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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
At least one veep also-ran is "baffled" by Cheney's self-selection.
Jul 26, 2000 | The GOP vice presidential selection process, Newsweek writer T. Trent Gegax quipped Monday night, is a rehash of the film "The Usual Suspects." You spend hours listening to one balding, unassuming character hash out with you the mystery of who Keyser Soze is. Then, at the end, you're stunned to find out that the guy telling the story is Keyser Soze.
Dick Cheney is Keyser Soze!
And if you're surprised, how do you think the other prospective running mates feel? Take Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, for instance. On Tuesday morning, Keating received a phone call from Texas counterpart George W. Bush, telling him what he was already pretty sure was going to be bad news: He wasn't the one.
Instead, Keating was told, that role would be assumed by Cheney -- oddly enough, the man who had interviewed Keating for the job and who had been supervising the entire running-mate selection process to begin with!
"The governor thought Dick Cheney was a great pick," says Keating spokesman Phil Bacharach, adding, "When it comes to the decision, Governor Keating would have to defer to Dick Cheney because of his expertise in foreign relations and international policy; in short his national and international stature." Keating and Cheney have known each other for some time, Bacharach explains, as they both served in the Bush administration. Keating had asked Cheney to lead the fundraising for the Oklahoma City Memorial. They're friends, Bacharach says.
That is not to say, however, that Keating was pleased with the oddness of this selection process and that, in the end, Cheney essentially picked himself. According to a source familiar with the process Keating went through, the Oklahoma governor did find that process somewhat "baffling."
In the job interview of all job interviews, Keating, after all, turned over his most sensitive personal, financial and professional information about himself to the very man who would end up applying for -- and winning -- the same job.
"On its face, it's pretty bizarre," says the Keating source.
