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Skriven 2006-10-30 23:30:56 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0610303) for Mon, 2006 Oct 30
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Interview of the Vice President by Neil Cavuto, Fox News
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
October 30, 2006

Interview of the Vice President by Neil Cavuto, Fox News
Mrs. Cheney's Office



9:29 A.M. EST

Q Mr. Vice President, welcome. Always good to have you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's good to see you again, Neil.

Q We have now word of the 100th U.S. serviceman who has died in combat this
month. And there's a perception that that is what is taking Americans'
minds off what is inarguably a pretty strong economy. Do you agree with
that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, there's no question but what Iraq is very much on
everybody's minds. It ought to be. It's a very important problem, of
course. And we've got a lot young Americans committed over there doing some
very, very difficult things. And unfortunately, obviously, we've lost a
number, as well, too. It's one of the toughest things any President ever
has to do is to make a decision -- but it's absolutely essential that we
get it right in Iraq.

And I think that, in fact, we're on the right course. I think it's the
right thing for us to be doing. Now, it's not the only issue I'm sure in
this fall's campaign. There are a lot of other issues, too. But I would
expect it's one of the important ones.

Q Do you suspect that these insurgent attacks are timed to influence our
midterm elections?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's my belief. I think they are, very, very
cognizant of our schedule, if you will. They also -- you've got to remember
what the strategy is of the terrorists. They specifically can't beat us in
a stand-up fight. They never have. But whether it's al Qaeda or the other
elements that are active in Iraq, they are betting on the proposition they
can break the will of the American people. They think we won't have the
stomach for the fight long-term. Osama bin Laden says as much. He talks
about this.

And in fact, their belief is that the same thing will happen here that
happened in Beirut in 1983, or Somalia in 1993, when after we lost a number
of people, then we packed it in and came home. The thing that's different,
of course, is 9/11. And there may have been a time when we'd be safe behind
our oceans in the past, but that pretty well went by the boards on 9/11.
And since then, we clearly have to be engaged. We've got to be active.
We've got to prosecute the global war on terror.

We've been able to defend the country successfully for five years now, have
not had other attacks against the U.S., although they've tried. But that's
primarily because we've gone on offense. We've put in place some very
robust measures here at home to protect the country, as well as taking the
fight to the enemy overseas.

Q Do you think, though, that the insurgents are better at these polls than
even we are, that they are reading them and seeing frustration growing with
the war, and regardless of the good economy, saying, let's keep up the
attacks, let's keep up the pressure?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's my belief that they're very sensitive of the fact
that we've got an election scheduled, and they can get on the websites like
anybody else. There isn't anything that's on the Internet that's not
accessible to them. They're on it all the time. They're very sophisticated
users of it. And I do believe that that's a part of it. I think we've also
seen, of course, a higher level of violence because of Ramadan.
Traditionally, there's a spike about this time of year in terms of level of
activity.

But again, I come back to the proposition, they know that the way they win
is if they can, in fact, force America to withdraw on the basis that we
aren't going to stay and finish the job, their basic proposition that they
can break the will of the American people. That's what they believe. And
that's what they're trying to do.

Q Your wife, Mr. Vice President, created a little bit of a stir in an
appearance on a rival news network last week, taking exception to the way
that network portrayed the economy, the government, that things are going
to hell in a hand basket. I'm sort of paraphrasing here. Actually, she was
much more to the point that I'm being. What did you think of that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I thought it was great. We refer to it around the house
as the "slapdown." And she was very tough, but she was very accurate and
very aggressive. And of course, she was in the business for a while. There
was a time on that network when she used to host the show they had on for a
long time called "Crossfire," on Sundays for a couple of years. So she
spoke her mind, and I thought it was perfectly appropriate.

Q Did she go into that kind of ticked off because she saw this week-long
series on -- one day a time -- everything that's bad with America, and she
just said, you know what, I'm going to let it rip?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm sure she'd seen part of it, but, no, I think she
just responded to the moment. But she's pretty tough and pretty aggressive,
and that's exactly the way it ought to be. She presented, I though, a very
strong case.

Q Did you talk to her prior to her going on?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No.

Q Did you talk to her afterwards?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I did.

Q What did you tell her?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I told her I thought it was a sterling performance.

Q All right, so the potential CNN analyst job for her is now out the
window, I guess. All right.

Let's have a little bit about the economy, an overview, sir. We got
indications today consumer spending was up a tenth of a percent, still
good, still the smallest increase in almost a year. GDP in the latest
quarter up still a respectable 1.6 percent, but it's been going down
quarter by quarter. And there are -- some are saying that that is the angst
that's being reflected in polls and surveys about the economy. What do you
make of that?

Q I think the economy is in great shape, Neil. I look at where we've come
when you think that we've had to weather a recession, followed by 9/11 and
the aftermath of 9/11, followed by Katrina, one of the worst natural
disasters in history. The economy has come through all of that in great
shape. We've got all-time record employment -- unemployment down, about 4.6
percent. Real wages and salaries are up. Real income is up across the
board. Corporate profits are good. The stock market is at all-time record
highs and keeps hitting new highs, day after day after day. I'm hard put to
think of how the economy could be much better.

You can find adjustments going on various places in it. Housing is a little
soft right now, but I think the economy is in great shape. And I think a
lot of that is due to the policies the President and the Republican
Congress put in place, specifically the tax cuts we put in. And I think
it's very important going forward that we continue those policies if we
want a strong, healthy economy.

Q The tax cuts -- that's a very big issue if Democrats take control of
Congress. We haven't got a clear answer from a prominent Democrat as to
whether they would be shelved, but at the very least, they're not going to
be renewed. That seems to be a consensus. What happens then, do you think?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, remember the way the law is written, the cuts
that we put in, we cut the rate on capital gains and dividends to 15
percent; we reduced the marriage penalty, increased the child credit,
phased out the death tax and so forth, what happens because of the way the
Senate rules function is those will automatically go back in, the higher
rates will automatically kick back in after a period of time, around 2010
in most cases.

So if Congress does nothing, if they just sit where they are, rates are
going up, taxes are going up. In other words, the Democrats, were they to
take charge if Charlie Rangel were chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
-- Charlie has said there's not a single one of the Bush tax cuts he thinks
should be extended. And he could achieve that objective simply by not
acting. Unless there's an affirmative action by Congress, legislation
passed to keep those rates low, those rates are going back up, and he'd
have a massive tax increase. And I think that would do a lot of damage to
the economy, to say nothing to the fact that it would probably raise the
taxes on the average American family by a couple thousand dollars a year.

Q You mentioned Charlie Rangel, sir. I had him on my show the other day,
and he says that what's happening on Wall Street and these records for the
Dow is for fat cats. It's the Wall Street rich guys who are enjoying this.
This hasn't trickled down. What do you make of that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I just -- I think Charlie doesn't understand how the
economy works and who owns those stocks and those securities that are
represented on Wall Street. Fact of the matter is, well over half of all
Americans have a stake in that. A lot of people have got it in their
pension plans, or if they just own a mutual fund. The health of the economy
is reflected in part in the health of the stock market. And everybody
benefits when the market is doing well, as it is right now.

Q So why aren't they whooping it up? Why aren't they partying? Why aren't
they saying, hey, another record, let's go for it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know -- maybe they've gotten used to it.
But I think the President deserves a lot of credit, and Congress deserves a
lot of credit for what we've been able to accomplish for the economy. And
we'll talk about it a lot during the campaign.

Q I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a non-economic issue with you, sir, and
it concerns torture. And some argue that your words were taken out of
context when -- of whether you approved of water boarding, whether you
approved of other various torture techniques. Could I get unequivocally
from you, your view on water boarding, whether that's appropriate torture?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: My view is I never talk about specific methods. That's
all classified. We don't discuss it. We don't talk about it. We don't
torture, though. It's very important to make that point. We are parties to
international treaties, and any activity the U.S. government is involved
in, in this area is consistent with those treaties and those obligations
and with the law of the land.

Q So there would be never a moment or a time when you think it is
appropriate to go above and beyond traditional ways we treat detainees in
order to get information?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I am a strong supporter of having the CIA have
authorization to run a special program, which we have done, and which the
House has now passed legislation to continue, as has the Senate, that gives
them the authority to operate a program that allows us to interrogate
people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, for example, the man who put together
the attack on 9/11. I think we need to be able to do that. I think we can
do it appropriately. I think we can do it without resorting to torture. But
at the same time, it's one of the most valuable sources of information and
intelligence we have on the enemy, finding out who they are, where they
train, what their plans are. It's one of the reasons we have been able to
prevent another attack on the U.S. since 9/11, for five years now. So I'm
absolutely a believer in that program. I think the Congress did the right
thing in passing it. The President signed it into law. It was part of the
Military Commissions legislation that passed just before they adjourned.

One of the intriguing things is Democrats voted overwhelmingly against it;
32 out of 44 Democrats in the Senate voted against it. And in the House, I
think it was 162 House Democrats voted no on that legislation when it came
up. If they'd their way we wouldn't have the military commissions to try
these terrorists, and we wouldn't have the authorization we need to be able
to interrogate them effectively.

Q Let me ask you, sir, this weekend, "Death of a President" documentary
that purports to show the assassination of President Bush debuted to lousy
numbers. But what's interesting in the documentary, Mr. Vice President, is
how you're portrayed, that once the President --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I haven't seen it.

Q Okay, but once -- (Laughter.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Should I go see it, Neil?

Q No --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay.

Q Let's just leave it at that. What's interesting is how you're portrayed,
though. The President is killed and you are on a vindictive witch hunt that
takes you across the Middle East -- namely to Syria. Not too good, not too
-- I don't know the best way to put it -- complimentary. What do you think
of that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I haven't seen it. I'm reluctant to even comment on it.

Q But does your image in the press and the fact that the way you're
parodied, and the way you're looked at in the media in general, does it
every bug you? Or does Lynne -- we're in your wife's office now -- ever
say, I don't like that at all, they're not being fair to you?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I think the family has adjusted over the years. It
goes with the turf. I sometimes listen to Don Imus in the morning.
(Laughter.) On the grounds that whatever is going to happen to me during
the day, it can't be as bad as what's been said about me first thing in the
morning while I'm shaving. You need to have a thick skin in this business.
I say what I think and do everything I can to support the President, and do
the right thing. I'm pleased to serve.

It's been certainly the highlight of my career to be Vice President. But
the only way to be loved and not have some people unhappy is not to do
anything. We've been involved in some very tough decisions and had to do
some very tough things during our six years now here in office. And with
that goes a certain amount of controversy and criticism, and that's fine. I
don't have a problem with that.

Q When conservative Republicans, Mr. Vice President, ask who do you admire
most, your name always comes out on top. And despite the controversy of the
war and everything else, would you ever feel an obligation to respond to
their call to run?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I've made it very, very clear; I've said it over and
over and over again, I am not a candidate, I won't be a candidate. My
tenure is up when this term ends. I'm here to serve George Bush as Vice
President. I'm not going to run for President. I think I said the other
day, if nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. I can't be
any more definitive than that.

Q What if there was just this push, this clarion push from Republicans, we
need someone tough on terror, and the present cast of characters isn't
doing it, Mr. Vice President, please?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think we've got a lot of great candidates out there,
a lot of people who are eager to run, and I want to encourage them all to
get into the race, and I look forward to supporting the nominee of the
Republican Party next --

Q Finally, sir, on the market. You're well-schooled in that area, as well.
If I were looking -- and many Americans are looking at how well the stock
market has been performing, but you know, I know it can vary day to day, it
can have many multiyear swings -- and I wanted to buy an index, buy
something that parroted the Dow or the S_

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I'd say invest. I think the evidence is
overwhelming that over the long-term the American stock market is a good
investment, earns good returns, dependable returns. And I wouldn't say
that's the only investment you should have, obviously. I think anybody
would urge you to diversify and have other investments, as well, too, don't
put it all in one basket, so to speak. But I don't think there's any
question that investing in the American economy is a good idea for most
people.

Q So given these recent slowing economic stats, you're not worried about a
slowdown or a recession that some have envisioned in the second half of
next year?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm not in the business of making forecasts, but from
everything I can see, and the people I talk with, we're optimistic about
the economy. I think we'll finish strong in the fourth quarter this year,
and I think '07 should be a good year, too.

Q All right. And Democrats, if they take over -- and I know you don't
envision that -- they've talked about a windfall profit tax for the oil
companies. How do you feel about that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think the operations, obviously, I support, the
things I believe in, in terms of tax policy, keeping taxes as low as
possible -- I think the evidence is overwhelming that the kind of policies
we've put in place have, in fact, stimulated growth, stimulated more jobs,
stimulated the economy and corporate profits, made it possible for people
to expand their businesses. And that's all to the good.

It's also, at the same time, that higher level of economic activity
generated a lot more revenue for the federal government. We've, in fact,
met our objective in terms or reducing the deficit in half three years
early.

Now, if you want to start raising taxes, certainly that's a prerogative of
governments if they've got the votes for it and if the President is willing
to sign it. But whatever it is, when you start loading a tax burden back on
the economy you're going to reduce the overall effectiveness and efficiency
of the economy and reduce the opportunities for growth.

Q Final question: Can you see a third party candidate emerging and winning
the White House?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't think so. I think we've got a good, strong
two-party system, and we may have a third party candidate from time to time
-- we've had a fair number of them during my lifetime. They add a certain
dynamism to the process, but we haven't -- I wouldn't make the forecast or
the prediction that one will ever emerge. Could happen at some point. What
we've seen a few times historically is -- the Whigs went out of business
and the Republicans emerged, and something like that could, I suppose,
happen at some point. But right now I expect -- we've got a good, strong
two-party system and that's as it should be.

Q Mr. Vice President, thank you very much.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Neil.

END 9:46 A.M. EST

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