Cheney wrong again
It’s one of Margaret Thatcher’s most memorable quotes, spoken to President George H.W. Bush after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait: "Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly."
It evokes the image of a weak-spined Bush, bolstered by the Iron Lady.
Dick Cheney, the defense secretary who would become vice president, recently called it "an old wives’ story."
And we said: Really?
Cheney fondly recalled the former British prime minister, who died Monday, in an interview that day with Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren.
Van Susteren: "But there's that famous quote where, apparently, she told President Bush 41 not to go wobbly."
Cheney: "That's not true."
Van Susteren: "That's not true?"
Cheney: "Not true, no."
Van Susteren: "That's a falsehood."
Cheney: "An old wives' story. There was never any doubt about what the president was doing. He didn't need any bucking up."
The same day, the Christian Science Monitor published: "Margaret Thatcher: 'This is no time to go wobbly' and other memorable quotes." The New York Times mentioned the line in her obituary.
Is the quote just "an old wives’ story"?
Bush and Thatcher
We’ve reviewed speeches, transcripts, books and more, and we can tell you: Bush and Thatcher agree that she said it....