Former President George W. Bush on Thursday praised his understudy of eight years as a “solid, reliable, and rare” figure who exuded integrity and loyalty, as he mourned the passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney at a packed memorial service at Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral for the conservative icon.
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“They do not come any better than Dick Cheney,” Bush said, eulogizing a man who served Presidents dating back to Richard Nixon. “He was everything a President should expect in a second-in-command.”
It was a capstone to a half century spent in politics and public life. At age 34, Cheney became the youngest White House Chief of Staff in history, running the day-to-day operations for President Gerald Ford. He later represented Wyoming in the House, climbing into the GOP Leadership as a no-nonsense conservative. President George H.W. Bush tapped him to lead the Pentagon, giving him ownership of the first Gulf War and a second toppling the government of Panama.
When George W. Bush was looking for a running mate, he tapped Cheney to lead the search. In turn, Cheney tapped himself. Over the next eight years, Cheney turned the typically backwater role into one of the driving forces in Washington and beyond, using his power to launch two more wars, implement harsh interrogation and severe surveillance programs, and a dramatic retooling of anti-terrorism policies that remain on the books to this day.
Rather than focus on the turmoil that punctuated Cheney’s term, the younger Bush kept his remarks on his friend’s character and devotion to his family. As the only politician from the Mountain West ever elected to national office, Cheney had a unique spot in U.S. history, Bush noted.
“Somewhere up the trail, we will meet again,” Bush said.
Left unsaid, of course, was the rift inside the modern Republican Party. Cheney, along with his daughter Liz Cheney, emerged as the most prominent critics of President Donald Trump and his takeover of the GOP. While other Bush-era leaders either muted themselves or fell in line, Cheney wanted nothing to do with the Trumpism rising in his party. He endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign last year and made no apologies for his contempt for what Trump had done to the nation’s politics.
Former President and Vice President Joe Biden, former Vice Presidents Al Gore, Mike Pence, Kamala Harris, and Dan Quayle, and many members of the Bush Cabinet also joined the services. Neither Trump nor Vice President J.D. Vance were in attendance.
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