet Reply-To: Steven Ertelt Subject: Alan Keyes Backs Bush-Cheney for President Source: Associated Press; July 25, 2000 Boston -- Alan Keyes expressed his support for pro-life Gov. George W. Bush's choice of a running mate Tuesday -- and said he had dropped his own campaign against Bush for the Republican nomination. Keyes won no primaries and only a few convention delegates, but he had remained on the campaign trail spreading his pro-life message and encouraging pro-life people to get involved in the political process. Asked Tuesday if he still considered himself a candidate, Keyes said, ``I am not.'' A campaign spokeswoman said Keyes had not yet filed withdrawal papers with the Federal Election Commission. Keyes said he supports Bush's choice of former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney as his running mate, adding that Cheney's pro-life views mirrored his own. Keyes said he would join other Republicans to unite behind Bush at the party's convention in Philadelphia next week. Keyes, who also ran for president in 1996, apparently won 21 delegates this year though the final count could change by a delegate or two. His best showing came in the Iowa caucuses, where he won 14 percent of the vote. A spokeswoman had said he would consider leaving the Republican Party if Bush chose a running mate who favored abortion. With his support of the Bush-Cheney ticket, Keyes said Tuesday, ``It won't come to that.'' -- You can support the Pro-Life Infonet with a donation to: Women and Children First, PO Box 4433, Helena, MT 59604-4433.