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Dick Cheney

48 quotes

“Principle is okay up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks during the 1976 US Presidential election as quoted in "Nixon's empire strikes back" by Sidney Blumenthal, The Guardian (9 June 2005)
“Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks after introducing a legislation to create a new import tax that would have caused the price of oil to soar by billions of dollars per year October 1986
“And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is not very damned many. So I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.... Once we had rounded him up and gotten rid of his government, then the question is what do you put in its place? You know, you then have accepted the responsibility for governing Iraq.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: August 1992, at the Discovery Institute in Seattle [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/192828_joel29.html
“The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not normally choose to go. But, we go where the business is.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech delivered at the Cato Institute, (June 23, 1998)
“Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greater access there, progress continues to be slow.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech delivered at the London Institute of Petroleum, 1999
“The suggestion that somehow, because this was a close election, we should fundamentally change our beliefs I just think is silly.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: CBS News program Face the Nation (December 2000)
“We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview on NBC (September 16, 2001)
“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction; there is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at the Opening Session of the 103rd National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (August 26, 2002)
“We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cheney on NBC's Meet the Press, March 16, 2003
“[In response to "Do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?"] "Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House....The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My belief is, we will, in fact be greeted as liberators.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meet The Press with Tim Russert. (March 16, 2003)
“[In response to "Reconstituted nuclear weapons. You misspoke."] Yeah. I did misspeak. I said repeatedly during the show weapons capability. We never had any evidence that he had acquired a nuclear weapon.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meet The Press with Tim Russert. (Sept. 14, 2003)
“[In response to "We have not been greeted as liberators."] "Well, I think we have by most Iraqis. I think the majority of Iraqis are thankful for the fact that the United States is there, that we came and we took down the Saddam Hussein government. And I think if you go in vast areas of the country, the Shia in the south, which are about 60 percent of the population, 20-plus percent in the north, in the Kurdish areas, and in some of the Sunni areas, you’ll find that, for the most part, a majority of Iraqis support what we did.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meet The Press with Tim Russert. (Sept. 14, 2003)
“If we’re successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it’s not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it’s not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meet The Press with Tim Russert. (September. 14, 2003)
“You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on Paul O'Neill (January 9, 2004)
“We haven't really had the time yet to pore through all those records in Baghdad. We'll find ample evidence confirming the link, that is the connection if you will between al Qaida and the Iraqi intelligence services. They have worked together on a number of occasions.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Rocky Mountain News, January 2004
“America has shown we are serious about removing the threat of weapons of mass destruction."..."We now know that Saddam Hussein had the capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction.... We know he had the necessary infrastructure because we found the labs and the dual-use facilities that could be used for these chemical and biological agents. We know that he was developing the delivery systems — ballistic missiles — that had been prohibited by the United Nations.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at a Fundraising dinner in New Mexico, (February 16, 2004)
“What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vice Presidential Debate October 5, 2004 [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6187803/
“If the Democratic policies had been pursued over the last two or three years...we would not have had the kind of job growth we've had.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lester Holt interview, MSNBC, March 2, 2004 whitehouse.archives.gov
“With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People...ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on same same-sex marriage Washington Post (25 August 2004)
“Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. And that makes the whole thing mutual — America sees two John Kerrys.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention. - Video and text available. (1 September 2004)
“Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking about the choice Americans would soon make in the presidential election at a Des Moines, Iowa campaign appearance on September 7, 2004 whitehouse.archives.gov.
“The senator has got his facts wrong. I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there's clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Vice Presidential Debates, October 5, 2004.
“The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people. I mean, these are terrorists for the most part.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview talking about the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay on Fox News (13 June 2005)
“I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time... The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Larry King Live. interview (June 20, 2005)
“I think so. I guess if I look back on it now, I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: [In response to the question "Do you think that you underestimated the insurgency's strength?"] Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize Luncheon, June 19, 2006
“Here's what I can tell you about Don Rumsfeld. You're never going to get any credit. And you'll only know how well you're doing if he gives you more work. If that happens, you're doing fine.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Bob Woodward's, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, Simon & Schuster, 2006
“This is an existential conflict. It is the kind of conflict that's going to drive our policy and our government for the next 20 or 30 or 40 years. We have to prevail and we have to have the stomach for the fight long term.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Fox News Sunday responding to the opposition against sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq (January 14, 2007)
“Wolf, you can come up with all kinds of what-ifs; you've got to deal with the reality on the ground. The reality on the ground is, we've made major progress. We've still got a lot of work to do. There's a lot of provinces in Iraq that are relatively quiet. There's more and more authority transferred to the Iraqis all the time.... Bottom line is that we've had enormous successes and we will continue to have enormous successes.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer responding to the question, How worried are you of the Iraqi government turning against the United States? (January 24, 2007)
“I think America is a very special place, that it’s unique in the history of the world; that there was clearly genius involved in the establishment of the Republic; and that it has been either extraordinarily fortunate from time to time, or one can find the hand of Providence, if you will, in what’s happened to the nation over the years.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Jay Nordlinger (January 2009)
“If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the American Enterprise Institute (21 May 2009)
“[W]atching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: National Secruity Speech, American Enterprise Institute (21 May 2009)
“Dick Cheney: I'm more concerned with bad guys who got out and released than I am with a few that, in fact, were innocent. Chuck Todd: 25% of the detainees though, 25% turned out to be innocent. They were released. Dick Cheney: Where are you going to draw the line, Chuck? How are— Chuck Todd: Well, I'm asking you. Dick Cheney: —you going to know? [Overtalk] Chuck Todd: Is that too high? You're okay with that margin for error? Dick Cheney: I have no problem as long as we achieve our objective.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hugh Hewitt: Is he naïve, Mr. Vice President? Or does he have a far-reaching vision that only he entertains of a realigned Middle East that somehow it all works out in the end?”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dick Cheney: I don't know, Hugh. I vacillate between the various theories I've heard, but you know, if you had somebody as president who wanted to take America down, who wanted to fundamentally weaken our position in the world and reduce our capacity to influence events, turn our back on our allies and encourage our adversaries, it would look exactly like what Barack Obama's doing. I think his actions are constituted in my mind those of the worst president we've ever had.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think this whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in. I wouldn't support a ban on all Muslims coming into this country... I mean, religious freedom has been a very important part of our history and where we came from... A lot of people, my ancestors got here, because they were Puritans.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On The Hugh Hewitt Show (7 December 2015).
“I think what we did in Iraq was the right thing to do. I still believe that.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series in Sarasota (January 2017)
“If we hadn't taken down Saddam, Gaddafi would not have surrendered his materials. Now Gaddafi's gone, dead, [and] ISIS plays a significant role today in Libya, [and] they would have inherited that material,” Cheney said. “So that whole area of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and so forth, everybody wants to say, ‘Well, there wasn’t any WMD in Iraq,’ but that's a small, small way to look at the problem.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series in Sarasota (January 2017)
“NATO's crucial. NATO's maybe the best, or most successful, alliance in history... To suggest that it's obsolete is not correct. It's not obsolete. A lot of our NATO allies sent troops to serve alongside ours in Afghanistan after 9/11 and a lot of European soldiers were killed supporting what essentially was our response to an attack upon the United States.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series in Sarasota (January 2017)
“The threat levels are going up, the dangers are increasing and our capability to deal with them has gone down because of the way the Obama administration has operated for the last eight years.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series in Sarasota (January 2017)
“[F]ascinating... significant movement... [P]art of the American tradition... There's something positive... when we can simultaneously swear in a new president and at the same time have a democratic process of people expressing their views. It's their right and we shouldn't be surprised by it, or annoyed by it.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series in Sarasota (January 2017)
“[Donald Trump] tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dick Cheney Is Voting For Kamala Harris", Huffington Post (September 6, 2024)
“I think that the proposition of going to Baghdad is also fallacious. I think if we we're going to remove Saddam Hussein we would have had to go all the way to Baghdad, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he would wait in the Presidential Palace for us to arrive. I think we'd have had to hunt him down. And once we'd done that and we'd gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we'd have had to put another government in its place. What kind of government? Should it be a Sunni government or Shi'i government or a Kurdish government or Ba'athist regime? Or maybe we want to bring in some of the Islamic fundamentalists? How long would we have had to stay in Baghdad to keep that government in place? What would happen to the government once U.S. forces withdrew? How many casualties should the United States accept in that effort to try to create clarity and stability in a situation that is inherently unstable? I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it's my view that the President got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Washington Institute's Soref Symposium, April 29, 1991
“Because if we had gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn't have been anybody else with us. It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Once you got to Iraq and took it over and took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world. And if you take down the central government in Iraq, you could easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it the Syrians would like to have, the west. Part of eastern Iraq the Iranians would like to claim. Fought over for eight years. In the north, you've got the Kurds. And if the Kurds spin loose and join with Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq. The other thing is casualties. Everyone was impressed with the fact that we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had, but for the 146 Americans killed in action and for the families it wasn't a cheap war. And the question for the president in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad and took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein was, how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? And our judgment was not very many, and I think we got it right.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Senator, frankly you have a record in the Senate that's not very distinguished. You've missed thirty-three out of thirty-six meetings in the judiciary committee, almost 70% of the meetings in the intelligence committee, you've missed a lot of key votes on tax policy, on energy, on medicare reform. You're hometown newspaper has taken to calling you senator gone. You've got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate. Now, in my capacity as Vice-President I am the president of the Senate. The presiding officer, I'm up in the Senate most tuesdays when they're in session, the first time I've ever met you is when you walked onto this stage tonight”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vice Presidential Debate October 5, 2004 [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6187803/
“America and all of Europe also want to see Russia in the category of healthy, vibrant democracies. Yet in Russia today, opponents of reform are seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade. In many areas of civil society -- from religion and the news media, to advocacy groups and political parties -- the government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of her people. Other actions by the Russian government have been counterproductive, and could begin to affect relations with other countries. No legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidation or blackmail, either by supply manipulation or attempts to monopolize transportation. And no one can justify actions that undermine the territorial integrity of a neighbor, or interfere with democratic movements.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vice President's Remarks at the 2006 Vilnius Conference (4 May 2006)
“What the Democrats are suggesting, basically, about a withdrawal — you can call it redeployment, whatever you want to call it. Basically, it in effect validates the terrorists' strategy. You've got to remember that the Osama bin Laden-types, the al Qaeda-types, the Zarqawi-types that have been active in Iraq are betting that ultimately they can break the United States' will. There's no way they can defeat us militarily. Their whole strategy, if you look at what bin Laden's been saying for 10 years, is they believe they can, in fact, force us to quit, that ultimately we'll get tired of the fight, that we don't have the stomach for a long, tough battle and that we'll pack it in and go home. If we were to do that it would be devastating from the standpoint of the global war on terror. It would affect what happens in Afghanistan. It would make it difficult for us to persuade the Iranians to give up their aspirations for nuclear weapons. It would threaten the stability of regimes like Musharraf in Pakistan and the Saudis in Saudi Arabia. It is absolutely the worst possible thing we could do at this point. It would be to validate and encourage the terrorists by doing exactly what they want us to do.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with John King on CNN (June 22, 2006)
“In our nation’s 246 year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters. He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it and deep down I think most Republicans know it. Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what's right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so. Liz is fearless, she never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office and she will succeed.”
Dick Cheney (1941–2025) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a political advertisement for his daughter Liz Cheney's re-election, presented on "Joe: GOP Has Become So Radical That Liz, Dick Cheney Are Considered So-Called 'RINOs'" (5 August 2022)