Dick Cheney: Still Crazy After All These Years

PLUS: In case you were excited about that whole soccer victory, we’re here to tell you that Iraqis are poor, starving, and in need of immediate help...Climate change is rocking us like a hurricane...We study the FCC’s latest rulings so you don’t have to...Forget water — drink a latte during your jog...Xerox goes green...and your dog is sooooo cute. Is he a rental? Today is July 31st, and this is Mic Check. It feels so good when it hits your lips.

Celebration Excuse

Christopher Columbus still isn’t tired of the whole “discovering foreign lands” bit, water sports lovers have a new pastime, and thus begins the legend of Jimmy Hoffa. It’s July 31, and we so want an invite to J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter’s birthday party.

1498

On his third voyage across the pond, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit the Island of Trinidad.

1777

The Continental Congress appoints the Marquis de Lafayette, a French volunteer soldier, a major general in the Continental Army at the age of 19.

1790

The new U.S. Patent Office gives Samuel Hopkins the first U.S. patent, for his process for making potash and pearl ashes.

1874

Patrick Healy, an African American Jesuit priest, is named president of GeorgetownUniversity, becoming the first black head of a predominantly white college in the United States.
1912

In a fit of censorship, the U.S. Government prohibits movies and photographs of prize fighting.

1922

18-year-old Ralph Samuelson rides world’s 1st water skis.

1919

The German national assembly adopts the ill-fated Weimar constitution.

1975

Former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing. Although his body has never been found, he is believed to have been kidnapped and murdered.

Save us some cake

1919: Holocaust survivor and writer Primo Levi

1921: Civil Rights activist Whitney Young

1958: Billionaire businessman and NBA team owner Mark Cuban

1962: Blade actor Wesley Snipes

1965: Bestselling Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling (Harry’s character was also born on this date, but in 1980)

Daybook

We’re quaking in our boots; the scheming, scowling Dick Cheney testifies on Capitol Hill about his role in shaping environmental policy to favor businesses. This won’t be pretty, folks.

STUMPIN’

Sen. Sam Brownback makes a speech in Des Moines, IA.

John McCain collects campaign cash in Cincinnati, OH.

Mitt Romney fundraises in Virginia Beach, VA.

Tommy Thompson holds meetings around Iowa.

Rudy Guiliani holds a town hall meeting in Rochester, NH.

Fred Thompson hits up Newport Coast, CA for some campaign dollars.

ON THE HILL

9:30 AM

Senate Armed Services Committee
Full committee hearing on the nominations of Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, for reappointment to the grade of admiral and to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, for reappointment to the grade of general and to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

2:30 PM

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Energy Subcommittee hearing on “Renewable Fuels Infrastructure.”
Watch for: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Assistant Energy Secretary Alexander Karsner.

10:00 AM

House Budget Committee
Full committee hearing on “The Costs of Military Operations and Reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Watch for: Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England; Defense Undersecretary (Comptroller) Tina Jones; Robert Sunshine, assistant director for budget analysis at the Congressional Budget Office; Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction

2:00 PM

House Foreign Affairs Committee
International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight Subcommittee hearing on “The Case of Ramos and Compean: The Across-Border Context.”

10:00 AM

House Natural Resources Committee
Full committee hearing on “Crisis of Confidence: The Political Influence of the Bush Administration on Agency Science and Decision-Making,” focusing on Vice President Dick Cheney’s role in influencing scientific and policy decisions at the Interior Department.
Watch for: The man, the myth, the legend, Vice President Dick Cheney

TV TIME

Tune in at work

Oprah: Nate’s small space miracle
The View: George Lopez, Alan Jackson, guest co-host Joan Rivers
Regis and Kelly: Catherine Bell
Ellen DeGeneres: (Repeat) Lindsay Lohan, children from “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”

Stay up late

Stewart: Lewis Gordon Pugh
Colbert: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Letterman: Sen. Joe Biden, Seth Rogen
Leno: Chris Tucker, Marc Anthony, the John Butler Trio
Late Late Show: Jon Voight, Alicia Coppola, Will Marfori
Conan: Andy Samberg, Harry Shearer, Tegan & Sara
Last Call: Jason Statham, Lily Allen

 

Eavesdrop

STEAL THIS AUDIO

Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with CBS’s Mark Knoller

Not Part of the Executive Branch

  • CBS’s Mark Knoller: Are you part of the executive branch, sir?
  • Vice President Cheney: Well, the job of Vice President is an interesting one, because you have a foot in both the executive and the legislative branch. Obviously, I have an office in the West Wing of the White House, I am an adviser to the president, I sit as a member of the National Security Council. At the same time, under the constitution, I have legislative responsibilities. I’m actually paid by the Senate, not by the executive.
    Please log in to download this clip.

Still Not Part of the Executive Branch

  • CBS’s Mark Knoller: But you are principally part of the executive branch, are you not?
  • Vice President Cheney: Well, I suppose you could argue it either way.
    Please log in to download this clip.

Thinks Alberto Gonzales is Great

  • CBS’s Mark Knoller: Do you want Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to keep fighting to keep his job?
  • Vice President Cheney: I do. I’m a big fan of Al’s.
    Please log in to download this clip.

(Ed Note: When President Bush went in for his colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago, Vice President Cheney became Acting President for just over two hours. The man was president and yet still won’t admit he’s in the Executive Branch of government.)

Popularity Contest

These headlines really know how to party.

NYT: Six Killers | Cancer: Cancer Patients, Lost in a Maze of Uneven Care

WP: For the ‘I Like Turtles’ Boy, 17 Seconds Of Fame

LAT: Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh dead at 75

USAT: Could this 5-year-old be the future of tennis?

WSJ: Bancrofts’ Jockeying Goes Down to the Wire

ABC: Police Smash Global Pedophile Ring

CNN: Co-defendant flips; Vick speaks

CBS: 3 More Infants Found Where Baby Died

MSNBC:Chief Justice Roberts hospitalized after fall

FOX: Woman Sought in NYC Genital-Mutilation Death

Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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