Cheney's Harsh Criticism of Reagan

The White House says Vice President Dick Cheney will speak at memorial services for President Reagan. Question: will Cheney echo the high-profile criticism of Reagan's defense policy that he unleashed during the height of the Cold War? Despite the Bush administration's praise for Reagan's strong defense policies, it was Cheney who was a vocal critic of them at the time:

CHENEY IN 1984: According to the 12/16/84 Washington Post, Cheney said if Reagan "doesn't really cut defense, he becomes the No. 1 special pleader in town." Cheney urged Reagan to cut defense spending, saying "the president has to reach out and take a whack at everything to be credible" and said that absent a raid of Social Security or a tax increase, "you've got to hit defense."

CHENEY FOLLOWS THROUGH ON CRITICISM: Six years after his criticism, it was Cheney who bragged to Congress about shifting the direction of U.S. defense policy from the Reagan years. On 2/1/90, he told Congress "since I became Secretary, we've been through a fairly major process of reducing the defense budget." He bragged that during the first year of his tenure, he "cut almost $65 billion out of the five-year defense program" and that subsequent proposals would "take another $167 billion out." He trumpeted the fact that "we're recommending base closures," "we're talking about force structure cuts" and "we've got a military construction freeze."