The historic Cheney Vice-Presidency

Book review, Title Angler, Author Barton Gellman, Rating 3.0, The historic Cheney Vice-Presidency

Angler Barton Gellman Book review

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Bart Gellman's book Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency is a competent and sometimes surprising look at Dick Cheney's vice-presidency. The most surprising revelation? Cheney's fall from W.'s grace.

Cheney wielded much more power during Bush’s first term than he did in the second term, because he became so reckless that even Bush recognized it, and Bush began to distance himself from Cheney as the second term progressed. In particular, when Cheney’s men tried to force the the temporary head of the Department of Justice to renew some of the torture memos, while John Ashcroft was ill in the hospital, Ashcroft and some of his senior staff, to include the FBI director, threatened to resign. This came as a complete surprise to the President, from whom Cheney had hidden these and related maneuvers, who was then forced to clean up the mess before he had his own Saturday Night Massacre on his hands. After this internal fiasco, largely unnoticed at the time it occurred, Cheney’s influence began to wane inside of the Bush presidency.

A gift from my wife Cindy.