Plane Crash in Husdon River 16th Jan 2009

[tw]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

You have to ask yourself if it would have been better or worse had Cheney not been there though.

If Cheney was not there, then George Jr would have never been offered the job. We know this relationship from a meeting between Quayle and Cheney eight years ago. Quayle explains the VP job to Cheney. A job full of pomp and image. Cheney then smiled and said, "I have a special relationship with this president."

Every so often, George Jr would decide to act as president. For example, he completely rejected Cheney's list for the Supreme Court. Instead, he nominated his own lawyer - Harriet Myers. So Cheney took revenge. Cheney withdrew all support for that nominee. George quickly had to withdrawal that nomination. This is how Cheney kept his front man in line. This was the special relationship.

Powell made if obvious. After a meeting, the senior staff would leave. Cheney and George Jr would consult for two minutes. Then senior staff would return to be told of "George Jr's" decision.

As Beest noted:

I always thought that was the plan, Bush was the folksy, bumbling, guy people would like to have beer with front man.

So Condi Rice and Wolfovitz spent 18 months before the election teaching George Jr about the world. That was the plan. George Jr was taught the sound byte responses to all questions - to be the front man. Cheney made the decisions.

The movie "W." demonstrates how this worked.

More interesting is how decisions (if any at highest levels) were being made in the last three months. There seems to have been a complete breakdown in that process. Senior staff (ie Paulson and Bernanke) were making decisions independently without any curiosity or coordination from the rest of that administration. Even the Annapolis Conference completely vaporized with virtually no follow up except tepid actions by Condi Rice. It was as if the entire administration had no guidance. Any effort or threat to tow the line appears to have completely disappeared except when George Jr stepped in to change a decision (ie the second TARP request). George Jr apparently had only one objective - to make a smooth transition with Obama.

Events such as no pardon for Libby imply a complete breakdown in leadership in the last three months. What happened in these last three months will make interesting reading.