Former Veep Dick Cheney‘s in Playboy. Let that settle in.
Nope, no nudity. He’s even wearing a jacket.
But there are intriguing details — like his “slender, mustachioed” housekeeper Gus, who serves him lattes in white Starbucks cups made fresh in his kitchen.
The interview by Fox News’ James Rosen takes place at his home in McLean, Va. He calls Cheney “generous” for allowing him to record 10 hours of interviews. He says it was only supposed to be six hours in three days.
At one point Rosen gets pretty ballsy — when Cheney avoids a direct answer to a question, he says, “That’s not the question. Is what he alleges here true or false?” At another, Rosen tries to muster a guess about his relationship with his father. Cheney says, “You’re trying to psychoanalyze something here—I had a great relationship with my dad. But he was a man of few words.” When pressed, Cheney replies, “That’s too much psychobabble.”
Wholesome lattes aside, the story touches on Cheney’s two DUI’s while at Yale, where he fell into a “high-spirited” crew that liked beer. Yale expelled him after he was tossed in the slammer. He finished up at the University of Wyoming. He says he never had to give up alcohol.
10 Memorable Thoughts From The Interview:
10. President Obama and AG Eric Holder “are playing the race card” for suggesting those who criticize them are doing so because of their race.
9. President Obama has undone his work. “I think he’s done enormous damage to the military.”
8. The threat of Al Qaeda is growing. “It’s a tragedy, a real tragedy, and we are going to pay a hell of a price just trying to dig out from under his presidency.”
7. He would not answer which Bush was easier to work with.
6. When choosing him for V.P., George W. Bush told him, “You’re the solution to my problem.”
5. On Ferguson: “It seems to me it’s a clear-cut case that the officer did what he had to do to defend himself. He was perfectly within his authorities to take action.”
4. More on Ferguson: He says racial inequality is not the reason this happened. “I don’t think it is about race. I think it is about an individual who conducted himself in a manner that was almost guaranteed to provoke an officer trying to do his duty.”
3. On NYT‘s James Risen: “I don’t have much confidence in Risen.”
2. Cheney has a laptop, iPhone and iPad. His grandchildren say he barely knows how to turn them on.
1. As usual, he clams up when asked to discuss his religion. He says he’s Episcopal and that it’s important to him. When asked if he can recall a moment a pastor had a certain influence or a certain moment impacted him, he shuts the subject down: “No. It’s a private matter, and I have strong feelings. I am a Christian. I believe in life hereafter.”