By TOM RAUM Associated Press
July 8, 2007
WASHINGTON - Dick Cheney, who thrives on secrecy while pulling
the levers of power, is getting caught in the glare of an unwelcome
spotlight. Once viewed as a sage and mentor to President Bush,
Cheney has approval ratings now that are as low as or lower
than the president's. Recent national polls have put them both
in the high 20s.
Bush's decision to spare former Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
from a 2 1/2-year prison sentence has focused new attention
on the vice president and his possible role in the commutation.
Cheney's relentless advocacy of the Iraq war, his push to
expand presidential authority and his hard-line rhetoric toward
North Korea and Iran are raising concerns even among former
loyalists now worried about the GOP's chances in 2008.
It seems Cheney fatigue is settling in some Republican circles.
Republican strategist Rich Galen, who worked for both Bush
and Bush's father, said he is finding less interest or enthusiasm
for Cheney. "Republicans have, in essence, moved on and
focused on who to get behind in 2008," Galen said.
Cheney has drawn criticism and ridicule from Democrats for
his close ties to Libby and for his contention later modified
that his office is not "an entity within the executive
branch."
Bush last week commuted Libby's sentence for his conviction
of lying to investigators about his role in leaking the identity
of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame. Plame's husband, retired
diplomat Joseph Wilson, was a prominent critic of the administration's
case for invading Iraq over weapons of mass destruction.
Bush said the sentence was excessive. The president kept the
issue alive by saying he would not rule out an eventual full
pardon for Libby.
Wilson said he would not be surprised if Cheney were "pulling
the strings here, too" in sparing Libby prison time.
White House officials said they did not know exactly what
role Cheney may have played in Bush's decision.
GOP strategist Mary Matalin, once Cheney's top political and
public affairs assistant, suggested detractors are "score-settling
or agenda-seeking."
"As the effectiveness of Bush-bashing winds down as a
`vision' for their future, Cheney-bashing is their last breath
as a substitute for principles upon which to forge an agenda
to lead the country," she said.
Things have not gone well of late for the vice president.
Courts have ruled against efforts he championed to broaden
presidential authority and accord special treatment to suspected
terrorists.
Cheney's position on Iran and North Korea has been tempered
partly part by Bush, who recently authorized tentative diplomatic
overtures to both countries. Bush also bowed to mounting bipartisan
pressure and agreed to put the National Security Agency's warrantless
domestic surveillance program under the auspices of a special
court.
In addition, the White House confirmed it is considering closing
the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Cheney long has
said the facility is needed.
On top of that, the Supreme Court has reversed its own April
decision and agreed to hear challenges by Guantanamo detainees
in their fall term.
Is anyone listening to Cheney any more?
The vice president shuffled alone and in silence out of a
luncheon of Republican senators last week amid defections on
Iraq by GOP senators and as the administration's immigration
overhaul went down to defeat.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the senior Republican
on the Senate Judiciary Committee, branded as "unfounded" Cheney's
claim to extra protections for his office because of his constitutional
powers to preside over the Senate and break ties.
"I don't think he handles too many documents in that
capacity. He handles a gavel. That's about all he handles," Specter
said in an interview.
Added Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah: "I don't know what he
meant by that. I think he understands what his role is."
Still, Hatch said, Cheney continues to be valuable to the
president. "Everybody knows he's a straight shooter. I
know that he and the president work very closely together.
And I think there's a good reason for it."
Democrats have not passed many opportunities to bash Cheney. "Who
died and left him boss?" asked Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
Cheney has seen his influence wane with rank-and-file Republicans
and even conservatives, once his most ardent supporters. They
are uneasy about Cheney's signing onto Bush's attempt to liberalize
immigration law; spread democracy in the Middle East, which
they deride as "nation building"; the amassing of
record budget deficits; and even Cheney's support for certain
gay rights (a daughter, Mary, is openly lesbian).
"We don't feel we're invested in Cheney, because he hasn't
in any way we're aware of carried any of our water in these
6 1/2 years," conservative activist Richard Viguerie said.
Most of Cheney's hard-line colleagues are gone: Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, U.N.
Ambassador John Bolton.
More moderate players now command Bush's attention and oversee
the national agenda: Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Condoleezza
Rice at the State Department, Stephen Hadley as national security
adviser.
Bush clearly still values Cheney's advice and the vice president
is at Bush's side in major policy meetings.
"He must be an awfully bruised guy at this point. I think
his star has set," said Thomas E. Cronin, a political
science professor at Colorado College, where Cheney's wife,
Lynne, and their daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, went to college.
"People who knew Cheney, whether they speak on or off
the record, feel something changed with him. And they don't
know when. Obviously, post-Watergate reforms of Congress and
weakening the executive branch have affected him. He speaks
a lot about that. Haliburton probably changed him. Maybe his
(four) heart attacks changed him," Cronin said.
Cheney, 66, was chief of staff to Ford, represented Wyoming
in Congress in the 1980s, was defense secretary under the first
President Bush and chief executive officer of Haliburton, the
oil-services company, in the 1990s.
He has a history of heart problems, including four heart attacks,
quadruple bypass surgery, two artery-clearing angioplasties
and an operation to implant a pacemaker-defibrillator.
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