Prostestors Interfere With Cheney Speech at AEI

Typically, at ones home think tank, a speaker can find a sympathetic crowd.  But that is often not the case with controversial figures such as former Vice President Dick Cheney.  Mr. Cheney, who is affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), faced a rather hostile protester as he was giving an Iran speech there.  Here is more:

Protesters briefly interrupted former Vice President Dick Cheney’s speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday asking, “Why should we be listening to you?” They also told Cheney that he’s a “war criminal.”

Cheney was giving an anti-Iran nuclear deal speech, where he said the deal will have “catastrophic” consequences and put the U.S. at the direct risk of nuclear devastation.

“My generation wants peace, not war,” one protester yelled at Cheney.

While the protesters were escorted out, Cheney stood on stage, smirked, and said “thank you very much” before continuing on.

Although the article above uses the plural "protesters," only one protester can be seen on videos shot during the outburst at the conservative think tank.  A short video of the protester can be found here.  A longer video can be found here.

The Hill newspaper notes that the woman protester was escorted out of the room after a brief scuffle in which a security guard "seemed to try to wrench away" a banner she was holding.  The Hill also notes that the protester appeared to be aligned with the activist group CodePink, which was protesting Cheney outside of the think tank earlier in the morning.

The protests certainly added some excitement to usually-calm think tank land, in which the most exciting thing to usually happen is a moderator berating an audience member for being too long-winded.

Think Tank Watch wonders if there will be any protesters at Brookings, which is hosting both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Hillary Clinton this week at separate events for a discussion on Iran.

Dick Cheney to Give Major Iran Speech at AEI

The conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has just announced that former Vice President Dick Cheney will give a major speech on the nuclear deal with Iran on September 8.  The event will last one hour and will be moderated by AEI Senior Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies Danielle Pletka.

Cheney, who is a member of AEI's Board of Trustees , has given numerous speeches at the think tank, including one in 2014 on 9/11 and the future of US foreign policy.  In 2009 he gave a speech at AEI on the ongoing threat terrorism poses to the US, and in 2003, he delivered a speech at the think tank on the "war on terror."

CNN says that Cheney's speech will "hammer" President Obama's Iran nuclear deal, and Politico says that he will speak out against the deal.

We should also note that Cheney's wife, Lynne Cheney, is a Senior Fellow at AEI, specializing in culture and education.