This should be really fun. I despise the man, but I can't deny the power and sway he held/continues to hold, and there are so many things I would love to throw at him, but obviously you can't faze him, he's like a demigod of American Capitalism™, so what would be some actual insightful things I could ask?
There are a number of snarky questions that come to mind, but he likely won't respond in an interesting way. IMO you should work with a friend to draw something more interesting out. Your friend can ask him a question that subtly strokes his ego and makes him take a position. Something like: Do you feel that the US is more or less safe from terrorism since you served as Vice President of the United States, and why? Then you make him reiterate that stand he just took in the face of well-established facts and generally accepted ideas. As you won't be able to ask two questions, you'll need to work with someone else. If others ask questions between the two, reference your friend's question as a preface to yours.
That's a pretty tall order when you're asking questions to a guy whose professional life has been spent around people who ask very difficult questions. Are you sure this is the best use of this opportunity?Maybe I want to piss him off, yeah, but only because I'm forcing him to confront some of the awful crimes he's committed
Context is a big thing. For example, giving us more context would be helpful. You've mentioned elsewhere that you work in tech. Why is Cheney speaking at your work? Will he know who you are? What can you get away with asking him? How do your co-workers feel about Cheney? In regard to asking questions, what kind of outcome are you after? If you're after an answer that could be useful to you personally, you might ask a question that he's been asked before, but framed in the context of your own circumstances. If you're interested in asking questions for the benefit of others, then why not coordinate with those others so that the Q&A moves in the direction of most interest to the group?
I work in tech, but at a university, so this will be more open than just co-workers. He doesn't have a specific topic he's speaking on, either. The university's political union brings in speakers to talk on whatever they like, usually announced shortly before the event or not at all, they do that and tell their life story some and then have an open Q&A. So... Extremely open. Everyone comes through. In the last year I saw Rachel Maddow and Frank Abignale, Jr. in the same format there, and last month they had Laverne Cox come in to speak, and right before that Joe Biden was in there addressing a crowd.
That's a pretty cool lineup. I'm trying to find work at a university myself, for ease of access to these kinds of things, making connections and other reasons. Good energy around universities, usually. Given that you posted in another thread about making a hard decision, why not ask Cheney something related to that? As it's a university, I'm sure that others would like to get some perspective on what it takes to "make it" according to Dick Cheney.
In Defense of Dick Cheney The man was a presidential aide, along with Donald Rumsfeld, under Richard Nixon. His formative years were of undoing the Democratic clusterfuck of LBJ and the media persecution of an entire party for Watergate. He was a senator during the first Gulf War - when the CIA told us there was nothing to worry about in Iraq. Who didn't know about the chemical weapons depot we accidentally blew up (causing Gulf War Syndrome) or this fucking thing. His "boss" was the son of the guy who, when he headed the CIA, totally missed the Iranian revolution. And, not to put too fine a point on it, couldn't run the goddamn Texas Rangers successfully. Dick Cheney is, believe it or not, Chaotic Good. I'm not a fan by any stretch but history will not judge him as weak. Misguided? Sure. Disrespectful of the constitution? Mos def. Keep in mind, though - far greater people than you have exposed him to snark and he's still Dick Goddamn Cheney. Me? I'd ask him his opinion about congressional investigation of the CIA. It might be interesting.
Snark certainly isn't my goal. I don't know how I gave off that impression so clearly in this thread to everyone. Of course I'd like to make him uncomfortable, but it won't happen. I really want interesting answers for the man. I believe he's done some of the worst harm to the country in it's history, but obviously he didn't do it out of malice, and despite hating him so much, I still have deep respect for the man and I'm completely in awe of what he's been capable of doing, in a similar way that I'm in awe of Putin and have to respect how goddamn good of a politician he is, despite being an absolutely dreadful, despotic villain. I'm leaning towards CIA or thenewgreen's suggestion of asking about yellow cake. The man's a complete enigma in a lot of ways, and I'm hoping now that he's out of the vice presidency he might be more candid than he would have been previously. In those "who would you have dinner with" conversations that occasionally come up, he's also in the top three for me because of how much history he's seen.
I don't know if you really did give off that impression. I think that people are expressing their emotional opinions of Dick Cheney through their suggestions of what to ask him. In other words instead of actually giving you questions to ask Dick Cheney to support your goal, they are giving you their opinions of him, often in scathing or satirical question form. It's interesting to see that happen. One wonders why.
An emotional response is often the easiest one, which is why it's seen so often. Also, in this case they were likely prompted (if obliquely) by Meriadoc's personal opinion of Dick Cheney. Additionally, Meriadoc hasn't provided any details on the context of why Cheney will be speaking there, who he will be speaking to, or why he will be answering questions. I think it would be helpful too, for Meriadoc to think about why he wants to ask questions and how he'll be able to capitalize on the answers. "What do you get on your hotdogs" might be an innocuous question in a vacuum, or to most people, but to certain people in the right contexts it could easily lead to a broader, much more interesting discussion. Memory often triggers emotional responses too. It's unlikely that it'll be that easy with this particular speaker, but researching a person is a good way to go before asking them questions.
Interesting. And me? There's nothing I'd ask the man. I feel I understand Dick Cheney which dissipates the anger... but not his responsibility to history. In those "who would you have dinner with" conversations that occasionally come up, he's also in the top three for me because of how much history he's seen.
this is not the sort of dialogue that is acceptable here. If you want to be coherent, and well-thought out (as well as well thought of in this community) and explain why you disagree with kb, then that's fine, but your "shit list" and your poor attitude towards discourse are not welcome here. Not that kleinbl00 needs me to go to bat for them.
true. I'll modify to be more correct. I spoke out of frustration.
Many of the world's true villains are heroes with a mutually exclusive worldview. Some despots, some are insane... but I totally get where Dick Cheney is coming from. When Nixon was a mentor, Halliburton is your company and the PNAC are your drinking buddies, you're going to have a radically different perspective on the way the world works. That perspective is fundamentally flawed, in my opinion, but it's consistent. That's why neoconservatism was so pernicious.
That's not entirely fair. Same guy that came up with it came up with this, and the basis for Gerald Bull's notions were entirely factual. These things were used to moderate effect in WWII and my own grandfather worked on this thing. The point was to threaten Israel. It worked; Israel felt threatened enough that they had him whacked outside his apartment. That's why it didn't get further, not technical challenges. When your chief scientist ends up ventilated on the street in Brussels you lose some steam. Dude really wanted to shoot a satellite into orbit and he'd do anything for anybody that gave him access to the toys. There's a lesson there.
According to the Wikipedia page (man, I do hate writing those words but I don't have the time to dig up better source), Bull was rubbed out for agreeing to improve the more practical aspects of the Iraqi missile delivery system- I.e. the re-entry vehicle for SCUD missiles- not the gun, which, by all the accounts I could find, was hilariously ineffective by any measurable standard. Baby babylon was "not considered a risk by Israel," and big babylon was useless as artillery. Seems like it was never tested as a space gun, as the prototype was poorly designed. And had it succeeded, it would have been useless as well, as its deployment method was easily monitored. How bonkers was this guy though, huh? Obsessed with shooting things into space with a big gun no matter what the cost. I'm sure there's a Cheap Freudian joke to be made here, but I'm not gonna be the one. Oops
Fair enough. My grasp of Israeli regional politics is shaky at best. Too fraught with unknown unknowns. Certainly not strong enough to make many points past gallows humor. Big-ass gun trained in your general direction is bound to raise eyebrows.
I don't know. I would stay away from politics as he will give your default answers. Ask him anything about politics and you can find the answer online somewhere. I would ask him something worthwhile about how he handles difficult or stressful situations in life and how he deals with / copes with / approaches these things. Regardless of his position on any number of political or social issues, the man has had a successful career in an intense field. Working with others, getting what he wants, compromising, figuring out how to accomplish things, dealing with stress, negotiating - these are all skills that he could provide valuable insights on and may take the time to answer as it isn't snarky. Who knows, you might learn something incredibly valuable that you can use later in your career or personal life. Maybe I'm just optimistic or weird but I think that politicians deal a whole pile of shit that none of us even consider. As in, how do you act as the face of your country when visiting abroad, maintain personal friends as well as politically beneficial friends/enemies, maintain a healthy relationship with your spouse, have knowledge and real fears about your country and your personal safety and the safety of those around you, keep a calm head to listen and (sometimes) respectfully respond to the idiot across the table from you. I'd blow up and tell everyone to fuck off. He somehow gets what he wants some percentage of the time. That's interesting to me.
Regarding the right of gay Americans to get married, you have said in the past that "people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into" but that it should be up to the states to decide this. Why don't you view this as a right that deserves the protection of the Federal government, and are there any other civil rights that currently enjoy Federal protection that you believe should lose it?
Hey - how did this go? Did you get a chance to ask him anything? Did other's ask any good questions?
Well, they changed the format a bit. They ended up taking online questions only so they were screened. I was going to make a whole post about it (maybe still will). He got some good questions, and while I went into it thinking that maybe I had set some of my prejudices aside; that he isn't an evil asshole, that maybe he just a different perspective. Yeah he dashed those thoughts away quickly. He started with a speech about how the NSA program is great and vital, straight up lied saying 'reports that they're collecting your data are hogwash', and tried making an emotional appeal saying 9/11 wouldn't have happened if we had it back then. He then went on to talk about how he wants to militarily act against Iran, said asinine things like if Syria or Libya had nukes they would have nuked their own countries, but that was stoppedhis aadministration entering places illegally. He jokingly responsed to war crimes allegations after a (really weak) walk out by saying he intentionally found the greyest areas of the law in a way that he thought he should be praised for, and the eventual changes that were forced on him were coincidence. That's the tip of it. He's not seeking office so he had no filter and just spewed his Old White Guy ignorance.
If you get the chance, you should read any of Harvey Pekar's comics. The version of thepiece iI have listed is not the original, but a combination from a number of the different artists who worked with him. The original is from R. Crumb, as seen in the first and last panel. He is one of the greatest inspirations in my life, and Paul Giamatti (as per usual) nails that piece in the film (as thenewgreen linked below).
Jesus. That sounds....disappointedly ignorant and generally icky. I would love a full update post if you have the time/desire. I'm sure others would too. Thanks for the brief overview though. I figured that if something outrageous or surprising had happened, you would've let us know.
I second the request for a full update, it's not everyday one hears someone like Dick Cheney speak. -Though at your place of employment it's more often than most.
Well, judging by the above comment, it would seem that Dick Cheney didn't bring a new perspective to the table. Or, perhaps more accurately, he did not attempt to make a constructive use of his perspective. In the end, that makes him both an asshole and useless.
"When is it morally imperative for an individual to act beyond the prescribed role of his/her office in order to secure what he/she perceives to be the greater good?" Even phrased this delicately, this question has a ring of snark to it. Still, I am genuinely curious to know how such individuals regard their actions as ethical -- as I'm fairly certain he does.
I once had the opportunity to show him this comic in a book store, but got scared. I ended up showing it to one of his Secret Service officers. I still wonder if he would have had a sense of humor about it.
Frankly, if I wanted to hurt him or his ego, I'd just not go and see how many of my co-workers I could encourage to not go. As someone whose career involves being onstage, I can tell you there is nothing more disheartening than walking onstage to an empty audience.
Here's an idea . . . why don't you ask him if he finds any relationship between those Palin Crosshairs and the Giffords shooting and lets even throw in a movie . . . Machete, dvd release date January 4, 2011
The thing is, he wrote an autobiography called "In My Time." If you have time, read it and see if you are left with burning questions when you are done. If you ask him something off the cuff, he's probably going to refer you to his book. I know I would, if I had a book.
You should ask him about his support for gay marriage. It is interesting to note that a man many picture when imagining the stereotypical evil corporate lackey Republican is also a firm supporter of gay rights. So you should ask him how his support for gay rights has changed his political views and what effect it has had on his relationships within the political world.
Ask him if he still has a hard on for yellow cake?
well there ya go. The reason itself to keep that fool on the sidelines when it comes to political discourse - or better yet, in jail - for the people do not need to hear one more in an endless series of lies justifying criminal behavior of such a scale as our incursion into Iraq. The man is a criminal, one who remains, as does his boss, under indictment here in Vermont for their criminal behavior. Anyone who would invite a felon like this to speak before the public is consorting with international criminals and guilty after the fact simply for indulging in denial of this magnitude.
You could politely ask him to just stop breathing and as for that would be AnarchoCapitalism or Libertarian Capitalism which in this day and age is best distinguished from that form of American Capitalism that gave rise to our first AntiTrust Lawshe's like a demigod of American Capitalism™