WP, Froomkin: No Checks, No Balances: "Bush's role is to sign whatever Cheney puts in front of him."

[DeepModem Mom]

No Checks, No Balances -- No Supervision?
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, June 25, 2007

Midway through a massive and momentous Washington Post series on Vice President Cheney, it's clearer than ever that one thing missing from Cheney's worldview is any appreciation for checks and balances -- not just among the three branches of government, but also within his own.

Please go read parts one and two of this important series by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker, then come back. Gellman's narrated photo gallery works as a pithy overview.

Sunday's installment depicts Cheney as the guiding force behind the most radical elements of the Bush presidency. Today's installment describes Cheney's responsibility for the administration's torture policies in particular. Tomorrow's will focus on his influence on economic policy, and Wednesday's will detail his impact on environmental policy.

Gellman and Becker write that "Cheney is not, by nearly every inside account, the shadow president of popular lore." Yet in most decisions Gellman and Becker describe, President Bush's role is essentially to sign whatever Cheney has put in front of him. The series offers ample evidence that within the Bush administration, dissenters from Cheney's views are bullied, marginalized or fired -- with apparently no effective pushback from Bush or any of his other top aides. It's a stunning portrait.

The series is invaluable in providing concrete examples of the enormous and influential role that Cheney has long been suspected of playing in this White House. But given all that's transpired in the last year or so, it seems inconceivable that Cheney still wields as much influence as he once did. What I'm most curious about right now is whether, or how, Cheney's grip is slipping....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/06/25/BL2007062500874.html?nav=most_emailed

[King Coal]

1. Oh, I see now. Cheney is not the shadow president., he just plays one in real life.

[tularetom]

2. I don't believe his grip is slipping at all

I think the WP realizes it has let a really big mean stinky cat out of the bag (and made the boy king look like a naive gullible twit) and is now trying to rationalize it by demonstrating how bush is actually in charge and cheney is on shaky ground. There was even an op ed piece to the effect that the WH was searching for a replacement for darth (naturally fred thompson was suggested).

[Captain Hilts]

4. Blaming it all on Cheney lets Pres. Bush off too lightly. He made it possible. Cheney is his fault.

So are Cheney's lousy policies.

[Eurobabe]

3. Bush's role has always been to dance to Cheney's strings

why is everyone so damn surprised? :shrug:

I think the way is being paved for Unka Dick to exit stage left, by September.

[Roland99]

5. So, if Cheney were impeached, he'd preside over his own hearings?!?!

No way would he recuse himself.

[Javaman]

6. Moron* is chaney's automated signing machine. nt

[Supersedeas]

7. I am the figurehead I am the figurehead I am the figurehead

[dkofos]

8. Ever since dick told bush he was the only person he could find

qualified to be VP I knew the dick would be in charge.