what?! i’m shocked! shocked! that the cheney debate gem-of-a-quote, “And most of it, and I can tell you, Joe, that the government had absolutely nothing to do with it.” was, at best, a bit of cheap political theatre and, at worst, a bald-faced lie:
“…in the five years that
Cheney headed up Halliburton, the company garnered some $2.3 billion in
federal government contracts, nearly double the amount of government
business the company did in the five-year period preceding his arrival. In all,
Halliburton managed to obtain some $3.8 billion in government contracts and
taxpayer-insured loans during Cheney’s tenure. These gains occurred while
the company more than doubled its contributions, from $534,750 to
$1,212,000, to the political parties and members of Congress. Halliburton’s
lobbying expenditures also substantially increased while Cheney ran the
company, from $280,000 in 1996 to $600,000 in 1999. Tracking the escalating
lobbying expenses from year to year during that period, Royce and Heller note
that the “upward trend parallels the increasing success Halliburton has had in
winning government contracts, loans and guarantees under Cheney’s
direction.””
at least he didn’t take credit for the internet.
[via rc3]