Raddatz: "Two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives."
Cheney: "So?"
Raddatz: "So -- you don't care what the American people think?"
Cheney: "No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn't had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there."
Here's just something for the vice president to ponder. I'm sure at some point in his career he must have perused the Declaration of Independence:
... Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.So... Mr. Vice President.
So... it does matter what the American people think, since you derive your power from our consent and your resources from our paychecks.
So... it does matter if one of the 4,000 dead Americans is one of your family members. It's easy for you to be callous since you don't know the service members whole lives were lost because of your folly. But they are real people, and their families deserve more respect than a dismissive "so" and platitudes about their patriotism.
So... by every objective measurement, your policies have all failed. When you are in the dust bins of history, we will reserve our enending contempt for your incompetence.
So there!
