Cheney Says Kerry Suffers 'Fundamental Misunderstanding'
By RICK LYMAN
Published: September 4, 2004
PENDLETON, Ore., Sept. 3 - In his first public appearance after the Republican convention, Vice President Dick Cheney stood by every one of the administration's foreign and economic policies in a speech here on Friday that drew unflattering comparisons with the positions of Senator John Kerry.
"A good defense is not enough, so we've gone on offense" in fighting terrorism, Mr. Cheney told hundreds of enthusiastic supporters. "Senator Kerry seems to object. He's even said that by using our strength we are creating terrorists and placing ourselves in greater danger."
Democrats have suggested that the war in Iraq actually destabilized the Mideast by making that country a source of terrorism.
"That is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the world works," Mr. Cheney said. "Terrorist attacks are not created by the use of strength. They are a result of the perception of weakness."
He spoke longest about the war on terrorism, the issue on which President Bush enjoys his highest poll ratings, at every point emphasizing the dangers facing the nation.
"This is not an enemy that can be negotiated with or reasoned with or appeased," Mr. Cheney said. "This is, to put it simply, an enemy that must be destroyed, and with George Bush as our commander in chief, that is exactly what we're going to do."
Mr. Cheney also used the event to spell out what he said were the three themes that Republicans would emphasize in the remainder of the presidential campaign.
"The president made it clear last night, if you heard his speech," Mr. Cheney said. "He talked about changing the world we live in, the need to transform the systems of government so that all citizens are equipped and prepared and free to make their own choices and pursue their own dreams. And he also talked about the power of liberty to transform countries and lives to create a future of hope and peace. We're looking forward now to talking about these issues for the next 60 days."
Mr. Cheney's unshowy matter-of-fact style goes over well here, matching the taciturn manner of many in his audience in rural eastern Oregon, a region not so far removed from the vice president's own small-town Wyoming background.
The crowd at the Pendleton Convention Center grew increasingly enthusiastic as the half-hour speech progressed, and shouted encouragement became more frequent.
Arrayed on the stage were veterans in American Legion caps, Boy Scouts whose sashes were thick with merit badges, three young women in fancy cowgirl costumes with fringed vests and, beside them, two people dressed as American Indians, complete with beaded accessories and single-feathered headbands.
This is cattle, wheat and potatoes country, a treeless valley of sweeping vistas and crenellated buttes 186 miles east of Portland. And unlike Portland and much of the Pacific Coast, it is staunchly Republican.
Here, the game for the Republicans is to increase turnout in November, to come up with the numbers necessary to offset those Democratic precincts to the west - on the other side of the mountains, as people here put it. Al Gore beat Mr. Bush by 6,000 votes in Oregon in 2000.
In its first stage, at least, the vice president's postconvention campaign focuses on places like Pendleton, hard-core Republican areas in swing states. On Saturday morning, Mr. Cheney is to have a similar rally in Roswell, in the southeastern corner of New Mexico known as Little Texas.
From there, he plans stops in Minnesota and Iowa.
A huge American flag provided the familiar backdrop for Mr. Cheney's appearance here, punctuated at the side by a pioneer wagon, its canvas cover removed to expose the arching ribs and stuffed to overflowing with bales of hay. The steady hollow thumping of inflatable noise-making tubes that advertised the campaign's Web site competed with the thrum of recorded music like James Brown's "Living in America."
The message that Mr. Cheney and the other speakers put out Friday was that the country is on the right track.
As a fellow Republican, Senator Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, put it, Republicans have to overturn misconceptions about "the growing economy we're restoring or the war that we're winning."
"I have to say that I really like Dick Cheney," said Scott Sager, a financial planner in Pendleton who has lived and worked in Montana, New York and Southern California, but happily returned to remote eastern Oregon, where he was raised and feels most at home. "He seems very fact-driven, and people here like that. He seems very straightforward, very honest. He doesn't worry about his hairdo, you know."
Warren Stewart, regional manager for Blue Cross-Blue Shield and the owner of a 20-acre spread outside Pendleton where he raises Arabian show horses - "Good a way to lose money as any," he said - also praised Mr. Cheney's campaign style for its very lack of style.
"I think he's brilliant, a very good behind-the-scenes guy," Mr. Stewart said. "He probably has a short fuse, I don't know. And maybe he's not so much of a political, out-front sort of guy. But that's not such a bad thing."
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