Cheney: ‘I’m reluctant to judge our politicians based upon the act of what appears to be a lone, crazed gunman’

Former Vice President Dick Cheney sits down for an interview — his first since heart surgery last July — with “Today” show correspondent Jamie Gangel. Cheney opens up on topics ranging from his health, President Obama’s leadership, and on the massacre in Tucson and whether heightened political rhetoric is at all to blame. Cheney:

There’s a lot more I’d like to know about the man who was the perpetrator of this awful crime.  And I think we need to be a little careful about assuming that somehow the rest of society or the political class bears the responsibility for what happened here when it was the act of a deranged, crazed individual that committed a crime. I think our politics can get pretty rough at times. Having been vice president for eight years, maybe I’m more sensitive to it than others, but the fact of the matter is, a good, tough political fight is one of the great strengths of our democracy.

See a clip tonight on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” and Gangel’s full report tomorrow on “Today.”

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