Meeting Mary Cheney

Hindrocket at Powerlineblog recounts meeting Mary Cheney in 2000

I've never met Mary Cheney. But four years ago, when Dick Cheney was in the Twin Cities, I got word that he would make an unscheduled stop at an outdoors-type store, REI or something, in the suburbs, for a photo-op. Since the stop wasn't being publicized, there would be only normal shoppers in the store. I went to have a look at the Vice-Presidential candidate. He strolled through the store, bought some fly-fishing equipment, shook hands with some customers and answered a few questions before leaving.

Truthfully, Cheney didn't make much of an impression on me. He was as diffident as you would expect, and, as with most famous people, my main thought upon seeing him in the flesh was that he looked just like he does on television.

The person who did make a deep impression on me was Mary Cheney. She appeared to be in charge of her father's security detail. She was wearing a leather jacket and a microphone, through which she communicated steadily with other security personnel. She seemed very intense and looked tough, but not at all unattractive. In all my life, I have never seen such a striking image of protectiveness. She hovered over her father, cleared a path for him, scanned the small crowd anxiously. It was obvious that she adored her father; incongruously, perhaps, she reminded me of an eagle protecting its young.

Mary Cheney does not, I think, do campaign speeches and interviews. Perhaps she is not comfortable in that role. But we all serve where we can. That day four years ago, it was very clear that if anyone sought to harm Dick Cheney, he would have to do it over his daughter's dead body.