Monday July 28, 2008, 12:51 pm
WASHINGTON - Vice President Cheney's invitation to address wounded combat veterans next month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were Draconian and unreasonable.

The veep had planned to speak to the Disabled American Veterans at 8:30 a.m. at its August convention in Las Vegas.

His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney's arrival and couldn't leave until he'd finished talking, officials confirmed.

"Word got back to us ... that this would be a prerequisite," said the veterans executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn't have any rest rooms. "We told them it just wasn't acceptable."

When Cheney spoke to the group in 2004, his handlers imposed the same stringent security lockdown, upsetting members, officials said.

Many of the vets are elderly and left pieces of themselves on foreign battlefields since World War II, and others were crippled by recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. For health reasons, many can't be stuck in a room for hours.

"It was a huge imposition on our delegates," added David Autry, another Disabled American Veterans official.

Autry said vets would've had to get up "at Oh-dark-30 and try to get breakfast and showered and get their prosthetics on."

Once inside, they "could not leave the meeting room, and the bathrooms are outside," he said.

Cheney's office acknowledged the security requests, but insisted he is sensitive to combat veterans' needs.

Spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said the two-hour rule is "a recommendation, not a requirement," and "we always work to make sure the bathrooms are within the security perimeters."

"The vice president would never let us do anything that didn't help facilitate the needs of our veterans," Mitchell added.

Cheney has visited hospitalized wounded warriors and invited Walter Reed Army Medical Center patients for fly-fishing lessons around his swimming pool.

But the vice president's rules for speaking to groups seem more stringent than those of his boss.

President Bush routinely speaks at events such as large dinners where thousands of guests freely pass back and forth through Secret Service screening portals.

Gorman first invited Bush, who has never addressed the group, but the White House declined last month.

GOP presidential hopeful John McCain plans to speak in Las Vegas, and organizers expect Democrat Barack Obama will, too.

Monday July 28, 2008, 2:06 pm
I guess when you are a liar, thief, terrorist, murderer, traitor to your country, you have darned good reason to be a Coward; be afraid someone will love their country enough and therefore hate you enough, to kill you. But to the extent of being afraid of wounded military vets! Well, come to think of it, who has more reason to hate Cheney than wounded military vets??

Monday July 28, 2008, 2:31 pm
Anyone around the diabled would never do this sort of thing. They have needs that must be met immediately. Cheney is sensitive, my ass!!!

Monday July 28, 2008, 2:32 pm
This creepy prima donna is so
presumptuous and paranoid that he actually expects wounded vets to want
to get up at the crack of dawn to be kept in a room for hours without a
bathroom break just to get a glimpse of his countenance and hear him
lie again. I was going to post the story earlier, but I keep hoping
someone will fix this headline: "Injured vets tell pull Dick Cheney invitation over security demands" - but they haven't. "Vice
President Cheney's invitation to address wounded combat veterans next
month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were
Draconian and unreasonable.".

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 10:30 am
Self-absorbed, deceitful coward! I wouldn't want him near me either! Good for those vets for rejecting him and his control-freak rules. Let's hope they all reject his new puppet McCain at the polls, too - that's where it REALLY counts!

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 10:43 am
Tia, Remember that Mc$ame said he'd love to have Dick Cheney on his "ticket" to the White Hou$e ...

more of the same ol' same ol'

NO MORE of these crazy, angry old Republican men who are rich enough to buy the microphone.

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 10:45 am

- Robots don't have any feelings.

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 11:02 am
What a cold-hearted coward he is. Bah humbug!

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 1:14 pm
Melva H - outstanding post - this is the same administration that wanted to cut veteran benefits - after they started a war - I would hate to be them meeting our maker - wow!

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 1:42 pm
Good for them. I don't blame them for not wanting Cheney at their convention.

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 2:19 pm
That picture of Cheney says it all!!!

He fits very comfortably into the evil category.

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 4:33 pm
Thanks Blue, this didn't surprise me at all! Cheney, sensitive, what crap!

Tuesday July 29, 2008, 6:35 pm
These veterans show know where they came from and show some respect for their creator! I doubt many of them would even BE veterans OR injured if it wasn't for Cheney! Let the man speak :)

Wednesday July 30, 2008, 10:22 am

SENATE REPUBLICANS BLOCK EFFORT TO AID PARALYZED VETERANS
The bill, Advancing America's Priorities Act, was blocked by a 50-42 vote, short of the 60 votes need to overcome a filibuster. It was created in an effort to draw attention to Sen. Tom Coburn, a stalwart crusader for tightening the pursestrings of gove