# Cheney: Never met Edwards before tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 6, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813 "2004-10-06T05:36:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/81 "2004-10-07T13:42:16Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > Tricky boy, that Cheney! 😃😃😃😃 So, he tells a lie for ultra-devious reasons, knowing that he’ll be found out one way or another, and this is evidenbce that Cheney is intelligent? Wow, I’m glad I’m too stupid to lie in that way. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/82 "2004-10-07T13:43:10Z")
It’s all in a day’s work for an Evil Genius™ . ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/83 "2004-10-07T14:18:07Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Maybe Cheney’s a Christian; maybe he should study up on the eighth **amendment**. 😃😃 Sorry, Daniel, but I just HAD to notice this little flub 😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/84 "2004-10-07T14:23:58Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > 😃😃 Sorry, Daniel, but I just HAD to notice this little flub 😃😃 :smack: 'Swhat an atheist boy gets for trying to call a Christian on his hypocrisy. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/85 "2004-10-07T14:25:39Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > I’ve got it figured out! > > Cheney was baiting Edwards in the hope that Edwards would correct him and remind him of their prayer breakfast (or other insignificant meeting), thereby allowing Cheney to make more hay out of the ironic fact that when they _did_ meet, it _still_ wasn’t in the Senate. Itv wasn’t just a prayer breakfast. Cheney has met Edwards at least four times. It was also disingenuous for Cheney to cite being the president of the Senate because veeps almost never show up at senate sessions unless they have to ast a vote. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/86 "2004-10-07T14:44:45Z")
> [@GLWasteful](#): > > Honestly, gang, I think that this is much sound and fury signifying nothing. Cheney took an opportunity to dig at Edwards and Edwards refused to rise to his bait. As a matter of fact, what impressed me most last night was Cheney’s refusing to play defense. Now, it meant that he refused to answer certain questions on occasion, but I was still mightily impressed. Soory, but Cheney refusing to play defense? He spent the first half of his answer to the Israel question defending Halliburton, which was brought up by Edwards in a previous topic, and then talked about Israel as if it was a footnote. That was the most defensive thing I saw all night. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/87 "2004-10-07T14:50:27Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Itv wasn’t just a prayer breakfast. Cheney has met Edwards at least four times. Yes, I know. That’s why I put “or other insignificant meeting” in parentheses in my post you quote. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > It was also disingenuous for Cheney to cite being the president of the Senate because veeps almost never show up at senate sessions unless they have to ast a vote. I know that also. But disingenuousity was running rampant that night on both sides. It’s politics. (I don’t remember the name of the clergyman who said this, but I remember when Clinton was first running for president and he made some disingenuous remark [may have been the “I didn’t inhale” comment] that had him being widely ridiculed, and in Clinton’s defense this clergyman said, in effect, “Of course he can’t tell the _truth_, he’s running for _president_!”) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/88 "2004-10-07T15:15:38Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > I’ve got it figured out! > > Cheney was baiting Edwards in the hope that Edwards would correct him and remind him of their prayer breakfast (or other insignificant meeting), thereby allowing Cheney to make more hay out of the ironic fact that when they _did_ meet, it _still_ wasn’t in the Senate. The fact that Edwards himself either didn’t remember meeting Cheney (althought his wife did) or chose not to respond scuttled Cheney’s clever ploy. I see. So Cheney was lying in order to bait a trap? Even if we accept this ludicrous proposition, it doesn’t make it any more acceptable. Hell, people have been banned on this very message board for similar behavior. I’d like to think that we are entitled to expect better from the Vice President of the United States. > [@Starving Artist](#): > > Remember, Cheney is far more intelligent that most of the posters to this thread Methinks you give him far too much credit. If explaining this whole incident comes down to a choice between Cheney’s intelligence and Cheney’s mendacity, i’ll carve with Occam’s Razor and take the latter every time. The Daily show last night showed video from the 2001 breakfast where Cheney and Edwards met. Not only did they shake one another’s hand at the beginning of the event, but they sat _side by side_ during the whole thing. Personally, bad as it is, i think that Cheney’s lie on that issue pales beside his outrageous assertion that he had “not suggested that there’s a connection between Iraq and 9/11.” The DNC film, linked to by **mack** earlier, shows that this is patently false. The sheer hubris that enables Cheney to make that statement is absolutely staggering, ranking alongside Rumsfeld’s [assertion](http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/) on “Meet the Press” that he had never claimed that Iraq posed an immediate threat. These people seem to think that barefaced lying will simply go unremarked, or that their supporters just don’t really care about it. Unfortunately, poll numbers and the tortuous rationalizations of Dopers like **Starving Artist** suggest that they might be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/89 "2004-10-07T15:16:54Z")
Saying “I didn’t inhale” was probably the dumbest thing Clinton ever said, even though it may have been true. Clinton later tried to clarify that he had _tried_ to inhale and and had choked and couldn’t get it down- a common phenomonon for first time pot smokers. Hell, **I** choked the first time I tried to smoke pot. Still, it came out very weaselly and it was uncharacteristically stupid for BC who was usually pretty sharp about how he phrased things. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/90 "2004-10-07T15:23:44Z")
**mhendo** , I think you’ve taken my post a little too seriously. I was being facetious. The post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/91 "2004-10-07T15:28:12Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > **mhendo** , I think you’ve taken my post a little too seriously. I was being facetious. The post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. 🙂 When your serious posts make no more sense than your satirical posts, there’s a problem. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/92 "2004-10-07T15:34:16Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > **mhendo** , I think you’ve taken my post a little too seriously. I was being facetious. The post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. 🙂 Perhaps, but i’ll be more likely to see it that way when you demonstrate that you can actually tell the difference between claiming not to remember meeting someone on the one hand, and stating outright that you have never met them on the other. The first would be almost excusable, given the number of people that Cheney meets. The second—which is what Cheney did—is an outright lie, told for the specific purpose of making Edwards look bad. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/93 "2004-10-07T15:38:13Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > When your serious posts make no more sense than your satirical posts, there’s a problem. > > Daniel See, it’s its this type of thinking that was the inspiration for my satirical comment about Cheney being more intelligent than most of the posters to this thread. You can see neither the humor in my satirical posts nor the correctness of my serious posts. Bad on ya, mate! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/94 "2004-10-07T15:38:42Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > Remember, Cheney is far more intelligent that most of the posters to this thread At least one, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/95 "2004-10-07T15:41:07Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Perhaps, but i’ll be more likely to see it that way when you demonstrate that you can actually tell the difference… See it however you like. All I can do is tell you the spirit in which it was posted; how you choose to view it once you have that information is up to you. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/96 "2004-10-07T15:42:44Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > See, it’s its this type of thinking that was the inspiration for my satirical comment about Cheney being more intelligent than most of the posters to this thread. You can see neither the humor in my satirical posts nor the correctness of my serious posts. Bad on ya, mate! 😉 Correct. When nobody understand what the fuck you’re talking about, it’s everybody’s problem but your own. At least you still know how to use smileys; for that alone I can respect you. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/97 "2004-10-07T15:52:13Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Hell, **I** choked the first time I tried to smoke pot. Still, it came out very weaselly and it was uncharacteristically stupid for BC who was usually pretty sharp about how he phrased things. Yeah, it surprised me, too. But it was in the run-up to the first election and perhaps he wasn’t as polished as he would eventually become. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/98 "2004-10-07T15:58:19Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Correct. When nobody understand what the fuck you’re talking about, it’s everybody’s problem but your own. See, this is most telling. The occaisonal conservative who dares to show up in these threads always seems to know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s only those on the other side who claim not to understand. I, on the other hand, think you understand perfectly. You just don’t agree and therefore you pretend not to understand in a futile effort to appear superior. > [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > At least you still know how to use smileys; for that alone I can respect you. > > Daniel Thanks…I think. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/99 "2004-10-07T16:04:50Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Soory, but Cheney refusing to play defense? Well, yeah. There were instances where he refused to let something go unremarked, but I was still damned impressed by his doggedness to stay on the offense. Didn’t always work to his credit, and I was standing in my kitchen calling him a liar for a great deal of what crept out of his mouth, but I was still impressed by his performance. As to **Starving Artist** ’s tortuous attempt to explain what happened, well, I’ll take amusement no matter the source. > [@mhendo](#): > > Personally, bad as it is, i think that Cheney’s lie on that issue pales beside his outrageous assertion that he had “not suggested that there’s a connection between Iraq and 9/11.” May I offer a hearty and ironic “Amen”? Because **this** was one of those things that had me staring at the television with my mouth agape. I was floored that he would not only lie, but lie so blatantly about something that he’s on record for having said. More than once. And **then** to try and tie Iraq and Al Qaeda together later in the debate? The ability to lie with a straight scowl on his face is also pretty astounding. Waste ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813/100 "2004-10-07T16:22:06Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > Yes, I know. That’s why I put “or other insignificant meeting” in parentheses in my post you quote. Do you consider the swearing in duties of the Vice President as insignificant? Do you consider the casting of tie-breaking Senate votes to be insignificant? Do you think it is fair and accurate to call a weekly newsmagazine from another part of the state his “hometown paper”? The assertion is ludicrous on its face. It was meant to underscore a false charge that Edwards has been markedly absent. IIRC Edwards’ participation in votes is over 95%. As I’ve noted before, it appears that every time Cheney was present for a Senate session, Edwards was there. So, insignificant meetings, notable occasions - they have met, Edwards was there, Cheney is a liar. Is there a charge against this administration that you wouldn’t dance and spin to defend? It’s a bit like watching _ **Crouching Tiger, Starving Artist** _. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-never-met-edwards-before-tonight/267813.md?page=6)