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.''
Liz Cheney, a mother of five, says of her father: "Because he's been doing it for so long, he has a pretty good sense of what's important and what's not important. He keeps his perspective, doesn't let the little things get to him, you know. They sort of roll off, and he keeps his sense of humor.’’
Cheney had traveled extensively as a member of Congress, visiting some 30 countries — some more than once — and probably will take more trips abroad before he leaves office in January.
On overseas trips, including this one in the Middle East, Cheney and newspapers, listen to music and spend time with his wife.
On this trip, the vice president was reading Rick Atkinson's The Day of Battle, about the U.S. Army's campaign to capture Sicily and mainland Italy during World War II. He also carried a collection of essays about that way and a book about the Revolutionary War.
Lynne Cheney spent time working on a new book proposal and editing a children's book coming out in the fall about the Constitution.
As he does at home, Cheney is known to unwind with a scotch, and he and Lynne Cheney sometimes sip white wine with dinner.
Cheney, wearing his iPod earphones, was busy reading paperwork when Air Force Two stopped in Shannon, Ireland, to refuel for the last leg of the trip. When the plane touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Cheney boarded a helicopter that disappeared into the dark sky for the short hop to the vice presidential home at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
With thanks to Deb Reichmann, of the Assoicated Press, for the dispatch.
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Comments
No wonder we have a campaign where it's "he's a sexist pig--no she's a racist!"
While Rome burns.
I mean--really!
Cheney is a mass murderer.
He should be on trial at the Hague!
This piece is akin to a glowing little feature snippet on Hitler with Ava Braun commenting on their dinner time booze consumption.
Posted by: golden oldie | March 30, 2008 12:00 PM
What is this lying, murdering thief going to do in his retirement?
Posted by: Haywood Jablome | March 30, 2008 12:45 PM
“They are long, grueling days.
Too bad...with all the money these people have I don't see why we are paying for his family's vacation.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | March 30, 2008 12:46 PM
He should be on trial at the Hague!
Posted by: golden oldie | March 30, 2008 12:00 PM
What could possibly justify this hatered from the left.
the ignorance and hatefulness of so many on this post is astounding to me.
The left is so full of lies and hate , how does anyone think this way??
The hate that the left has brought on this country is disgusting.
Posted by: Save America from the hateful left! | March 30, 2008 1:07 PM
Watch FOX news.
Out of all the still great news outlets he has access to anywhere in the world, he turns to an outlet proven to have the most inaccurate information, with no credibility whatsover.
Is it any wonder they've made this country as pathetic as it is?
Posted by: RomanB | March 30, 2008 1:49 PM
"What could possibly justify this hatred from the left"
Where do you want to start savior?
4,000 dead on a pack of lies?
Environmental policy secretly run by big energy interests?
Haliburton, closed bid contracts, drunk driving, drunk hunting, illegal wire tapping, shredding the constitution, lying about Kerry's voting record, lying about Edwards, telling a Senator to F-off on the Senate floor, lying about ties between 9/11 and Iraq, lying about ties between Al Queda and Iraq, lying about knowledge of WMD's, outing a CIA agent......
If you are not filled with hatred towards this man, you haven't been paying attention.
And get used to us crazy lefties, we're taking our country back in November.
Posted by: Haywood Jablome | March 30, 2008 3:27 PM
"...What could possibly justify this hatered from the left."
...au contraire, its precisely because we love you and America, that we vehemently disagree with the current administrations policies. Surely you realize we don't hate the men, but rather disagree with formal policy that creates the framework for current governance.
Warmest regards,
Robert
Posted by: Rob Parker | March 30, 2008 3:56 PM
Every time Vice president is mentioned the koolaid drinkers start their rancorus nonsense about dying and the war. OK Code Pink and MoveOn .org types get over it. Dick Cheney is a great American and a lot more intelligent than all you liberal socialist posters. Grow up! Kudos to Dick Cheney may God Bless you for all your efforts. Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | March 30, 2008 4:51 PM
Yeah, Jerry..Goebbels had his admirers too, but I don't think God was one of them. Have you thought about seeing a priest for that needed exorcism?
"Rancorous nonsense about dying and war"? What part of that is nonsense to you, Jer, the fact that hundreds of thousands have died and been maimed by a war built on lies? Or is it the fact that those "liberal socialist types" are sick about it? "Get over it?" "Grow up?", I shudder to think that miscreants of your ilk populate the planet. Jerry White, UGLY AMERICAN, Springfield, Il.
Posted by: dt | March 30, 2008 6:54 PM
Send that murderer all the blessings you want nutjob. You are as delusional as he is if you think he actually believes or practices that tooth fairy nonsense.
If you believe that war-mongering serial killer is a great American, you need more help than I thought. Professional help.
Are you that crazy guy with the sign along the highway near Springfield that says: "Get The US Out Of The UN"?
Posted by: Haywood Jablome | March 30, 2008 7:39 PM
Jer, Did you see President numbnuts throw out the first pitch tonight? Why did god make all those baseball fans boo so loudly? And why did he let him almost throw it over the catchers head? Why would god let such a great, god-loving, god-fearing xtian like George W. Bush get so badly disgraced by his own people? How could god be so mean to such a great man?
Posted by: Haywood Jablome | March 30, 2008 8:24 PM
To Darth and The Swamp Droogs (You know who you are):
Mean People Suck Bloom/Pemble 2004 (ASCAP)
Mean People Suck, they’re not in my clique
the things they do and say and think, just makes me sick
they’re beady ‘ol eyes and tiny ‘ol brain
I try to exist, but they are the bane
Mean People Suck, they won’t lend a hand
the Golden Rule they don’t understand
They won’t give to charity, or help save the whales
Ya spring a hole in your bucket, and they’ll kick the pail
I know what you’re thinking, that I’m no different than them
that I should be loving, and try to make ‘em my friends
Ya know I tried that, it didn’t go well
the mean person told me, “Go straight to hell!”
Hey, what’s that sucking sound
Must be mean people around
Mean people blow, they really ain’t cool
they’re still the same jerks ya knew in high school
mean people think that it would it kill ‘em to smile
They’ve taken my inch and now they covet my mile
Mean people bite, they’re hogging our gas
they’re flipping the bird when they honk and they pass
they’re ragin’ inside, ragin’ down to the bone
I wish those mean people would leave us alone
know what you’re thinking, I sound like a mean person, too
that I should be loving, and tolerate what they do
If I were in charge I’d make it a law
we’d kill ‘em with kindness, we’d shock and we’d awe
Hey, what’s that sucking sound
Must be mean people around
So I’m running for office, get out the nice person vote
but my chances of winning, they’re probably remote
cuz I won’t take no money from the Mean Person PAC
If they send it in, I’m gonna send it right back
Yeah, Mean People Suck, but they won’t go away
so it’s up to us good folks, we gotta convey
so when they give grief, here’s what we do
Tell ‘em “You suck … but have a nice day, too”
Posted by: dt | March 30, 2008 10:25 PM
I'm really not interested in what mass murderers drink. The hate and disregard that Cheney/Bush and the right inflict on Americans and others is astounding.
Jerry White--why do you have a problem with others equating VP Dick with the war and the dying? It's called reality. No Kool-aid involved. VP Dick promoted and promotes the war which has caused and continues to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths for THE BIG LIE. Remember, he sat on the Sunday morning news shows and repeated, " WMDs, WMDs, WMDs, casualties will be minimal, Iraqi oil will pay for the war, 9/11 related to al-Quaeda--Iraq." VP Dick lied, Jerry. He lied. How do you continue to support that? Are you analytical at all? Given the continuing, poor US high school graduation rate, and the lack of college payment help from the Cheney/Bush administration--ironically during the time of Bush's No Child Left Behind--it appears that Cheney/Bush don't want Americans to be analytical. Bravo Jerry--you are the PERFECT citizen that VP Dick wants to govern.
Posted by: Vivian | March 30, 2008 10:30 PM
The hate lies and distortions of the left, the constant effort to make America surrender, that is what you find all over these posts
It is the same shallow minded ignorance that Hitler exploited when he created the "brown shirts" the thug brigade.
That is what the hate that makes it on these pages every day reminds me of.
People like this
Haywood Jablome above- hate and empty distorted accusations.
WHAT LIES did the President make? Never has any evidence every come to light of any lies-
Any evidence from any of the haters out there?
Just like the weak minds manipulated by the likes of HItler and others that learn to build on the hate.
Americans will not let the Hate America First Groups - the NEO Brown Shirts of the left. We will not let you win - you are losers.
Posted by: Save America from the hateful left! | March 31, 2008 10:02 AM
President Cheney is in an active panic and desperate for a new big dog crisis.
The retroactive immunity precident didn't work for the tattling Telecoms so in the future it can't be applied to President Cheney or Yosemite Sam as a pre-written I Excuse Myself and All My Peeps from Prosection Pardon. Under current law you just can't issue a pardon if no legal hearings took place while you were in power. So Bush's pardon-hands are tied unless Cheney can gin up some shocking new controversy and force the Democrats to hold formal legal hearings on it, in ADVANCE of Republicans last day in office. If Cheney can trick or prod the Dem's into holding an early legal hearing on anything to do with him, say before January 20, you guarantee a presidential pardon, written in advance.
Let us hope the Democrats hold their fire and announce much needed Truth Hearings AFTER President Cheney and Yosemite Sam are out of office and out of any power to protect themselves beyond what regular citizens receive.
Posted by: beakmur | March 31, 2008 4:42 PM