What did Cheney mean when he said "it is our due"

[homelandpunk]

when he told O'Neill deficits don't matter? What is the "it", who is the "our", and what is the "due"?

What is due this reptilian creep?

Talk like that just.....uh.
I have a fist that would permanently move his sneer to the other side of his mouth. Him and his wife need to be Coucescu'd by the people.

[alcuno]

1. This has been bothering me ever since I heard it.

And it's getting no media play. Talk about being an elitist.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. "What is due this reptilian creep? "

Everything.

He took it.

It's his.

[Cat Atomic]

3. Agreed- that was the most inflammatory remark by far.

I can only assume the "our" was the ultra rich. Absolutely sickening.

[lovedems]

4. Let me take a stab at it

it=federal surplus
our=all of our corporate donors
due=money

[westman]

5. Are you referring to the former leader

of Romania? If so, are you suggesting that the Cheney's should be killed?

[radiclib]

6. Just what you think he meant

Of all the evil scumsucking dirtbags in this "administration", Cheney is the worst. I swear I'll never be content until he does the perpwalk in leg irons.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. And anyone who called him on this would be accused of

waging "class warfare."

I've been thinking of this a lot, too. And also Cheney's Christmas card, with the God-ordained empire reference.

The criminality and gall of this man is beyond belief. If he's not stopped, will he stop himself? I don't think so.

[Bonobo]

8. Anyone have a link?

n/t

[elsiesummers]

12. I think it was in the NYPost

two days ago.

To the victor go the spoils - the looting of the government.

[Salviati]

9. More to the quote:

There's a bit more to the quote:

from http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2780852a10,00.html

--
Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due."
--

There's more there that helps shed light on who and what the it and our are:

--
O'Neill also raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from "the corporate crowd," a key constituency.
--

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. He was referring to the spoils of war. Republicans won the 2002

elections so he interpreted that as a mandate from the American people that the Bush Administration could do whatever they wanted to do.

But it's also Texan mentality that winner take all.

[Davis_X_Machina]

11. Look around in stories...

...like the one in Time, since the quote, and whole episode, is drawn from O'Neill and Suskind's book.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. I am referring to O'Neill's statement.

As I understood it, according to O'Neill/Suskin, Cheney was referring to the wins in the 2002 election. They won, thus, they could claim the spoils of war (Just a cliche -- I'm not referring to Iraq).

[thebigidea]

13. he's been hiding underground too long

astonishing facts:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1015081

[Momof1]

14. I don't understand why this isn't getting much play either...

about the 2nd tax cut

Snip:

“He asks, ‘Haven't we already given money to rich people? This second tax cut's gonna do it again,’” says Suskind.

“He says, ‘Didn’t we already, why are we doing it again?’ Now, his advisers, they say, ‘Well Mr. President, the upper class, they're the entrepreneurs. That's the standard response.’ And the president kind of goes, ‘OK.’ That's their response. And then, he comes back to it again. ‘Well, shouldn't we be giving money to the middle, won't people be able to say, ‘You did it once, and then you did it twice, and what was it good for?’"

But according to the transcript, White House political advisor Karl Rove jumped in.

“Karl Rove is saying to the president, a kind of mantra. ‘Stick to principle. Stick to principle.’ He says it over and over again,” says Suskind. “Don’t waver.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

[Moderator]

16. Locking this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html#disruption

(See para 3.)