Time Mag: Bush had to lean on Cheney to get him to talk (Raw Story)

President Bush had to lean on Vice President Cheney to get him to talk about his hunting accident, TIME Magazine's Nancy Gibbs and Mike Allen report in Monday editions. Excerpts from the registration-restricted story:

Bush and Cheney had a quiet talk. According to a Republican official, the President told Cheney how much he too loved Whittington. He acknowledged what a crushing experience it must have been to see Whittington fall after Cheney pulled the trigger on a bird, failing to see his friend nearby. After one of McClellan's press briefings, Cheney deadpanned, "He looks like he's having fun." Cheney knew what to do, being acquainted, as anyone in his position would be, with that most familiar and degrading of political rituals, the act of public penitence...

How do you make a powerful Vice President do something he doesn't want to do, however much the President needs it? From the earliest days of this Administration, the President has been comfortable having a Vice President who answers only to him and pretty much scares everyone else. When Cheney simply shut down after the accident, there was no one else in the White House with the nerve or clout to bring him back online. Cheney "has a very protective family, plus there is an unfortunate intimidation factor," says a former Administration official. "Very few staff—either in Cheneyworld or Bushworld—are comfortable raising issues in a straightforward manner or giving constructive advice."

Bush and Cheney are not as close as they were in their first term, TIME reports.

"But in recent months the internal dynamic has shifted. Through the first term, Cheney's dominion over foreign policy was unchallenged. And while he remains the Administration's voice on national security, the ascendance of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the distraction of the cia-leak investigation and public doubts about the handling of the Iraq occupation mean the Vice President often finds himself advocating rather than orchestrating. An overstretched military narrows Administration options; Rice talks often about realistic approaches, and the Administration is more willing to acknowledge the utility of allies and even the U.N. than to pursue the more confrontational approach of Cheneyland... Cheney was the White House point man in trying to thwart Senator John McCain's effort to ban torture of detainees in U.S. custody anywhere in the world. Even after Bush yielded to McCain, Cheney's staff worked hard to try to narrow the restrictions in the legislation."

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Time_Mag_Bush_had_to_lean_0219.html

:eyes:

people will believe this tripe?

Bush telling Cheney to do anything . . . riiiiiiiighhhhttt.....

:rofl:

...Bush has to maintain a facade of authority. In the wake of:

1). Hurricane Katrina

2). The CIA Leak Investigation ("I'll fire anyone involved" morphing into "I'll fire anyone convicted")

3). "Yes, I do..." (Bush's response to Brit Hume's question "Do you believe Tom DeLay is innocent?")

4). "I never met Jack Ambramoff"

On, and on, and on...

The media HAD to report this as "Cheney did the right thing because Bush gave him a spanking."

Junior desperately needed the boost.

...Bush flicked his pinky, and they all went down.

I'm guessing what really went on behind doors was a lot of yelling and temper tantrums, Bush screaming at Rove "I pay YOU to handle this shit," and lo and behold...father figure Bush lays his stern but fair guiding hand on that sport-shootin' scalawag Evil Dick Cheney.

People will read the story, people will believe it.

:silly:

bush would be sporting another pretzel wound if he confronted Cheney over anything. I don't doubt some on the WH staff would like to undermine Cheney but that mama's boy * ain't about to say anything to him. I don't know who got to him but they didn't do a very good job of making him seem contrite. My suspicion is that that skank Matalin was brought back on board to arrange things.

here you go, oh never mind they are a rag.. according to some

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/02/bush_ordered_cheney_to_go_publ.html

Bush ordered Cheney to go public on shooting: Once again, we had it first
Posted at February 19, 2006 10:31 AM in Bush Leagues .
Time magazine reports today that President George W. Bush "had to lean" on Vice President Dick Cheney to get him to go public about his shooting of a friend on a hunting trip last weekend. What Time didn't tell you is that we reported that first here on Capitol Hill Blue.

:eyes:

to keep himself from falling down as he blew his rotgut-whiskey breath in Cheney's face. Cheney probably relented just to get George off of him. Otherwise, he would have merely laughed at George and told him to go f--- himself.

Like George really tells Cheney what to do.

all that's left to do is analyze Rove's strategy. Imo, Cheney's extremely unpopular and Bush looks better if he's clashing with him rather than being owned by him which he actually is.