Cheney: Tax cuts, security, game plan

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.''

"This is going to be one of the major dividing lines between the two parties in this election year -- and we need to make sure that every voter in the country knows the difference,'' Cheney said. " Remind your friends that whenever they hear Democratic politicians pledging to get rid of the Bush tax cuts, what they're promising is a major tax hike for working families.

"And they wouldn't have to move a muscle to do it, because under the law, that tax cuts simply expire a few years from now. That means it is all more -- all the more critical to elect a Republican Congress to make the tax cuts permanent -- and a Republican President to sign them into law.

Above all, ladies and gentlemen, we believe in protecting the United States of America -- in defending our security, our values, and our way of life.

" President Bush has never lost sight of that responsibility. And for that reason, many Democrats who believe in a strong defense have stood by the President in the war on terror. Four years ago at Madison Square Garden, our keynote speaker was Senator Zell Miller of Georgia -- a lifelong Democrat. Senator Miller spoke passionately about the Democratic Party that has lost its bearings on national security; a party that regards our own country as a negative force in the world. Senator Miller said, quote, "Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator."

'In that same election year, another prominent Democrat known to all of you gave his endorsement to George W. Bush. This Democrat said that the President was, quote, "the only one running who appreciated the threat of Islamic terrorism to American values and Western civilization and was prepared to wage a war to defend those values." Those are the words of Mayor Ed Koch.

"And yet another Democrat of national standing has been appalled by the direction his party has taken on national security. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is a statesman whose Democratic credentials could not be more impeccable -- after all, he ran against me for Vice President in 2000.

"Against that background, this election year poses one fundamental question on national security: Who is serious about fighting and winning the war on terror, on every front? The choice is going to be very clear. On one side is the Democratic Party -- led by the likes of Senator Harry Reid, who said more than a year ago that the war in Iraq was lost. A Democratic Party whose leaders in Congress permitted a vital surveillance law to expire, leaving the United States more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

" A Democratic Party that operates in tandem with MoveOn.Org, a fringe group that ran a full-page ad in the New York Times attacking the character and the courage of General Dave Petraeus. A Democratic Party that has, in Joe Lieberman's words, "kowtowed" to the opinions of the far left rather than challenging them.

"On the other side of this divide is the Republican Party -- whose leaders have supported the war on terror, regardless of what the polls say or the pundits declare. A Republican Party whose presidential nominee has served this nation with courage, a nominee committed to victory for freedom's cause, a nominee who speaks of idealism, and backs it up with good judgment, consistency, a record of achievement, and genuine American heroism. (Applause.)

"Faced with that choice, and with the options laid out clearly before them, there's no doubt in my mind that the American people are going to choose Republican leadership on November 4th. ''