Cheney - The Real President?

The New York Times White House reporter Bumiller tries to show that Cheney is not the puppet master to the president which Kaustilyan picks apart.

I know Bumiller would probably respond that she acknowledges that Cheney is the most powerful Vice President in history but that her point is to critique the caricature of Cheney as a puppet master. It seems to me that she still sets the bar way too high. The evidence shows Cheney wields power beyond all proportion and a couple of exceptions don't change that. She just seems to be spinning a story that the Administration wants to get out in the face of the joint Bush-Cheney appearance in front of the 9/11 commission.

Is Bumiller completely sheltered from the outside world? Here's one of the "fervent critics" from the "angry left", the Wall Street Journal (see this post) in a piece entitled "Out of Sight, Cheney Is Power"

Mr. Cheney's clout on national security, and his central role in the war on terrorism and Iraq, are well known. Far less understood is that he plays a similarly vital role on economic and domestic decisions. A look inside the administration's agenda of the last year shows Mr. Cheney was a central player in maneuvering on tax cuts, the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit and the national energy bill that is still pending.

The evidence shows Cheney wields power beyond all proportion and a couple of exceptions don't change that. She just seems to be spinning a story that the Administration wants to get out in the face of the joint Bush-Cheney appearance in front of the 9/11 commission.

el - Let's see - Treasury Secretary O' Neil reported in his book that he was fired by Cheney. A close reading of Woodward's book shows that the final call on going to war with Iraq was Cheney's. Cheney made the Cabinet recommendations after recommending himself for Vice President. He has his own National Security department which feed the misinformation for war.