It is not often, in my experience, that a person is given the chance to find out what he will sell out for. In my case the price was surprisingly (to me) low—the promise of a fine meal.
Dinner with Dick Cheney would not ordinarily hold any attraction for me. And I will point out that this was not an opportunity I sought out—I received an email notifying me that a colleague had signed us up. I still would have declined had the invite not included
one detail—Del Posto. One of those storied New York restaurants run by celebrity chefs charging celebrity level prices, and purported to serve exquisite food.
Did my desire to experience Del Posto’s culinary offerings trump my distaste for Dick Cheney? Apparently it did. Having been a protestor outside the 2004 Republican Convention in NYC (I was the guy in the chicken suit with the ‘Chickenhawk George’ sign) I rationalized my decision to see Cheney with the logic that he is no longer in office and mostly irrelevant to anything happening today. I was also quite curious to see what sort of crowd he would attract (even most Republicans don’t seem to think much of the guy).
So following a meal (eaten about 10 yards from where Cheney ate his) that lived up to every high expectation I had, Cheney took his place at the front of the room with the moderator. He was addressing a very friendly crowd (energy traders and others involved in the industry) and the moderator lobbed softballs for Cheney to expound on. No surprises in what he said—Cheney likes the free market, is against many energy industry regulations, and doesn’t think Obama is doing a good job with…anything. There were no questions about waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, Iraq, the outing of Valerie Plame, Halliburton’s financial success during his VP tenure, or anything that a decent reporter would be expected to ask. There were four or five questions taken from the audience which didn’t differ significantly in challenging Cheney (I had thought of a few to ask in case I was selected—“Do deficits matter?” “Is it true Slobodan Milosevic inspired you to become a war criminal?” “If you had to sing a song, could you perform an extraordinary rendition of Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars?”—but didn’t get the chance).
What did surprise, and it shouldn’t have, was his pleasant manner and (I hate to admit) charm. Perhaps it is because he was so often on the defensive, but when I had seen him on TV there had rarely been a hint of amiability or good humor, but he seemed different with this crowd. He joked and told endearing stories about his father in Casper Wyoming. I suppose no one in politics can have a career as long as Cheney had and be completely devoid of charm, but prior to this Cheney would have been my choice to be the exception. I will concede that had I spent some time in a secret middle-eastern prison or being waterboarded his jokes and stories probably would not have had the same effect.
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…and those of us who like both food and cheney, what shall we do?
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you Rufus, are my inspiration.
Thank you for sharing superb informations. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK!
regards for posting this.
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I really like your writing style, great info , regards for posting : D.
Nicely written, but do you think you’re better than him? Just asking.
OMG, do you see whats transpiring in Syria? In spite of a brutal government crackdown, the demonstrations continue
Any news about Cheney’s mystical disappearance?
You brought up very good information, thankyou for it.
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How much fun is it to read about evil?! don’t know
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Fun article. Pretty gutsy of you to say you enjoyed yourself having dinner with that subhuman.
Who gave you a blog?
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Fantastic post! I found it really insightful. Thanks, Rufus.
You made some first rate points here.
Just what I was searching for, appreciate it for putting up.
Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my friend, ROCK!
I love your writing style. really.
Found you through Google, Bing and Yahoo! Will come back!
All you wished you knew about this and didn’t know whom to ask. Glimpse right here, and you’ll definitely uncover it.
…and those of us who like both food and cheney, what shall we do?
I’m not that much of an online reader to be honest but I did like what you wrote.
why don’t you write about ways to get a woman to love you?
I respect your work.
Why beat yourself up?
Great article. I’m impressed! Thank you and good luck.
Simply want to say your article is amazing. Thanks a million and please continue the gratifying work.
Best regards
This was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.
Outstanding post :D.
I was curious if you ever considered changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
you Rufus, are my inspiration.
Thank you for sharing superb informations. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK!
regards for posting this.
truly nice stuff. I love it.
F*ckin’ amazing things here.
I really like your writing style, great info , regards for posting : D.
Hey all, teriffic work.
Perfectly composed content, Really enjoyed reading through.
Love it!
Nicely written, but do you think you’re better than him? Just asking.
OMG, do you see whats transpiring in Syria? In spite of a brutal government crackdown, the demonstrations continue
Any news about Cheney’s mystical disappearance?
You brought up very good information, thankyou for it.
Awsome info and straight to the point…with a few laughs on the way 🙂
Fantastic web site. Is Cheney still around? Does Mitt like him at all?
I am really impressed with your writing talents. Keep up the excellent high quality writing, it’s rare to look a nice weblog like this one today..
Regards
Clearly that’s an enjoyable observation, thank you so much for your effort in the homework. This blog has become bookmarked undoubtedly!
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I believe this website holds some really superb information for everyone : D.
I do love the way you have presented this particular concern plus it does supply us some fodder for thought.
Enjoyed reading through this, very good stuff, thankyou .
You inspired me to search the Internet for something more than concert tickets. Thanks.
I like this post. enjoyed it. thanks for putting it up.
wonderful post.Never knew this, thankyou for letting me know.
Keep up the superb piece of work, I read few posts on this web site and I believe that your web site is rattling interesting and contains lots of excellent information.
Some really nice stuff on this site, I love it.
I really love your posts. Awesome.
How much fun is it to read about evil?! don’t know
I truly appreciate your honesty and am looking forward to read more from you. Fantastic.
Fun article. Pretty gutsy of you to say you enjoyed yourself having dinner with that subhuman.
Who gave you a blog?
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Fantastic post! I found it really insightful. Thanks, Rufus.