I think the record speaks for itself. These are two individuals who have been for the war when the headlines were good and against it when their poll ratings were bad.

Cheney frames his opponents as politically opportunistic rather than principled, contrasting what he implies is a steady, conviction-driven stance with a stance that shifts according to public opinion. The line “the record speaks for itself” is a common rhetorical move meant to foreclose debate by treating the evidence as obvious and already settled. By pairing “headlines” with “poll ratings,” he suggests that media cycles and electoral pressures—not strategic judgment or moral reasoning—drive their position on war. The quote exemplifies wartime political discourse in which credibility is contested through accusations of inconsistency and “flip-flopping,” making steadfastness itself a proxy for leadership and seriousness.