Cheney's Mad at Bush

[Stephanie]

:nopity:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_exvp_dick_cheney_outraged_president_bush.html

Ex-VP Dick Cheney outraged President Bush didn't grant 'Scooter' Libby full pardon
BY THOMAS M. DEFRANK 
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Monday, February 16th 2009, 10:33 PM

WASHINGTON - In the waning days of the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney launched a last-ditch campaign to persuade his boss to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby - and was furious when President George W. Bush wouldn't budge.

Sources close to Cheney told the Daily News the former vice president repeatedly pressed Bush to pardon Libby, arguing his ex-chief of staff and longtime alter ego deserved a full exoneration - even though Bush had already kept Libby out of jail by commuting his 30-month prison sentence.

"He tried to make it happen right up until the very end," one Cheney associate said.

In multiple conversations, both in person and over the telephone, Cheney tried to get Bush to change his mind. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the federal probe of who leaked covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press.

Several sources confirmed Cheney refused to take no for an answer. "He went to the mat and came back and back and back at Bush," a Cheney defender said. "He was still trying the day before Obama was sworn in."

After repeatedly telling Cheney his mind was made up, Bush became so exasperated with Cheney's persistence he told aides he didn't want to discuss the matter any further.

The unsuccessful full-court press left Cheney bitter. "He's furious with Bush," a Cheney source told The News. "He's really angry about it and decided he's going to say what he believes."

==more at link==

[mediaman007]

1. Payback is a bitch.

[Stephanie]

9. Cheney's "bitter"

Yeah, so are we, dick.

[Fleshdancer]

2. Kudos to Bush on this.

Now I can say he did one thing I agreed with.

[I Have A Dream]

5. Yeah, that's sad isn't it?

One thing in 8 years, and I'm not being hyperbolic. :(

[rpannier]

6. That's his 2nd for me

Not giving Israel the bunker busters and a go-ahead to bomb Iran is the best thing he did

[lunatica]

34. Actually it's one thing he didn't do that was good

'Cause everything he did do we find repulsive.

[lutefisk]

37. I've always assumed that any (perceived) "good" Bush did was ultimately for a "bad" reason

Besides, if we start counting all the bad things Bush didn't do as "good" things, we might as well praise Hitler for all the bad things he didn't do...

[babylonsister]

3. Whoa. idiot son did something honorable, and made darth forever

angry? I like it!

And then there's Elliott Abrams yesterday. Is Cheney following Abrams' opinion?

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/15/elliott-abrams-pardon-libby/

[Stephanie]

4. I wonder if Cheney made promises to Libby in exchange for his silence

I always thought Judy Miller went to jail to protect Cheney.

[babylonsister]

14. There's a thought. So one further nudge at Scooter, now friendless,

could unleash the truth? I would love to see that. And I hope Cheney is totally miserable. But I bet they have cocktails together nightly. They were tight.

[Stephanie]

15. Libby got himself a gig at the Hudson Institute

http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=publication_details&id=5968&pubType=HI_Opeds

And Cheney's holed up in McClean. No doubt they meet for sad shots of whiskey in some nondisclosed, wheelchair accessible Holiday Inn cocktail lounge.

[babylonsister]

22. Cheney walks into Starbucks 'miraculously' now, and

that wench KO has been talking about who wrote that screed on healthcare works at the Hudson Institute.

What a surprise!

[lunatica]

43. I picture them in a dimly lit Holiday Inn lounge bar sitting in a plastic upholstered booth

with piped Musak or maybe a bad Elvis impersonator singing to a half empty room of 70-something retirees.

[rwenos]

17. Promises, Promises

You're probably right on the button here. Cheney, who apparently was bullying Bush from Day One (remember Bush promising Saddam three days to come correct, and then the missiles being launched that same day?), probably thought he could bully Bush one more time.

I'm always fascinated when bullies get stopped cold. They simply can't believe it. "No -- Mr. President, you do what I SAY."

Shogun Cheney must have been fit to be tied. A pleasant thought, that.

[tularetom]

7. I'd watch my ass if I were the boy king

Just sayin. People have been disappeared for less.

[tularetom]

8. Ooops Dupesie Doo

deleted

[grytpype]

10. I hope when he is wheeled up to the podium somebody asks him what he had to do with Valerie Plame.

Has he ever said?

Has anyone ever asked him?

Can we ask him now that he's out of office and wants to talk about Libby?

[Captain Hilts]

11. They've been on the outs for quite a while. nt

[Stephanie]

13. No honor among thieves.

[Arugula Latte]

12. Cage match to the death!

:woohoo:

[Stephanie]

18. Bush doesn't stand a chance

Remember poor Whittington.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/18/whittington_wideweb__470x353,0.jpg

[Arugula Latte]

19. Yep, plus Cheney would probably equip his wheel chair with incredibly sharp blades

James Bond villain fashion

[Fireweed247]

16. What else is new?

Remember the 'boil' and the 'pretzel' incident? Bush better hope Cheney isn't planning a hunting trip...

[Stephanie]

20. I hope he is.

[Stevenmarc]

21. Cheney never fed a toddler

Don't pardon Scooter, Don't you dare pardon Scooter, I really don't want you to pardon Scooter.


Scooter would have had a pardon like you get a petulant toddler to eat their veggies.

[pmorlan1]

23. Self-serving Cheney leaks

Sounds to me like ole Dick is worried about Scooter spilling the beans so he's gotten some of his buds to leak this story to convince Scooter that it wasn't him but Bush that wouldn't cough up the old pardon. I hope Scooter sings like a bird and takes Cheney and Bush down.

[habitual]

33. EXACTLY. n/t

[bridgit]

24. Cheney was right about one thing, he knew in w that he'd sign anything that was slipped under

his nose...problem was when Cheney's psychosis started bringing the Bush family name & legacy down all bets were off including Scooter :nopity:

[Traveling_Home]

25. Bush didn't give pardons in Texas; didn't in WH; "no surprise Mr Cheney" nt

[EFerrari]

26. Bush didn't figure out that Cheney was screwing him until his Legacy team was up

and running.

Unbelievable. We should all kiss the ground every day that some of us survived that idiot.

[salguine]

27. Pity if this made him so apoplectic that he had The Big One. Of course, he's had

The Big One four fucking times already...

[CrispyQ]

41. With health care that most of us can only dream of & at our expense, too!

:grr:

[Missy Vixen]

28. Ohhh, nooooooooo!

I'm only sorry that Scooter didn't get a pardon. It would have been fun, fun, FUN to watch Patrick Fitzgerald grill him, and you bet I would have cashed in the airline miles to see it in person.

:woohoo:

[hope1954]

29. its the oil

I guess he's mad about the low oil prices during the last months of the administration!

[struggle4progress]

30. Maybe they should go hunting together to patch things up

[MiniMe]

31. If Dim Son had pardoned him, he could have been forced to testify

before congress. He wouldn't have to take the 5th because he had already been pardoned.

[Jim Lane]

38. He's already been convicted so he can be forced to testify as to those crimes

I'm pretty sure that the Fifth Amendment privilege applies only to testimony that might expose the witness to a criminal prosecution. There's no such exposure for a witness who's been pardoned, but there's also no such exposure to a witness who's already been convicted. Libby can't be prosecuted again for the same crimes.

[MiniMe]

40. It could affect an appeal

And they are leaving that open.

[hootinholler]

32. If Bush pardoned Libby then there's no 5th protections

Libby can be forced to testify under penalty of perjury.

I don't believe for one second that Cheney doesn't know this, what we are seeing is red meat bluster for the party.

-Hoot

[FatDave]

35. So Bush stopped listening to Cheney.

Shame it was 8 years too late.

[Maru Kitteh]

36. Gosh, and they looked so cute together at the awards ceremony

Who would have guess their marriage was in so much trouble?

[leftchick]

39. bfd

it is most likely the only time bush said no to the dick.

[windoe]

42. Vampires eat their own

eventually, sooner if they disobey.

[spanone]

44. go to the back of the fucking line, DICK

[Stephanie]

45. Discussing this on Hardball right now

DeFrank is on. Sorry I missed most of it.

[steelmania75]

46. Dick needs to GO AWAY