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Go Home Cheney Unbound

THE PLANK AUGUST 13, 2009

Cheney Unbound

BY JASON ZENGERLE

It's not all that surprising that Dick Cheney has bitter feelings about George W. Bush, but the WaPo's Barton Gellman has an article today that fleshes those feelings out a bit:

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."

Of course, Cheney's right that Bush moved away from him in the second term. What I find remarkable about Cheney--and Bolton and Rumsfeld and others who complain that Bush somehow betrayed them--is their apparent inability to comprehend that the reason Bush moved away from them is because they had made such a hash of things during his first term. 

--Jason Zengerle

 

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11 comments

I know it's cliche to call Cheney the physical embodiment of evil, or Darth Vader, etc, but wow... he's really complaining that Bush wasn't a puppet and gave in to his frail human compassion

- Simon Greenwood

August 13, 2009 at 11:53am

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How is it a guy with 5 deferments becomes the standard bearer for national security, albeit amongst Republicans?

- Bukharin

August 13, 2009 at 11:55am

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I'm glad to see someone writing about this, which comes across as quite true. I have no love for Bush, that's for damn sure, but I did indeed think that he was finally starting to come into his own during his second term.

- kevincollins

August 13, 2009 at 12:00pm

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I love the subtle (or not-so-subtle) tonal hints in the Post piece, from the headline down: "Cheney UNCLOAKS His Frustration With Bush"; Cheney's "second front" against Bush, his "slashing longhand" note-taking, even his  "morning drive to Starbucks in a black SUV"... or maybe I'm just making things up.

But man, the guy really is a walking, talking, snarling comic book villain, isn't he?

- karpmj

August 13, 2009 at 12:16pm

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After spending all that time telling us that the absence of a second foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil proved the wisdom of Bush's policies, isn't it going to be hard for Cheney to write a book questioning the wisdom of Bush's policies? On the one hand, Bush was less likely to take Cheney's advice. On the other hand, no terrorist attack. That's Bush 1, Cheney/terrorists 0, by Cheney's own stated standards.

- rhubarbs

August 13, 2009 at 12:47pm

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Rhubarbs: Mr. Vice President, that's Bush 1, you/terrorists 0, by your own stated standards.

Cheney (smiling): Touche, Rhubarbs. Touche.

(Cheney leans over, presses trap door button)

Rhubarbs: What the ... whoooaaaaaaaaaaa!

(END SCENE)

- WoodyBombay

August 13, 2009 at 1:06pm

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Woody, you should have gone with the Mr. Burns' "release the hounds".

- mghogwild

August 13, 2009 at 1:39pm

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So Cheney became "disappointed" with W?  Where W was only a run-of-the-mill, clueless sociopath, the Big Dick goes down in the Psycopath hall of fame.  

As much as I hate to admit this publicly, toward the end of W's second term, I actually started to feel sorry for him for surrounding himself with (and listening to) such a bunch of ideological lizard-brains.  Don't tell anyone, please.

The more I hear about Cheney, the more I find it truly surreal.

- desertdog

August 13, 2009 at 2:29pm

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mghogwild: or, better, "release the robotic Richard Simmons!"

- cspencef

August 13, 2009 at 2:40pm

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mghogwild, there's actually supposed to be a splash at the end as he falls into the piranha tank.

- WoodyBombay

August 13, 2009 at 2:42pm

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"There's no such thing as a bottomless pit."  "Well, for all intents and purposes ..."

- Geoff G

August 13, 2009 at 5:12pm

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