Cheney on Bush

Dick Cheney is writing his memoirs and plans to be quite frank about his experience with George Bush.  It looks like it won’t be pretty.  Cheney has allegedly stated that the “statute of limitations has expired.”

Here’s the news:

Cheney’s disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets.

“In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him,” said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney’s reply. “He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney’s advice. He’d showed an independence that Cheney didn’t see coming. It was clear that Cheney’s doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times — never apologize, never explain — and Bush moved toward the conciliatory.”

Judging from the article and eight years of the administration, it seems fairly clear that Dick Cheney never came to terms with a little something called “public relations.”  Indeed, I don’t know why the former Vice President never grasped the reality that you can’t get much legislation passed with your approval ratings mired in the low 30’s.  Then again, in order to get legislation passed you also have to actually believe Congress has a role in governing this nation.  Dick Cheney’s interpretation of an imperial presidency doesn’t really square with an active legislative branch.

Cheney’s take-no-prisoners attitude was not only awful from a political standpoint, it also trampled upon our Constitution and threatened our national security.  From openly embracing torture to creating secret detention centers to misleading this nation into war to warrantless wiretaps, Cheney’s view of the Vice Presidency was basically a carte blanche invitation to do almost anything he wanted.

Part of me feels sympathy for George Bush.  Bush let Cheney take advantage of his position as President of the United States and, in large part because of Cheney’s influence and policies, America turned on Bush.  Now because Bush dared to break with Cheney, the former Vice President sounds like he is going to write a tell-all.  That said, my sympathy is quickly obliterated when I remind myself that Bush made the decision to put Cheney in office and made the mistake of putting far too much stock in his advice.

Perhaps what is even more interesting is what Republicans will do once this book is released.  Whose side will they choose?  Cheney always seemed a bit more popular with the blowhard right (Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh, etc.) while Bush was meant to appease the base.  I can’t wait to see the headline on The Weekly Standard – “if only we’d listened more to Dick Cheney.”  There might be some interesting damage control coming from the Bush team.  Will Cheney be discarded as a “disgruntled former employee“?

Ultimately I suspect much of this is buzz from Cheney’s publisher designed to gin up interest in the book.  We obviously won’t know the full details until it’s released.  In the meantime, we do know Cheney was upset that Bush didn’t pardon Libby and that Cheney and Bush don’t talk terribly often.  Perhaps the former Vice President will use this final act to set the record straight.