VP Candidates Assess Dick Cheney

CBS Evening News: Biden And Palin Answer Katie Couric's Vice-Presidential Questions

(CBS)  Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin have put in some very long days preparing for their Thursday night debate. To give voters a better sense of who these candidates are, and where they stand on a number of issues, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked Biden and Palin some "Vice Presidential Questions. In this installment, they explain what they think are the best - and worst - things Dick Cheney did as second-in-command.

Click here to read more of what the vice-presidential candidates had to say and see our series, "Presidential Questions."

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Katie Couric: What do you think is the best and worst thing that Dick Cheney has done as vice president?

Joe Biden: I'm not being a wise guy here ... that I don't know what he's done. I mean, there's not many things I'd pick that I thought he's done that have been good. But I admire his strength. I admire his willingness to take positions that are completely contrary to popular opinion. But I think that what he's done has been just, I don't think Dick Cheney trusts that the American people can make judgments that are in the interest of the country. But the thing I think he's really, really has done: I think he's done more harm than any other single high elected official in memory in terms of shredding the constitution. You know, condoning torture, pushing torture as a policy. This idea of a unitary executive, meaning the Congress and the people have no power in a time of war, and the president controls everything. I don't have any animus toward Dick Cheney but I really do think his attitude about the constitution and the prosecution of this war has been absolutely wrong.

Sarah Palin: Worst thing, I guess that would have been the duck-hunting accident, where you know, that was an accident. And that I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate.

So, the best thing though, he's shown support, along with George W. Bush, of our troops. And I've been there when George Bush has spoken to families of those who have suffered greatly, those who are serving in the military. I've been there when President Bush has embraced those families and expressed the concern and the sympathy speaking for all of America in those times. And for Dick Cheney to have supported that effort of George Bush's. I respect that.

[blitzder]

You gotta admire all these Republican spin masters, they can look you straight in the eye (like Palin during the debate) and brazenly lie, and then repeat the lies often enough till the public comes to accept it as fact. Ex: the tax imbroglio,etc.

Unimaginative, corrupt, arrogant, misleading and misrepresentative really describes todays party of Lincoln. THEY NEED TO TAUGHT A LESSON THIS NOVEMBER. VOTE THEM ALL OUT.

[norcalruss]

10. Bush Light and
Dan-Quayle-in-dress

9. Beauty and
the Beast

8. McBush and
His McMuffin

7. Snow White and
Grumpy

6. Dumbo and
Bimbo

5. Igloo and
7 houses more-or-less

4. B00bs and
Wrinkles

3. ****** and
Airhead

2. Geritol and
Mooseburger

1. Numb Nuts and
Furburger

[jehawaii]

Please Katie interview me instead!
So tired of Palin''s excuse for flubbing so badly in the Couric interview, ..She is not a part of main stream media, she is not a part of the Washington Elite, there was a filter between her and the American people...."you Know" the truth is just did not have a "***" answer. In the debates she stuck to her script and did not "answer questions that Biden or Ifill wanted"
Please Katie interview me! I could have given answers to those questions! Im not Washington Elite, or a governor, just an "average Jane".
If I did not live in Hawaii I am sure Id be a hockey mom, but heck Im a hula Mom. So give a real average American the chance (anyone) at an interview then stack it up against her answers! Any woman, so that we dont have to pull punches like Biden did. Just so that Palin doesn''t become the icon for future female presidential candidates.

[sbnilsson]

With Obamas program 95 percent of all American families would get a tax cut. He offers three times more tax relief for the middle class than McCain does. This fact will be decisive in the election.

[ISCHOONOVER]

Are you for real? The future of this contry is on the line. Our reputation around the world needs rebuilding, we are fighting two wars, facing a financial crisis the world has never seen and 1/4 of americans are out of work, but we should vote for Governor Palin because she is hot. What an idiot.

[emarcus1977]

The goal is to enlighten.........please save yourself, think of your family, your country......vote for Palin...cause she is hot and of course a natural leader.

[emarcus1977]

Posted by cecilia333 at 10:17 AM : Oct 03, 2008

so what.....................I grew up in
Detroit....is that third world enough!!!!!!

[emarcus1977]

Carter is like Barry O not Palin. YOu should take a comprehensive reading course. Carter like Barry seemed like change especially after ford and nixon.
But he spent most of his presidency kissing every dictator''s *** in the world and gave the finger to his own people.

[cecilia333]

I was born in a third world country, we had dictators. In all this Bush years I asked why are the American people not seeing that their president has become a dictator. McCain sounds just like Bush, another dictator. He doesn''t like to be contradicted. By the way, since December 2004, I am a proud US citizen, this is my first presidential election and I volunteer in the campaign, not only just give my point of view. All Americans should do their part.

[emarcus1977]

Polish off our copy of Mein Kampf jaydee102
the camps first.......then the ovens. HEIL Barry

[ISCHOONOVER]

To eMarcus1977

How can you compare Governor Sara Palin to ex president Jimmy Carter? Jimmy Carter decided to run for Governor of the State of Georgia at the end of his Senate career in 1966. While he may not have been a great president, he was an outsanding Governor. He increased the number of African American state employees by 40 percent, he equalized the funding of schools in rich and poor districts of the state, and created new educational facilities for prisoners and the developmentally disabled. He also streamlined the state''s administration and budgeting procedures, eliminating many government agencies and canceling a number of wasteful and environmentally destructive building projects. Governor Carter''s reputation for efficient administration, combined with his progressive record on civil rights got him the presidential nomination in 1976. Your unintelligent statements showed why the college educated support the Obama/Biden ticket.

[wlwatkins]

cecilia333 excellent points!!!!

[emarcus1977]

Total outrage! POWER HUNGRY Palin? THis Palin chick should be in the kitchen with her cute little apron with bunnies on it. Her job............ as I remember my mommies job is to take care of me and daddy. Lets see my mommy was so dedicated to her family she didn''t even have a drivers license. Dedicated mommies don''t need them.
So Obama''s old lady. Is she a good mommy? Of course, she is a liberal and also a woman of today.

[wlwatkins]

AND....Good job Katie! You did well. I praise your ability to keep a straight face setting across a dumb *** like Palin. You are more of a women than I! You deserve a reward for that.(But, it is okay to want to slap her into reality-I understand)

[cecilia333]

How can a mother, Palin, use her new born as a political stunt? That baby should have been in a hotel room sleeping. Palin showed her lack of seriousness and professionalism with her winks and her sarcasm. I can see the central Floridians, aka country women, identifying with her. Please, women of the USA, do you really think YOU could be a politician? That is the question here. Can Palin be a heartbeat away from the presidency? The answer is NO. To make things worse, she wants MORE POWER!!!!! Americans, wake up!!

[wlwatkins]

wow...it was kinda humorous at first! But, not after I realized she plans to keep the broaden VP scope as Cheney has done, throwing out our constitution.
Guard the polls, I wouldn''t even let her in charge of my wedding!!!!!!

[emarcus1977]

plato, wasn''t he with goofy? My vote will cancel out yours hahah

[emarcus1977]

Biden was told don''t say anything stupid. But the capped tooth wooden faced idiot couldn''t help himself. Joe is more qualified then Barry O, (that he is qualified to be a bathroom attendant).

[yankees773]

Sarah looked like a Stepford wife. Trained to evade, but repeat the questions. She was also trained to
attack the ther side and act folksy.

The uncommited saw through this and said Biden won.
She reminds me of a female Howdy Doodie.

[msimamaji]

*** Cheney declared himself independent of the executive branch. He endorsed Sarah Palin. Like *** Cheney, Sarah Palin relies on lies and secrecy. She fires truth tellers, whether its Irl Stambaugh, who opposed keeping the bars of Wasilla open until 5 AM or Walter Monegan, who tried to go to Washington to get money to combat sexual assault in Alaska. (Alaska has the highest per capita rate of sexual assault in the country.)
Sarah Palin AKA pit bull is a glorified version of *** Cheney. I do not want another *** Cheney any where neer the White House