Cheney's Still Gets His Way On National Security

Faced with the frightening prospect of public hearings and active Congressional oversight into President Bush's contested domestic spying program, the White House sent out its big dog -- Vice President Cheney -- to bring straying moderate Republicans to heel.

Indeed, no matter what you have may have heard lately, the fact is that Cheney is still the Bush Administration's most ferocious warrior.

Remember Cheney's one big defeat in the Senate? The vice president publicly took the lead in trying to scuttle Sen. John McCain's anti-torture proposal late last year. When that proved both unseemly and ineffective, Cheney was equally publicly pulled off the case. Bush then embraced both McCain and his legislation in the Oval Office. Cheney was nowhere to be seen.

Big defeat for Cheney, right? Well, he had the last word. As Charlie Savage wrote in the Boston Globe in January: "When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

stinker of a headline!


Cheney's Still Got It

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; 12:12 PM

Its pathetic how much both parties roll over to him.

not win? Cheney was not worried. He is the president and the others just do his bidding. The Republicans caved just as I thought they would. As for the Dubai deal, it wll go through.