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Report: Cheney Says Bush Went Soft

AP
posted: 4 HOURS 7 MINUTES AGO
comments: 3990
filed under: Political News
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WASHINGTON (Aug. 13) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney believes his old boss, President George W. Bush, gradually turned away from his advice during their second term in the White House, showing a surprising independence as he started taking more flexible positions on a range of issues, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
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George W. Bush, left, and Dick Cheney
Gerald Herbert, AP

Ever since George W. Bush and Dick Cheney left the White House, a more complex portrait of their relationship has emerged. While some have portrayed the former vice president as a puppet master, reports now suggest Cheney was marginalized by his ex-boss during their second term.

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Also See: Gonzales Regrets Enemy Detainee Memo
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Cheney, often described as the most influential vice president in U.S. history, has been discussing his years in office in informal talks with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues, the Post said, as he works on a memoir due out in 2011 from Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions.
Robert Barnett, who negotiated Cheney's book contract, passed word to potential publishers that the memoir would be packed with news, said the article published on the Post Web site, and Cheney himself has said, without explanation, that "the statute of limitations has expired" on many of his secrets.
The book will cover Cheney's long career from chief of staff under President Gerald Ford to vice president under Bush.
"When the president made decisions that I didn't agree with, I still supported him and didn't go out and undercut him," Cheney said, according to Stephen Hayes, his authorized biographer. "Now we're talking about after we've left office. I have strong feelings about what happened. ... And I don't have any reason not to forthrightly express those views."
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According to the author of the Post piece, Barton Gellman, who earlier wrote a book on Cheney called "Angler," the former vice president believes Bush made concessions to public sentiment, something Cheney views as moral weakness. After years of praising Bush as a man of resolve, Cheney now intimates that the former president turned out to be more like an ordinary politician in the end, Gellman says.
"In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him," Gellman quoted 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."
The Post quoted John P. Hannah, Cheney's second-term national security adviser, as saying Cheney remains driven, now as before, by the possibility of terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons from a nation hostile to the U.S.
What is new, Hannah said, is Cheney's readiness to acknowledge "doubts about the main channels of American policy during the last few years," a period encompassing most of Bush's second term.
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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-08-13 01:27:02
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EurekaSpringsUSA

08:26 PMAug 14 2009

ROBERTM445 > a.k.a. MITCHELL > a.k.a. > ROBERTM445 > lol.

AVG RATING:
(0)

Cmdr hlamb

08:26 PMAug 14 2009

IBEST.......really?.......

AVG RATING:
(0)

IBESTUPIDLINDA

08:25 PMAug 14 2009

EurekaSpringsUSA 08:19 PMAug 14 2009 is yenttia ibelinda ? i can,t tell the difference lol.........HEY, DON'T YOU COME ON HERE BADMOUTHING ME!!!!!!!! THAT YENTTIA IS A NO-CLASS HO!!!!! I HAVE FUKCING CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AVG RATING:
(2)

ROBERTM445

08:25 PMAug 14 2009

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SARAH PALIN SPOTTED IN A REMOTE AREA OF ALASKA SUCKING ON MOOSE BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AVG RATING:
(2)

Smald4lib

08:23 PMAug 14 2009

I suppose if you would like to know the truth, and if you can read, then why don't you read your insurance policies, and maybe you should by the way the empty headed stupidity is flying. In it you'll find a clause about end of life issues. Of course to those who can't read and believe everything they hear from an idiot who never checks his facts, Glenn Beck, it's understandable.

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(2)

KCARTHEY

08:22 PMAug 14 2009

Never thought I'd say this but maybe we should keep Gitomo open...get ready for a Veep Suite.

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(3)

BOUNCERDAVE2006

08:21 PMAug 14 2009

ROBERTM445 08:20 PMAug 14 2009 LAURA BUSH SAID "YES GEORGE WENT SOFT"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!---------now we have racist robert here.

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(4)

ROBERTM445

08:20 PMAug 14 2009

LAURA BUSH SAID "YES GEORGE WENT SOFT"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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(5)

BOUNCERDAVE2006

08:20 PMAug 14 2009

CHANGEWEBELIEVE 08:18 PMAug 14 2009 BREAKING NEWS THIS AFTERNOON :FOX NEWS REPORTED TODAY THAT IN CALIFORNIA THE SECRET SERVICE WAS CALLED IN BECAUSE A WHITE MALE THREATEND THE WHITE HOUSE , PRES. FAMILY,.,.,.,.KARL ROVE GUILTY OF FIRING THE ATTORNEYS...EMAILS TO PROVE IT.,.YOU CAN READ THE REPORT IN WWW.POLITICO.COM--------------barry is that you?

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(4)

Cmdr hlamb

08:20 PMAug 14 2009

........still think it's a sh*tty thing to do, even when it is bush who is on the receiving....

AVG RATING:
(2)

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The Washington Post reports that Dick Cheney, who has been discussing his years as vice president with colleagues as he pens a memoir, feels that former President George W. Bush began ignoring him while becoming more independent-minded during their second White House stint. \n
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