The Man Behind The Curtain (US News Cover Story)

[UpInArms]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/031013/usnews/13cheney.htm

On July 25, 2000, George W. Bush sat in an upstairs room of the governor's mansion in Austin watching Dick Cheney navigate his first television interview as the Republican vice presidential nominee. "Just mark my words," an admiring Bush gushed to an aide. "There will be a crisis in my administration, and Dick Cheney is exactly the man you want at your side in a crisis."

<snip>

If he sees a negative story on TV, such as recent reports questioning the progress of reconstruction of Iraq, he often laughs and asks, "Why do they think that?" He believes he has the essential facts, many of them classified, and says the Iraq policy is working.

<snip>

Such reliance, evidently, has its pluses and minuses. "Bush wasn't sure of himself on foreign affairs. Cheney was," says a Bush family insider. "If Cheney were not vice president, it would've been different. The Iraq war situation would've been handled differently. There was a rush to judgment to go to war, all filtered through Cheney. If Cheney had not been there, there may have been a second chance for the weapons inspectors, we would've been slower to move to war, and, maybe, we would have organized a bigger coalition."

...more...

it seems that they are setting up Cheney for a fall

[Democrats unite]

1. It looks to me that all of thhem are being set up for a fall

And they have done it to themselves.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Poor, misunderstood Cheney.

[soothsayer]

3. And poor, naive dumbya

"You mean (blink blink) unka dick was LYING to me??"

[GCP]

4. I especially liked this part:

" Most of the relationship is hidden from public view because it is the relationship of a quiet subordinate to a superior."

I couldn't tell if they were talking about Smirk or Sneer with this sentence, maybe it was deliberate!

It also sounds like they're setting up Sneer for the big chop before the next election.

[goforit]

5. While every one has been laughing at the brilliance of W, I

have been trying tell everyone that it is Cheney that
is the true brainless and heartless chap!

Yes I do believe that "someone" is trying to send them all
down the river and quite frankly they all are quilty!

[qwertyMike]

6. Puppet

I alwya had the feeling that after Inauguration it went something like:
"OK George, you're in the history books now, have fun, play golf, leave the grown-up stuff to us guys (PNAC). Have a nice Presidency. Any problems call Dad"

[fishnfla]

7. The "senior advisor to a former president" quoted

is either Baker or Scowcroft. They are on to Tricky Dick and his Likudnik buddies....

[lovedems]

8. I think Rummy is just as responsible!

Cheney and Rummy should both go down and Georgie should be held responsible for being so stupid. Does that man question anything people tell him? He is more a sheep than anyone else!

[Nay]

9. I keep tellin' ya,

the Republicans are going to dump Bush/Cheney for 2004 and appoint a fresh new pair of neocons so the unwashed masses can vote for two more MORAL and UPSTANDING Christians this time around. Just in case a few of the unwashed are having second thoughts about the lies, treason, their kids getting killed in Iraq, etc. I ain't kiddin'.

[lovedems]

10. You mean APPARENTLY moral and upstanding

because there is no such thing that I am aware of.

[shrike]

19. my husband agrees with you

He's been telling me for months that Bush will not run in 2004; they'll manufacture some health crisis so he can bow out "gracefully."

[reprobate]

24. This I doubt.

The entire repug agenda has been to agrandize bush for the last three years. They have covered up his lies, glossed over his mistakes, and generaly told us what a great guy he is.

To dump him before the election would be to admit they were lying to us since the campaign of 2000. They simply cant afford to put on such a face at this point.

No, I'm afraid that the repugs got themselves (and us) into this mess, and they will just have to face the consequences. Of course, they have Diebold just in case they need to hedge their bets.

ABB.

[Fovea]

28. I do not see Rove distancing himself from Bush

So a dumping of Bush is unlikely. But Cheney is vulnerable and the real question is will the entire PNAC staff go with him? Question 2 is who would Bush replace him with?

I think it bifurcates into DeLay or someone seen as clean, such as... hmm. Gary Bauer, or Grover Norquist.

[woofless]

11. Clinton's penis never was a threat to our great country.

Bush's Dick certainly is.

[Gin]

13. And to think we as taxpayers are paying to keep this creep.... with no

heart.. here...I say..no more juice.

[Prodemsouth]

16. Ha, Ha Very Good -

Why does everone seem so much sharper on Sunday Mornings..this must be when the smarter DUers come on board.

[havocmom]

17. that sentiment would make for a fantastic bumper sticker! (n/t)

[TacticalPeek]

25. LOL!

:kick:

[teryang]

12. Lost causes?

<And they aren't interested in impossible dreams or lost causes.>

The Iraq war is a lost cause. Remember when he went on his trip abroad to drum up international support for a pre-emptive attack on Iraq? He failed miserably. He is still failing. But the super rich, halliburton, bechtel, and the defense contractors are all getting fat from the war contracts, while the wounded troops get billed for hospital meals and troops on leave from the combat zone have to pay their own plane fares.

The imperial vice presidency was started when John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan. At that time George H.W. Bush took control of American foreign policy from the President. He was the most powerful vice president in history and ran America's empire from that date until Jan. 20, 1993. The innumerable schemes of George I, including but not limited to, assassination, multi-billion dollar bank frauds, secret armies, pretextual wars, coups, illegal arms sales, money laundering, and drug trafficking, were not lost on Mr. Cheney.

[Mari333]

14. an even BETTER reporter would have opened the lid on PNAC

especially after Wesley Clark's book was so touted as exposing it yesterday.................

[sam sarrha]

15. It is said that 'W' does not even read a news paper.. he gets

summaries from people who understand that stuff. I wonder if they keep him drugged like they did Raygun...?

[Benhurst]

18. Yes, it looks like they are getting ready to

pull Electric Dick's plug.

[jody]

20. Ian Kershaw, a highly respected historian, wrote that Adolf Hitler

believed God had chosen him to lead Germany into its proper place as a world power. Many Germans became fanatical devotees of the "Fuhrer Cult" however, that changed as more and more people realized that Hitler was lying to them about the war and the economy.

Kershaw quoted one opinion circa 1944, "It's always claimed that the Fuhrer has been sent to us from God. I don't doubt it. The Fuhrer was sent to us from God, through not in order to save Germany, but to ruin it. Providence has determined the destruction of the German people, and Hitler is the executor of this will."

History does repeat itself and Americans should look closely at any politician who encourages the idea that God sent her/him to lead us into the "promised land".

[UTUSN]

21. Yep, You Want the One Triggering the Crisis Next to You

[Paschall]

22. This is a rather remarkable piece

It seems to present only two arguments bolstering the notion that Shrub actually runs the White House: (1) Cheney "knows his place" and doesn't try to upstage the Chimp; and (2) Cheney is unfailingly "loyal." In other words, Shrub is "in control" solely by the good graces of Cheney. (I'm also confused about the reference to the "subordinate" and the "superior," but the allusion to "The Odd Couple," with Shrub in the role of Felix, makes me think this reporter is telling us Cheney has something of the upper hand. I'm not surprised.)

I think we'd get a whole different perspective if we were talking about George HW, who must have kept Cheney and his associated "crazies" on a pretty short leash--otherwise, we would have overrun Baghdad in 1991.

[jody]

23. George HW Bush listened to the CIA but Cheney and AWOL listened

to other voices.

[TacticalPeek]

26. Creeeeeepy.

[Cush]

27. So if Cheney is behind a lot of this..

what dies it say about Bush? Doesn't ot show that he is pretty gullible and has no idea what he's doing?

He picked these people, I wonder if Poppy warned him?

[DeathvadeR]

29. Fall????

Shit they got what they wanted, A pipeline through Afghanastan and all the oil they can pocket out of Iraq.

They don't need a fall, They're just looking for a way out, even if it makes them out to look somewhat bad, Fuq it, they don't care, They will just disapear to some Island they now can afford ,and every one will go o-boy I'm glad that's over, My ass is alittle tingly.,, I wonder why.