-> Dick Cheney, asked about the 2/3rds of Americans opposed to the
-> continued war in Iraq:
->
-> "So?"
->
-> Arrogant SOB...

Does the same go for Edmund Burke?  The writers of the Constitution?

By the way, the fuller and more accurate quote:

"THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't know how long it's going to take. I do know
we have to get it done. And if it takes a long time, that doesn't make
it any less worthwhile. This has been a hard-fought, difficult,
challenging thing for us to do, when you think about what we've done
here. We've gone in and toppled one of the world's worst dictators,
liberated 25 million people, helped them hold three national elections
and write a constitution. They've been through some very difficult times
themselves, but we kept at it, because it's the right thing to do. And
when we needed to make a major decision, as the President did a year ago
January, he made that decision and committed more troops. When we needed
to modify our strategy to win on the ground from a security standpoint,
we did it. And General Petraeus, his forces performed magnificently with
a new counterinsurgency doctrine. He could have quit two years ago, and
today Iraq would be chaos; al Qaeda would control large swaths of the
country; it probably would be a safe haven for terrorists; certainly it
would have been a much worse situation from the standpoint of the Iraqi
people.

It's hard to go into a country that has never experienced democracy and
expect to be able to flip a switch and have it turn overnight. But it is
turning. They do have a democracy today. They have basic --

Q Two-thirds of Americans say it was not worth fighting.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: They ought to go spend time, like you and I have,
Martha. You know what's been happening in Iraq. You've been there as
much as anybody. There has, in fact, been fundamental change and
transformation, and improvement for the better. I think even you would
admit that.

Q Let me go back to the Americans. Two-thirds of Americans say it's not
worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in
American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: So?

Q So -- you don't care what the American people think?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the
fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have
happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had
polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn't
had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was
willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in
order to get there. And this President has been very courageous, very
consistent, very determined to continue down the course we were on and
to achieve our objective. And that's victory in Iraq, that's the
establishment of a democracy where there's never been a democracy, it's
the establishment of a regime that respects the rights and liberties of
their people, as an ally for the United States in the war against
terror, and as a positive force for change in the Middle East. That's a
huge accomplishment.

Q Are you certain of victory?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You can't, say -- get up some morning and say, gee,
the polls are critical of what we're doing, and quit. It doesn't work
that way.

Q Are you certain of victory?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I am. "

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