Reid says Cheney pick was concession to “crazies” in GOP’s right wing

Scott Sonner

Monday, July 24, 2000 | 5:08 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Conservative Republicans in the West cheered George W. Bush's running mate as one of their own while a top Nevada Democrat said the choice of Dick Cheney was a clear concession to the far right.

"I like Dick Cheney, but it is a typical Bush choice," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday.

"He doesn't want to rock the boat. He wants to make sure he doesn't offend anybody in the right, right wing of the Republican Party," he said.

"That's why he doesn't go with Tom Ridge or somebody most people think would add some dynamism to the ticket," he said in a telephone interview from Washington.

Reid, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said he doesn't believe Bush was ever seriously considering the Pennsylvania Gov. Ridge or others from the party's moderate wing.

"It shows they know they have a bunch of crazies in their party and they can't do anything to lose any support within the party. If they do that, it's history for them," he said.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said rural Westerners would benefit from the pick, especially in regard to public land issues and the environment.

"Dick Cheney is a conservative. There is no question about that," said Craig, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on forests.

"For the West, it is an extremely important choice," he said.

Gibbons, an Air Force pilot, served in the Persian Gulf War while Cheney was defense secretary.

"He's got solid credentials. He brings a much needed support level in foreign policy to the Bush administration," Gibbons said.

"And he comes from Wyoming out West so he understands our issues. The rural issues of Western states like Nevada, the problems that they feel with regard to the federal government are also felt by Wyoming citizens," he said.