November 04, 2025
Ron Sachs/CNP; Sipa USA
Dick Cheney accepts the Republican nomination for vice president at the First Union Center, now Xfinity Mobile Arena, in Philadelphia in 2000.
When Dick Cheney took the stage at 2000 Republican National Convention as the party's nominee for vice president, he spent much of his speech singing the praises of his running mate, George W. Bush. But he also made sure to contrast the eventual commander-in-chief with his Democratic rival, Al Gore, before he left the podium.
"Does anyone Republican or Democrat seriously believe that under Mr. Gore, the next four years would be any different from the last eight?" Cheney asked the crowd in Philadelphia. "If the goal is to unite our country, to make a fresh start in Washington, to change the tone of our politics, can anyone say with conviction that the man for the job is Al Gore?
These and other jabs from the politician's 32-minute speech caused a stir that summer. CNN called it "a rare direct attack" on the Democratic leader, while the New York Times characterized Cheney's speech as the "most stinging and unabashedly partisan assault of the convention." While his comments can sound quaint to 2025 ears used to far more personal insults from the Donald Trump-led White House, the former vice president's rhetoric and style helped pave the way for this partisan tone.
Cheney, who died Monday at 84, had largely retreated from politics when he entered the presidential race. He previously had served as President Gerald Ford's chief of staff, President George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense and as a six-term Congressman, but he was working in the private sector as the CEO of Halliburton in 2000. The younger Bush initially asked him to lead the search for his vice presidential candidate, before Cheney stepped into the role himself.
His first public audition for the role came on Aug. 2, when Cheney delivered his RNC speech at Xfinity Mobile Arena, which was known as the First Union Center at the time. Entering to "God Bless the U.S.A.," Cheney sported his signature wide-frame glasses and a dark suit. After the cheers from the crowd died down, he thanked the delegates for his nomination and launched into his pitch for the Bush ticket, one that emphasized "big changes" to public schools and the tax code. It also cast the Democratic hopeful Gore, coming off eight years as vice president to Bill Clinton, as a barrier to growth.
"In this election, they will speak endlessly of risk," Cheney said. "We will speak of progress. They will make accusations. We will make proposals. They will feed fear. We will appeal to hope. They will offer more lectures, and legalisms, and carefully worded denials. We offer another way, a better way, and a stiff dose of truth."
The politician also painted Clinton, and by extension his VP, as a lame duck.
"For all of their sentimental talk about children, Clinton and Gore have done nothing to help children oppressed by bureaucracy, monopoly, and mediocrity. ... For eight years, Clinton and Gore have talked about Social Security reform, never acting, never once offering a serious plan to save the system. In the time left to them, I have every confidence they'll go right on talking about it."
Though the press singled out Cheney's critiques as unusually blunt, he was stepping into what is by now a very familiar role: vice presidential attack dog. His resume and overall demeanor also lent the Republican ticket a sense of gravitas, which pundits believed Bush, then the governor of Texas, lacked.
"He is not a sexy choice, but that's the least of George W. Bush's concerns," the Inquirer wrote. "As evidenced by Cheney's acceptance speech, he can deftly serve Bush's immediate political needs: As an A-list member of institutional Washington, Cheney confers upon the inexperienced governor the establishment's seal of approval."
The RNC speech was perhaps a preview into Cheney's eventual legacy of vice president. Obituaries published Tuesday noted his polarizing image as a "quietly forceful" hard-liner who, critics claimed, was the one really in charge of the Oval Office. He continued lambasting Democratic politicians long after he left office — before, in a twist few once may have seen coming, he turned his ire onto a Republican president.
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