Cheney makes second appearance in Iowa

Vice President Dick Cheney made his second public appearance in Iowa in the last two days in morning event in Des Moines today. The Vice President spoke for about half an hour to several hundred invited guests at what was billed a town hall meeting. He touched on many of the common themes of the campaign — the economy, the war and terror and the record of the democrat challenger John Kerry before taking questions from the audience. The final comment of the event drew the most attention. It was from Ann Hunter, of Des Moines who said her 19-year-old son is leaving today for deployment in Iraq and told the Vice President “Thank You” for what the President and Cheney are doing for the troops. Hunter also said she “prays to God” that they’ll both be reelected for the sake of the troops. After the event, Hunter said she’s a republican who volunteered at the recent Republican National Convention, and said she had to come and say thanks to Cheney. She says she feels so strongly about the administration and their support for the troops that she felt she had to come and say thanks. Hunter’s son, Marine Lance Corporal Andrew Sprague, leaves today for Iraq. Hunter says it’s not easy seeing her son go into harm’s way. She says it is hard and tough and she’s “shed a lot of tears in the last 24 hours” and says she’ll probably continue shedding tears. She says her son chose to do this and feels it is the right thing and she feels it’s the right thing, and says “We can’t pull out of there now.” Hunter was asked why she thinks the U.S. entered the war. She says we went to war in Iraq to “Liberate those people from that tyrant”, referring to Saddam Hussein. She says her only disappointment is that the Iraqi people don’t appreciate it a little more. Hunter’s son is a graduate of Des Moines Roosevelt High School. Another comment Cheney took from the audience dealt with taxes. The unidentified man from Altoona says he went to work and got his first paycheck and the government took out about one fifth of the paycheck for taxes. He asked Cheney what he could do to change that. Cheney laughed and asked him how he’d like to be secretary of the Treasury. Cheney told said most Americans don’t mind paying taxes if they think the money is well spent and the taxes aren’t excessive. He said the man he should make his feelings know by voting. He says the thing is to support the kind of sound, sane policy and philosophy of public officials that agree with his view. Cheney says he believes George Bush is the man to do that. Cheney also said decisions are being made that will set the rules for how we deal with terrorism. He says it’s absolutely essential that we make the right choice eight weeks from today because, “If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that um, that we’ll get hit again. That we’ll be hit, uh, in a way that’ll be uh devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and then we’ll fall back into the pre-9-11 mindset if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are uh, just criminal acts and that we’re not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.” Cheney’s counterpart John Edwards was campaigning in Ohio today and responded to Cheney’s remarks. Edwards said, “Dick Cheney’s scare tactics crossed the line today, showing once again that they will do anything and say anything to save their jobs. Protecting America from vicious terrorists is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it’s an American issue and Dick Cheney and George Bush should know that. Edwards said, “John Kerry and I will keep America safe and we will not divide the American people to do it.”