It's the bell at the Cheney School where Senator Edwards got taken to last night. Despite the derogatory references being made in the media to Cheney as the dark lord and Darth Vader, he simply came across as an experienced leader who joined the Bush ticket to become part of a management team. It has been made clear by Cheney himself that he does not fill this role with political aspirations of his own but to bring his management expertise to the position. The main difference between Cheney and Edwards is that Cheney could be a president.
Far from being the cranky old man we would expect, Cheney was actually quite gracious. When given a chance by the moderator to comment on Edwards almost complete lack of experience Cheney passed on the chance to call him a rookie. Instead he focused on what little record and attendance Edwards can point to and called it undistinguished.
Cheney exploited many of the obvious weaknesses that President Bush missed last week. The most devastating was the reference to the reason why the Kerry team flip flopped on the Iraq issue. Governor Dean was striking a chord with the anti war wing of the Democratic Party and in order to shore up that support in the primaries Kerry swung to Dean's position. "If Kerry couldn't stand up to Howard Dean how could he stand up to Al Qaida" asked Cheney.
Cheney made several key points regarding the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. The importance of the Afghan elections and the number of people who have registered to vote in them cannot be understated. Cheney castigated Edwards for his refusal to acknowledge the losses by the Iraqis in the fight against the insurgency. Aren't the Iraqis part of the coalition?
On the domestic front Cheney made reference to the Patriot Act, education and Medicare drug legislation which the president has gotten passed and that both Senator Kerry and Edwards supported but now oppose.
The bottom line is that what was on display was a stark difference. A seasoned veteran of public service who has served four presidents in very high level capacities versus a first term senator with virtually no record of achievement in governance at any level.
