CASPER, Wyo., Oct. 7, 2007
Lynne Cheney On The VP, Gays And Her Book
Vice President's Wife Takes Sunday Morning Back To Her Roots
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Play CBS Video Video Profile: Lynne Cheney Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, talks with Rita Braver about how she believes the Bush administration will be remembered.
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Lynne Cheney says that her husband stands behind the president, but is not the real man running the country. (AP)
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Interactive Cheney's Stray Shot Track the events and reaction to the vice president's shooting of a fellow hunter on a Texas ranch.
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Interactive Potshots At Cheney The vice president's hunting accident is joke fodder for comedians, actors and fellow politicians.
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Interactive Second In Command A closer look at Vice President Dick Cheney's career and his much-publicized health problems.
"Well, that's not the case," she told Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. "And Dick would be the first to tell you that."
For almost seven years, Lynn Cheney and her husband have lived in the vice president's house in the nation's capital. You would think by now that Cheney is used to the criticism of her husband, but she said it still dismays her.
"Most of the time it's just surreal," she said. "Because there's such a disjunction between the kind of criticism and the man I've known for more than 50 years. He is a terrific guy. He's very strong and I think that sometimes that's the basis of a lot of the criticism."
They may seem to be the ultimate Washington power couple, but Lynnie Vincent and young Dick Cheney started out in a very different world - a world she describes in her new memoir, "Blue Skies, No Fences."
"Casper Wyo., population 18,000 when I was born, was large enough to hold the surprises of civilization, but small enough that the prairie was close by - for some in our town, right out the front door - stretching on forever, under the great curving sky," Cheney wrote about her hometown.
In her book, Cheney tells the story of both her husband's family and her own traveling across the west to settle in Casper.
"Well, my father's people were Mormon, and had immigrated not long after Brigham Young had settled Utah," she told Braver. "My great-great grandmother came from Wales. Went through this perilous crossing of the ocean, lost her husband, lost a child. Kept heading West, you know."
For her first interview about the new book, Mrs. Cheney took Sunday Morning to some of her old haunts, like downtown Casper, where she and her parents came on Saturdays to people-watch.
"My mother would say, you know, 'There's Willicine Lynnie, you remember Willicine?' And I would remember Willicine because she'd give me a home perm that did not work very well," she said.
Bad perm or not, she went on to become a star baton twirler, winning the State Championship. Her first date with Dick Cheney, Number 20 on the high school football team, took place at a dance in a cabin. The Vice President asked her to dance and Cheney replied: "You're kidding."
"And he took that to mean, 'What, me go out with you?'" she said. "But actually, I was just surprised. But he was this great-looking guy that sat next to me in chemistry class and I really meant, 'Wow, that's terrific.' And fortunately for our children and grandchildren, he gave me a chance to explain."
But their romance at Natrona County High School hit a few bumps. During their senior year he dumped her for a cheerleader. But Lynne's grandmother came to the rescue.
"She took me downtown to Cass' department store, which was, you know, quite a high end department store as far as we were concerned, and bought me a black lace sheath dress," she said.
She looked so fabulous that Dick Cheney could not resist, and today Lynne is her husband's staunchest defender.
"He is strong," she said. "He does have convictions. He wants to move forward."
Lynn Cheney, of course, can speak for herself. With a Ph.D. in English Literature, she served as Chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and she was a Conservative culture warrior on CNN's "Crossfire."
But though she was a tireless campaigner for the Bush/Cheney ticket, she avoided controversy after the election, writing a series of bestselling children's books.
"Life is difficult enough when you have a spouse in one of these large jobs, I think, without my complicating it further," she said.
Her new book is largely a celebration of the joys of growing up in the West in the '40s and '50, which Braver's husband helped publish along with several others of Lynne Cheney's books. In "Blue Skies, No Fences," Cheney acknowledges that her world of prom dates and being homecoming queen was not open to everyone - African Americans, for example. And she writes that the times "were hard on kids who were gay." It's an issue that Cheney is sensitive to as the mother of a gay daughter.
"I think the society has evolved," she said. "I've evolved in my way of thinking, but I think the whole society has evolved. You know, my mother had a rule which was people are just people."
There has been some speculation that with her knack for politicking, Lynne Cheney might launch her own political career, once her husband's term is over. One article called her the "GOP's Hillary Clinton." But Lynne Cheney says not so fast.
She says she is confident the Republican presidential candidate will continue Bush/Cheney policies, even though some critics say that this administration will go down as the worst in history.
"I think when the history books are written, one of the most remarkable facts about this administration will be that we have not been attacked since 9/11," she said. "It was the policies of this president and this president helping him that kept this country safe."
Even the unpopular war in Iraq will prove to be a good decision, Cheney said.
The Cheneys are well aware that they have only a little more than a year to live here in the Vice President's house and say they are ready to start spending more time in Wyoming.
"We have been doing this for 40 years," she said. "And you know, I really look forward to a life where, you know, we can stretch out a little bit more, put up our feet up, look at the Tetons."
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The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 122 CommentsIf we look at this disgusting episode, the recent "60 Minutes" puff piece on Clarence Thomas (in which CBS deemed an interview with Anita Hill unnecessary), the firing of Dan Rather to pacify the far right wing, Katie Couric''s poor performances and who knows what other journalistic breaches yet to be discovered, it''s clear that fair and objective reporting is dead at CBS. What''s surprising is that people like Bob Schieffer, Charles Osgood, Andy Rooney and others don''t stand up against this stuff. Can you imagine this happening during Ed Murrow''s regime?
has to say??????? I don''t know anyone who plans on buying her book. Darth Vader, her husband has stolen enough money from the American people and continues to
make more while still in office. There should be an investigation of Bush and Cheney and how they are stealing from the U.S. Treasury. The IDIOTS IN CONGRESS wouldn''t do it. I think we will find practically all of our politcal idiots who are up for
re-election in the unemployment line.
was this a typo or a freudian slip?
"It was the policies of this president and this president helping him that kept this country safe."
lynn must''ve really been in the hotseat.
maybe CBS should have got someone else for this gig, you know?
i am also very touched to learn that their love was saved by granny dressing lynn up in black lace.
The American Enterprise Institute :
In 2005, Republican Committee members from - The American Enterprise
Institute came before The Congress saying :
The Veterans Claim, on the PTSD issue were Fraudulent.
They urged the Congress to Stop the Treatment, of the Veteran for the PTSD issue.
Also ! They urged the Congress to stop paying the Veteran.
Compensation for the veterans claim of having : PTSD.
By 1980, five (5) years after the Viet-Nam war had ended.
The combination of suicide and suicide induced accidents.
Committed by the Viet-Nam combatant, was at fifty two percent. (52%)
Which means : That within five (5) years, after the Viet-Nam war had ended.
Over half of the Viet-Nam combatants. Who had survived the war and returned home.
Were now dead - By their own hand.
The issue of PTSD is being Scrutinized by the American Enterprise Institute.
They are saying : PTSD is a Liberal Hippie dream.
Lynne Cheney the Wife of : V.P. Cheney, Is on the Board of Directors.
(The American Enterprise Institute)
This is the Real Attitude of : The Republican (Nazi) Party,
Towards - The Combat Veterans of America
Criminal Corporate (Nazi) America - The Republican (Nazi) Party
The Bush - Cheney Administration''s
Gift of Patriotism - and - Appreciation
To the Combat Veteran and their Families
Lastdance
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HAHAHA. Another 9/11 hasn''t happen since 9/11....because the CIA and FBI haven''t needed to create another one yet.
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It''s all about ego.
Her and Darth Cheney certainly don''t need the cash.
Thanks for all the suffering and death you and the husband you support have brought to the world.
Posted by mh4cbs1,
Lynne is like the wife of a southern slave owner, her husband will always be seen as "a good Christian man", while the tortures, rapes, and other inhumanities committed by the husband don''t count toward the assessment.
When the slaves begin to resist, they are "terrorists", and so, in order to protect the slave owners "way of life" the resister/terrorists must be put in their "place", or wiped out.
Come to think of it, Bush and Cheney have a lot of wives posting in these topics.
Posted by andor3 at 12:18 AM : Oct 08, 2007
LOL! Uh, hmm, this is true. I''m not laughing anymore.
myth busters: the liberal press is a myth manufactured by the anti-American right wing.
ummm, fact check: that never happened
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