Nightline Focuses on Cheney Thur 11/13

[RamboLiberal]

From their email - note how they mention the fear people have of talking:

Dick Cheney is our focus tonight; as he was of Maureen Dowd's column in The New York Times this morning. He was also on the cover of Newsweek magazine this week. Come to think of it, Mr. Cheney also adorned the cover of U.S. News & World Report just a couple of weeks back. Quick quiz! When's the last time you can remember a vice president of the United States getting this kind of attention? (And no, Dan Quayle's assault on single motherhood, as depicted on Murphy Brown, doesn't count).

My interest in understanding the genesis and nature of Mr. Cheney's unusual influence and power had its origin in one line of a newspaper story last summer. It stated that Ambassador Joe Wilson had been dispatched by the C.I.A. to the African country of Niger to look into reports that they were selling yellow cake uranium to Iraq. This mission was being undertaken "at the suggestion of the vice president's office." I began talking to a few Washington old-timers, asking if any of them remembered that kind of involvement in intelligence gathering by the vice president's office.

The more I asked, the more people I spoke with about Mr. Cheney's widespread influence, the more convinced I became that there was a fascinating story here.

It wasn't an easy one to piece together for television. People who were more than prepared to discuss the subject "off the record," recoiled at the idea of doing so in front of a television camera. There was clearly an element of fear involved. There are very few people in Washington, these days, who want to incur the displeasure of the vice president.

Clearly, the office has come a long way since the late John Nance Garner described it as not being worth "a warm bucket of spit." (Actually, he didn't use the word "spit;" but the word he used rhymes with it.)

[HFishbine]

1. The One Thing About Cheney

I always put into my mind when any discussion of him begins, is that Shrub put him in charge of finding a VP for the ticket in 2000. Cheney came back from his "search" and told Junior that he was the best choice. Cheney saw the chance to be the puppetmaster and he took it.

[TacticalPeek]

2. The other thing that always comes to my mind

is their obvious circumvention of the Constitution and Founding Fathers' intention that prez and VP be from different states. Clearly a resident of Texas for years, Cheney wore his Wyoming technicalities like a cheap overcoat to flash his way into power.

Now we see with bloody clarity why the Constitution forbade such collusion.

Arrogant SOB.