Cheney Rules
A Primer for the Next Vice President
By Barton Gellman
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Vice presidential power was a term of mirth in governments past. Not anymore. Vice President Cheney may be the nearest thing we have had to a deputy president, and that hasn't escaped the notice of the candidates vying to succeed him. At the vice presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden called Cheney "the most dangerous vice president" in U.S. history for his efforts to "aggrandize the power of a unitary executive." Gov. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, praised Cheney for "tapping into that position" and the Founding Fathers for "allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president."
Imagining Palin as "Cheney: The Sequel" is now fodder for the cable television news. When CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked me the other day whether Palin could reprise Cheney's role, I gave a quick TV reply: Ambition and capability are two different things. Palin lacks Cheney's Washington savvy and policy depth. But that is not the end of the story. Anyone can learn Cheney's methods. For busy aspirants, I herewith offer an executive summary of the Cheney Rules.
Fly Under the Radar.
When candidate George W. Bush asked Cheney to help choose a running mate in 2000, Cheney devised the most intrusive vetting process ever used in a presidential campaign. He insisted on waivers that gave him unrestricted access to the medical, IRS and (via the Freedom of Information Act) FBI files of each contender. He asked them to specify in writing whether they were vulnerable to blackmail and, if so, why. (Note to applicants: If you have to think twice about that one, discard the questionnaire.) But when Cheney became Bush's choice, he did not fill out his own paperwork. The cardiac surgeon who vouched for Cheney's heart now says he never met the man or reviewed a page of his records. Cheney "went down through everybody's negatives," former vice president Dan Quayle told me. "And everybody has negatives. . . . And nobody really vetted him on what his negatives were."
2. Winning Is Easy When the Other Side Doesn't Know About the Game.
(Continued here.)
By Barton Gellman
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Vice presidential power was a term of mirth in governments past. Not anymore. Vice President Cheney may be the nearest thing we have had to a deputy president, and that hasn't escaped the notice of the candidates vying to succeed him. At the vice presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden called Cheney "the most dangerous vice president" in U.S. history for his efforts to "aggrandize the power of a unitary executive." Gov. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, praised Cheney for "tapping into that position" and the Founding Fathers for "allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president."
Imagining Palin as "Cheney: The Sequel" is now fodder for the cable television news. When CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked me the other day whether Palin could reprise Cheney's role, I gave a quick TV reply: Ambition and capability are two different things. Palin lacks Cheney's Washington savvy and policy depth. But that is not the end of the story. Anyone can learn Cheney's methods. For busy aspirants, I herewith offer an executive summary of the Cheney Rules.
Fly Under the Radar.
When candidate George W. Bush asked Cheney to help choose a running mate in 2000, Cheney devised the most intrusive vetting process ever used in a presidential campaign. He insisted on waivers that gave him unrestricted access to the medical, IRS and (via the Freedom of Information Act) FBI files of each contender. He asked them to specify in writing whether they were vulnerable to blackmail and, if so, why. (Note to applicants: If you have to think twice about that one, discard the questionnaire.) But when Cheney became Bush's choice, he did not fill out his own paperwork. The cardiac surgeon who vouched for Cheney's heart now says he never met the man or reviewed a page of his records. Cheney "went down through everybody's negatives," former vice president Dan Quayle told me. "And everybody has negatives. . . . And nobody really vetted him on what his negatives were."
2. Winning Is Easy When the Other Side Doesn't Know About the Game.
(Continued here.)
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