Cheney says despite Christmas card, U.S. does not see itself as an empire

[Judi Lynn]

Cheney says despite Christmas card, U.S. does not see itself as an empire

Saturday, January 24, 2004



(01-24) 13:11 PST DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) --

Asked on Saturday whether he considered the United States to be an empire, Vice President Dick Cheney had the perfect dodge: Ask my wife.

Lynne Cheney was responsible, the vice president said, for the quote from Benjamin Franklin on the family Christmas card: "If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"

"That quote was selected by my wife," Cheney told the man who asked the question after Cheney's speech at the World Economic Forum. "She would have to explain why it was on the Christmas card."

The quote reflects Franklin's musing over the importance of God in the affairs of men, the vice president said. "It did not refer, or should not be taken as some kind of indication, that the United States today sees itself as an empire."
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/24/international1606EST0594.DTL

[jbfam4]

1. C Span just played that remark...

[HereSince1628]

2. Of course not, he sees it as THE empire

Don't you know we will not tolerate anyone even _attempting_ to grow to threaten out hegemony?

Excuse me now, I got a date with the Harkonens...we've got to get things dune.

[Lars39]

3. Lynn Cheney's just as evil as her husband. I'm not buying the backpedal.

[PaDUer]

9. Everytime I've seen her..

she has that "evil look" in her eyes...Never trust anyone like her and her "plastic" smile..But, that entire misadministration has that same look..wonder if they went to the same "LIE" school!

[Lars39]

12. I've been creeped out over her since

that first husband/wife interview. They didn't blink, and kept their eyes glued to the interviewer(don't remember who). Truly unnatural.

[Jazzgirl]

14. Lynn Cheney is part of PNAC.

She is an integral part of the PNAC accord. She also heads up a site call NGO Watch that watches non-governmental organizations and maligns the ones that don't follow the US mantra of empire. She is one crazy witch.

Jazzgirl:mad:

[diamond14]

4. these criminals are now tripping over their OWN words...falling

over their own crimes...on the same day that the press is reporting a SIX MILLION DOLLAR BRIBE ! taken by cheney's haliburton employees in Iraq.....and the press reported cheney's vacation and dinner with the Supreme Court Justice, who will soon hear cheney's case about hiding OUR papers from the U.S. Government energy meetings because enron and other thieves were there....

don't let up on these criminals...KEEP FIGHTING !!!

their ship is sinking and the rats are jumping off....

[rock]

5. So God supports empires?

There have been such things, you know. What a squirrelly phrase.

[Ivote]

6. It figures

They have no concept of anything maybe thats why she tried to do away with shuting down the arts projects

on edit: They are all culturally illiterate

[Lorien]

7. Hmmm...like the Roman Empire

which threw Christians to the lions for "entertainment"?

[louis-t]

8. notice he said

'United States sees itself as an empire.' He knows most people in this country don't want that. Only PNAC and its supporters.

[yellowcanine]

10. Not much is weenier than hiding behind your wife's skirts

So is Dick saying he didn't see the cards or that he didn't pay attention to what Lynne had put on them? He expects us to believe that, coming from an administration that considers the political significance of every communication? What a weenie.

[colorado_ufo]

11. That is absolutely, positively, unequivocally

the STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard of putting on a Christmas card. Even on a generic "holiday card." Do these people even know what a Christmas card is for, or what it represents? Their ignorance of religion and culture and complete lack of sensitivity confound me. They seem capable only of understanding money and power and how to ruthlessly grab as much as possible of each before they die.

[Flubadubya]

13. Mrs. Cheney... your Freudian slip is showing!

[Fridays Child]

15. Franklin uttered those words in the course of making a motion...

...before the Constitutional Convention that the members begin each session with prayer, officiated by a member of the clergy. And, in his own notes about the motion, Franklin observed that only three or four members of the entire convention were in favor of prayers. Yet, in 1892, the Supreme Court included his words in its argument that the United States is a Christian nation.

The fight to keep our government secular has been going on a long, long time.

[Cocoa]

16. Bush blames the troops for the "Mission accomplished" banner

Cheney blames his wife for this.

[Fridays Child]

17. And we blame the SCOTUS for putting them both in office, but...

...James Baker takes the credit.

[truthisfreedom]

18. bush also blamed laura for dropping their dog barney.