From the archives: Dick Cheney accepts the 2000 Republican nomination for vice president

foreign [Applause] thank you very much Mr chairman delegates and fellow citizens I am honored by your nomination and I accept it [Applause] before proceeding I want to say a special word to President Ford I wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for him and the trust and confidence he placed in me 25 years ago and I know all of you want to join me in wishing him a very quick and speedy recovery I want to thank you for giving such a warm welcome to Lynn and me and to our family and to my friends in the Wyoming delegation I especially want to thank you for your support the first campaign stopped that Lynn and I were privileged to make with Governor Laura Bush was in our hometown of Casper Wyoming where Lynn and I graduated from high school some 41 years ago [Applause] the love and support and enthusiasm people of our home state avoid our spirits and strengthen our resolve we are going to win this election [Applause] we will prevail I have to tell you that I never expected to be in this position eight years ago when I completed my service as Secretary of Defense I loaded a U-Haul truck and drove home to Wyoming I did not plan to return to public office Lynn and I settled into a new private life there was times for fishing and grandchildren and we were very content but now I am glad to be back in the arena and I want to tell you why [Applause] [Music] I have been given an opportunity to serve beside a man who has the courage and the vision and the goodness to be a great president Governor George W bush I have been in the company of leaders I was there on August 9 1974. when Gerald Ford assumed the presidency during the gravest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War I saw how character and decency can dignify a great office and unite a great nation [Applause] I was a congressman when another man of integrity lived in the White House I saw a president restore America's confidence and prepare the foundation for victory in the Cold War [Music] I saw how one man's will can set a nation on a new course and I learned the meeting of leadership from President Ronald Reagan [Applause] I left Congress to join the cabinet of President Reagan's successor and I'm proud to say that I'm not the only man on this ticket who has learned from the example of President George Bush I saw resolve in times of Crisis the Steady Hand That Shaped an alliance and threw back a tyrant he earned the respect and confidence of the men and women of America's Armed Forces I have been in the company of leaders I know what it takes and I see in our nominee the qualities of Mind and Spirit our nation needs and our history demands [Applause] foreign big changes are coming to Washington [Applause] to serve with this man in this cause is a chance I would not miss this country has given us so much opportunity when Len and I were growing up we had so many blessings we went to good Public Schools we had fine dedicated teachers our mothers like our fathers worked outside the home so we could go to college we lived in a caring Community where parents were confident that their children's lives could be even better than their own and that is as it should be and as it can be again [Applause] we can make our Public Schools better we can reform the tax code so that families can keep more of what they earn more dollars that they can spend on what they value than on what the government thinks is important we can restore the ideals of honesty and honor that must be a part of our national life if our children are to thrive when I look at the administration now in Washington I am dismayed by the opportunity squandered saddened by what might have been but never was these have been years of prosperity in our land but little purpose in the White House Bill Clinton vowed not long ago to hold on to power and until the last hour of the last day that is his right but my friends that last hour is coming [Music] thank you foreign the wheel has turned and it is time it is time for them to go Al Bush said it's time for them to go eight times in his 1992 vice presidential acceptance speech in New York's Madison Square Garden but this demonstration is about is on cue ing to underscore that Cheney is now turning that around on Clinton and Bullock foreign it's time for them to go this is the pep party aspect of the television show production here written into Chinese speech it's time for them to go in his own low-key manner he delivered the blind effectively cheering stars and the chant picks up it's time for them to go you'll hear it again before this is over I'm willing to bet George W bush Will Repair what has been damaged he's a man without pretense without cynicism a man of principle a man of Honor on the first hour of the first day he will restore decency and integrity to the Oval Office foreign leaders can be true to their word and that they can get things done by Reaching Across the aisle and working with political opponents in good faith and common purpose I know he will do these things because for the last five years I've watched him do them in Texas George W bush came to the governor's office with a clear view of what he wanted to achieve he said he would bring higher standards to public schools and he has walk into those schools today and you will see children with better scores classrooms with better discipline teachers with better pay he pledged to reduce taxes and he has he did it twice with the biggest tax reduction in State history and not only is the budget in Balance it's running a surplus of more than a billion dollars [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he promised to reform the legal system to get rid of junk lawsuits and he has [Music] today the legal system serves all the people not just the trial lawyers [Music] none of these reforms came easily when he took office both houses the legislature were controlled by democrats and the House of Representatives still is but Governor Bush does not accept old lines of argument and Division he brings people together Reaching Across party lines to do the people's business he leads by conviction not calculation you will [Applause] you will never see him pointing the finger of blame for failure you will only see him sharing the credit for success that is exactly the spirit that is missing from Washington today in the last eight years that city has often become a scene of bitterness and ill will and partisan strife American politics has always been a tough business even in 1787 here in Philadelphia when George Washington himself wondered if delegates could ever agree on a constitution they did agree As Americans always have when it mattered most Guided by the public interest and a decent regard for one another but in Washington today politics has become War by other means an endless onslaught of accusation a constant setting of groups one against another this is what Bill Bradley was up against and others before him the gore campaign Senator Bradley said is a thousand promises a thousand attacks we are all a little weary of the Clinton Gore routine [Applause] but the wheel has turned and it is time it is time for them to go foreign that Cheney is referring to Clinton Gore not Clinton and Gore in effect making Clinton Al Gore's first name Clinton Gore in this election they will speak endlessly of risk we will speak a progress they will make accusations we will make proposals they will feed fear and 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 foreign years the achievement Gap in our schools has grown worse poor and disadvantaged children falling further and further behind for all of their sentimental talk about children Clinton and Gore have done nothing to help children oppressed by bureaucracy Monopoly and mediocrity [Music] but those days are ending when George W bush is President and I am vice president test will be taken results will be measured schools will answer to parents and no child will be left behind foreign [Music] [Applause] for eight years Clinton and Gore have talked about social reform 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 those days are passing too [Music] there will be no more spreading of fear and panic no more dividing of generations against one another no more delaying and excuse making and shirking of our duties to the elderly George W bush and I with the United Congress will save Social Security [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for eight years Clinton and Gore have extended our military commitments while depleting our military power rarely has so much been demanded of our armed forces and so little given to them in return [Applause] George W bush and I are going to change that too I have seen our military I have seen our military at its finest with the best equipment the best training and the best leadership I am proud of them I have had the responsibility for their well-being and I can promise them now help is on the way [Applause] Shadows all the way all the way all the way thank you just particular demonstration designed to set up the next flame of the speech soon our men and women in uniform will once again have a commander-in-chief they can respect a commander-in-chief who understands their mission and restores their morale [Applause] and now as the man from Hope goes home to New York Mr Gore will try to separate himself from his leader shadow but somehow we will never see one without thinking of the other does anyone Republican or Democrat seriously believe that under Mr Gore the next four years would be any different from the last eight if the goal is to unite our country to make a fresh start in Washington to change the tone of our politics can anyone with conviction say that the man for that job is Al Gore [Applause] they came in together now let us see them off together foreign ladies and gentlemen the wheel has turned and it is time it is time for them to go foreign [Applause] this campaign will not be easy Governor Bush and I face a real fight we're ready for it we we know the territory we know the opposition and we know what's at stake we will give all we have to this cause and in the end in the end with your help George W bush will defeat this vice president and I will replace him [Applause] ladies and gentlemen we are so privileged to be citizens of this great Republic [Applause] foreign I was reminded of that time and again when I was in my former job as Secretary of Defense I traveled a lot and when I came home my plane would land at Andrews Air Force Base and I'd return to the Pentagon by helicopter when you make that trip from Andrews to the Pentagon and you look down on the city of Washington one of the first things you see is the capital where all the great debates that have shaped 200 years of American History have taken place you fly down along the mall and see the monument to George Washington a structure as Grand as the man himself to the north is the White House where John Adams once prayed that none but honest and wise men may ever rule under this roof next you see the memorial to Thomas Jefferson our third president and the author of our Declaration of Independence Watching Special CBS news coverage in some stations now will return to regular scheduled programs some of you in the we're joining your local news the rest of your CBS News approach to the Pentagon just before you settle down on the landing pad you look out upon Arlington National Cemetery it's gentle slopes and Crosses row on row I never once made that trip without being reminded how enormously fortunate we all are to be Americans and what a [Applause] nine I never made that trip without being reminded of how enormously fortunate we are to be Americans and what a terrible price thousands have paid so that all of us and millions more around the world might live in Freedom this is a great country ladies and gentlemen and it deserves great leadership let us go forth from this Hall in confidence and courage committed to restoring decency and honor to our Republic let us go forth knowing that our cause is just and elect George W bush the 43rd President of the United States [Applause]