Column: Powell right that Cheney 'overshot the runway'
Dick Cheney was the worst vice president since Spiro Agnew. Now in his book out this week, Cheney tries to blame his screw-ups on other key members of President George W. Bush's administration.
The book is In My Time, published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster ($35).
In an NBC interview, Cheney said the book would have "heads exploding all over Washington." Powell responded on CBS by dismissing the book as "cheap shots" and said Cheney "overshot the runway."
Cheney especially tries to cut up former secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, both of whom served with him in the Bush Cabinet.
Cheney was frequently at odds with Powell and Rice, so it's no surprise that he's scapegoating them now. But the fact that both are African Americans raises other questions. Cheney was a kid in Nebraska and grew up as a teenager in Wyoming. Both of those states had overwhelmingly white populations.
Some individuals never outgrow their suspicions about people of color that develop in that environment, and Cheney may be one of them.
Back to my comparing Cheney and Agnew, who resigned as vice president in the Nixon administration after pleading nolo contendere to income tax evasion. Nolo contendere is a plea in criminal prosecution that subjects the defendant to conviction but does not preclude denying the charges in a collateral proceeding.
Cheney is not guilty of an Agnew-type crime. But he is blameworthy for misguiding Bush on Iraq and other major blunders and for taking cheap shots against high-ranking public servants who outperformed him.
It's important to remember how Cheney became vice president: Bush assigned him to find a running mate. After a few months of Cheney suggesting relative nobodies, Bush unfortunately offered him the job.
In My Time is worth reading. It will help you better understand both Cheney's stumbles and Bush's bumbles.
Feedback: Other views on Cheney's legacy
"I worked closely with Dick Cheney 35 years ago during the Ford administration. While we now disagree on many issues, I believe his views (as do his detractors) come from genuine convictions. He is certainly no racist or crook."
—David Gergen, senior political analyst, CNN
"Cheney's effectiveness infuriated critics, frustrating Powell and Rice who played the press like fiddles. Cheney's book helps correct and complete the narrative."
—Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute
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