Cheney says Haliburton did not support Myanmar regime
Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, appeared on the Friday, October 27, edition of "Larry King Live."
Dick Cheney denied newspaper reports that his former company supported a brutal regime in Myanmar -- and also said he was not surprised that the race for the White House appeared to be a very close one.
This is a transcript of Friday's interview.
KING: Dick, did you expect this to be as close as it is and so many states now up in the air?
D. CHENEY: I think we did, Larry. We planned that. I mean, that's the only safe assumption in running a national campaign. I think our feeling has been really since the debates that things have begun to shift our way, and we see that in a lot of the state-by-state analyses that are out there.
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But we're betting it's going to be close right down to the wire, and we'll be going flat-out from now until Election Day.
KING: Lynne, is turnout going to be a key? I mean, are we going to look for signs -- if we have a huge turnout, is that good for you? What are the indicators to you?
L. CHENEY: Well, I think in an election this close, it will be very important for each side to get its vote out. I think we have an advantage because from everything I can tell the people on our side care more that our candidate wins then the people on the other side care if their candidates win. And I think in an election where turnout is going to be key, that that's an enormous advantage.
But again, as Dick said, nothing's taken for granted. The voter turnout effort on our side is considerable.
KING:All right, let's get into some issues. As you know, when we get into the last week things always break, and I want to give Dick a chance to respond to that story today in The Wall Street Journal about your former company, Haliburton's, relationship with a brutal junta government in Myanmar, which is formerly Burma, and Haliburton's involvement supporting the regime that treated its people terribly.
D. CHENEY: Well, Larry, we didn't support the regime. We were there because we had competed on a contract to lay some undersea pipeline offshore in Myanmar. It was done through a joint-venture partner. It was fully in compliance with U.S. policy, and our conduct around the world, the Haliburton operation is in more that 120 countries, and you have to operate in some very difficult places and oftentimes in countries that are governed in a manner that's not consistent with our principals here in the United States.
But the world's not made up only of democracies, and everything we did there was totally in compliance with U.S. policy, as the article made clear.
KING: Did you expect this kind of thing to come out, though?
D. CHENEY: Oh, I think so. It wouldn't be a story except for the fact that I'm running for vice president...
KING: Yes.
D. CHENEY: ... and we've had a number of things like that. We're getting down close to the end of the campaign now, and so all kinds of stuff is flying around out there. But Haliburton is a great company. I'm very proud of my association with it and the time I spent there, and it's staffed with very, very fine people doing a great piece of work.
KING: And one other thing before we get into issues. The State Department released a memo this week indicating that diplomats in Asia and Africa helped the company secure lucrative overseas deals while you headed the company. And does that fly with your saying that the wealth you received in the private sector had absolutely nothing to do with the government?
D. CHENEY: Well, I think...
KING: Even though they do that for a lot of companies.
D CHENEY: They do that for a lot of companies. That's their job. They get paid to do that. And we paid anywhere from 38 to 40 percent of everything we earned in the form of taxes to support the government. So this debate over what the government's responsible for or not responsible for is partly a matter of philosophy.
Al Gore and Joe Lieberman are fond of saying Bill Clinton's created 22 million jobs. Those of us who've worked in the private sector have a very different attitude. We think that it's the companies out there and the entrepreneurial spirit and the hard work of the American people that really makes the economy go and that's created those jobs. And that's part of what the debate's been about.
But I -- I'm very comfortable with what I did at Haliburton. As I say, I think it's a great company, a quintessential American success story. It started 80 years ago, one guy with a handful of employees and a bunch of used equipment, and today it's the world's leading energy services company, 100,000 employees in over 120 companies.
KING: You're a former secretary of defense. Do you think the United States acquitted itself well with regard to response to the Cole?
D. CHENEY: Well, I think so. So far, the main concern I think all of us have to have is to support the families who were lost, as a reminder that it is still very dangerous in various places around the world to serve in the U.S. military. It's also important to remember that those 17 sailors who died on the Cole are all volunteers, and that the rest of us as Americans have an obligation to see to it that they get the resources they need, our volunteer forces, to do the job we ask them to do for us.
The key now is to find out who did it and then make certain that a penalty is imposed. No one should be able to launch tat kind of terrorist attack against the United States with impunity...
KING: One...
D. CHENEY: ... We need to be very tough and very aggressive in our response.
KING: One intelligence analyst, though, did quit over this, saying that warnings were ignored. Did that upset you, surprise you?
D. CHENEY: I don't know enough of the details to be able to make a judgment at this point, Larry. I think it's very important to go back and look and find out, was there reporting that would have led reasonable people to conclude there was a threat to the Cole? If there wasn't such reporting, do we need to do more to beef up our intelligence so that we can penetrate whatever organization was responsible for this outrage.
So it's clearly worth our going back and trying to figure out exactly what happened and where there might have been breakdowns in the system in order to improve our performance. It shouldn't be a matter here of searching for scapegoats, it really ought to be an issue to make sure our troops are safe when they deploy overseas and that we, as I say, that we find the guilty party and take appropriate action.
KING:: Lynne Cheney, you've always been a political activist, so we can go anywhere with you. And your husband was secretary of defense, and he has been critical of military preparedness.
Is that fair game in an election campaign when you're telling people who may be enemies that we're shorthanded.
L. CHENEY: Absolutely. I've been dismayed by this notion that somehow it is unpatriotic to discuss the state of the American military. Of course we have the greatest military in the world, and Dick and I are both very proud of the time we've had associated with it. But, as I've heard Dick say and I've heard the governor say out on the campaign trail, the trends are in the wrong direction.
We aren't providing our troops, our voluntary troops, the support they need to do the job they want to do, nor are we making the investment in the future that we need to make so that in eight, 10 years, when we're faced with a threat, as we inevitably will be, we're ready for it. That kind of investment, that kind of readiness, are both things that the governor and Dick have talked about and vowed to improve.
KING: Lynne, it's no secret you're very conservative. Has there -- there's been some stories to this effect. Any muzzling of you? Has anybody said, Lynne -- Dick is laughing hysterically, we notice. He's lived with you. Has anybody said, hey, stay away from that?
L. CHENEY: Absolutely not. In fact, I've had a great time out on the road by myself. Out on the road last week, too, we had a great time. I was with Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Cindy McCain. We did a bus tour for a while. I mean, it's -- it's been a really interesting experience, one we're honored by, but fun as well.
KING: But nobody has said, don't say this, Lynne?
L. CHENEY: Of course not.
KING: We'll be right back with the Cheneys. They're in Washington. We're going to spend another segment with them and then meet our panel. This is LARRY KING: LIVE.
Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Dick, what's your theory on how the debates played, yours and the three presidential debates? What played in this voting question this year?
D. CHENEY: Well, I think they probably will turn out to have been pretty significant, Larry. I think if you look at what happened I think going into the debates, there was a general expectation that Al Gore was a great debater, that he probably would score points through that period of time, and the Governor Bush's task was to sort of make sure that he didn't lose any traction during that period.
I think just the reverse happened. In fact, I thought the governor did very well in each of the three debates. I think when all was said and done, if you look at the evidence that's available, most of the polls show pretty conclusively that people came away from the debates with a strong feeling about the governor's believability, about their willingness to trust him, they basically like him, that those qualities they're looking for in terms of leadership are very much to be found in George Bush.
So I thought the debates were really a turning point for us. They really sort of take the deficit that I think we were in after the Democratic convention and turned that around to our advantage.
KING: Lynne, do you think Bill Clinton -- this is a -- this is a professional opinion, reportorial maybe -- should be involved more in this campaign or not?
L. CHENEY: Oh, we hope he will be. I think it's not terribly good for the vice president to remind everyone of his ties to the past administration and...
KING: Even though that administration has a 62 rating, higher than Eisenhower's, and performance?
L. CHENEY: Well, you know, Larry, the issue of character is playing a mighty role in this election. I'm out there. I see it every day. I talk to the people on rope-lines. And the whole issue of character, of having a government that we all can be very proud of is very strong, and I think that part of the Clinton administration is something that it will not serve the vice president well to remind people of.
KING: Dick, are you -- I know there are others condemning this ad, a Texas-based, not-for-profit, Aretino Industries running an ad in states like Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, accusing the Clinton-Gore administration of selling the nation's security to the communists.
D. CHENEY: I haven't seen it, Larry.
KING: Have you heard about it?
D. CHENEY: I have not. So my problem is I get out there on the trail all day long, and I'm doing events and rallies and press conferences and so forth, and organization. But this is the first I've heard about it. It sounds like an independent expenditure. It doesn't sound like anything that would have come out of our campaign.
KING: Is one of the problems, when get into the last weeks and everything is such a flurry, anything can come out tomorrow?
D. CHENEY: Well, I think that's true.
KING: I mean, any group can get together and take an ad tomorrow...
D. CHENEY: Sure.
KING: ... and your -- and either side is put on the defensive in responding.
D. CHENEY: Well, and I think we have to be very careful in these closing days of the campaign because that is a danger. You could have somebody out there who's simply got money, write a check, put an ad on the air without any real accountability until after the election's over with. It's partly a matter for the press to watch and monitor to some extent.
But I think -- I think the closing days of the campaign are a time now when we are seeing some activities on the other side, frankly, that we find offensive, some of the phone messages that are going out on behalf of the Gore campaign. Independent advertising, independent expenditures clearly is controversial. On the one hand, sometimes they do things that sort of pollute the process. On the other hand, you have to be careful of people's First Amendment rights and be cautious, as the courts have ruled, about telling people they can't speak their own minds.
KING: Not easy being a democracy.
D. CHENEY: No, it's not. It's a complicated process, but as painful as it sometimes is, I come away from this experience, being the vice presidential candidate with Governor Bush for these last some months, really has been a fantastic experience, certainly one of the highlights of my career.
KING: What's it been like for you, Lynne?
L. CHENEY: Well, it's -- it's been very interesting. I've had a chance to go to a lot of schools, since education has been a longtime interest of mine. Also, yesterday, for example, I went to a faith- based organization, a shelter for the homeless in -- in Kentucky, and it's a good thing to be able to call attention to people who are helping other people voluntarily. The governor places a great deal of confidence in what we as Americans can do to help each other.
He's also interested in seeing that that kind of enterprise flourishes by having, for example, letting people deduct their charitable deductions whether or not they itemize, by making sure that those institutions are eligible for government funding, for some of the programs that they do, like after-school programs.
So I've really met wonderful people. I've seen some great things going on in this country, and it's an experience I will treasure forever.
KING:: What -- how's your health, Dick? Dick and I are in the same club, the zipper club, as it's called. How are you feeling?
D. CHENEY: It's been great. My only problem, I had a slight head cold for a couple of days, Larry. But I've felt very well throughout the whole campaign. It's really been a stimulating experience. It's probably taken five years off my age.
KING:: Really? You mean this has been a healthy experience for you? D. CHENEY: I think it has. Sure, I -- I -- you have to be more disciplined, watch what you eat, make sure you get a good night's sleep. We have a treadmill usually in the hotel rooms so I can workout every morning. So it's been a -- from that standpoint, it's been a good experience, and as I, I've looked after my health, which I have to do, as you and I both know, and...
KING: Yes.
D. CHENEY: But it's been very positive from this standpoint.
KING: Anything, Dick, since this will be the last time before election day and we expect to see a lot of you after election day, you'd like to say to the public?
D. CHENEY: Well, say, what I mentioned earlier. This really has been a tremendous privilege. We've met some fantastic people out there across the country. There are literally millions of Americans who are engaged now in this process, going to make a very important decision next November 7th, and I'm simply proud to have been associated with Governor Bush, to have had the privilege to run.
I look forward to winning on November 7th. I think the signs are all very positive, and then we'll be happy to come back and visit on your show again, Larry.
KING: And Lynne, are you ready to be -- what is it called, second lady?
L. CHENEY: Well, I have no idea. I will tell you that the Secret Service calls me, second lady, the misses.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: You're the misses?
L. CHENEY: That's right. That's right. I've adapted to that.
KING: Always good seeing you both. Thanks, Cheneys.
L. CHENEY: Great to talk to you.
D. CHENEY: Thanks, Larry.
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Friday, October 27, 2000
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