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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (284736)	8/8/2002 11:11:24 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 769667

Cheney speaks -- sort of . . . The San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Thursday, August 8, 2002 VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney made a rare swing through the Bay Area -- actually, a rare public appearance anywhere -- to reassure us he is still poised in the White House wings with a trove of expertise on foreign and domestic policy and a touch of maturity. This combination was once seen as an indispensable asset to the Bush White House. But his visit Wednesday lacked a feature that could have shown him as the confident personification of a successful administration. He ducked any tough questioning by the press. Such has been the pattern of Cheney's public appearances in recent months. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks triggered stringent security precautions, often hiding the whereabouts of the second-in-command to thwart potential evildoers. As that immediate concern abated, other problems intruded on the veep's traditional public role. His activity heading the president's National Energy Policy Development Group at the height of California's ruinous energy crisis is a continuing focus of controversy. Secrecy is the administration's characteristic defense to embarrassing inquiry. There was no chance before the Commonwealth Club here for reporters to ask Cheney about a federal judge's order that the administration turn over documents about his task force's consultations with such energy industry powers as Enron's Kenneth Lay. Cheney easily deflected a question, filtered through the moderator, about the Securities and Exchange Commission probe of accounting practices at the Halliburton Co. when Cheney headed that corporation. He begged off on the ground that he must not be seen trying to influence the SEC. As the ex-CEO of a scrutinized corporation during a national epidemic of corporate scandals, Cheney is not as much of a plus as formerly in the Bush camp's political calculations. He is still good at raising money in GOP circles closed to the inquisitive press, and that's what he did in the rest of his visit to these parts. sfgate.com