Dick Cheney offered The Weekly Standard’s Stephen F. Hayes enormous access for his new love letter book, “Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President,” and TNR has been chronicling some entertaining excerpts. In today’s edition, Cheney tells Hayes why he agreed to be Bush’s running mate.
“If the president of the United States asks you to do something, you really have an obligation to try to do it, if you can.”
Hayes apparently didn’t follow up, which is a shame. When Bush asked Cheney to join the ticket, he wasn’t president of the United States, he was the governor of Texas.
For that matter, Cheney personally led the search for the slot — and chose himself.