Dick Cheney's inexplicable control
Posted By Carpetbagger On 8th March 2006 @ 14:39 In General | 29 Comments
By any reasonable standard, Vice President Dick Cheney is not a popular guy. A recent CBS News poll pegged his favorability rating at a stunning 18%, and his approval rating is mired in the same doldrums as the president. For that matter, Cheney will soon retire from politics altogether, he's been involved in multiple scandals (including a criminal investigation), and a recent accident made him something of a national laughingstock. These are not the hallmarks of a powerful national leader.
And yet, as Dan Froomkin noted today, Cheney still seems able to call the shots with Republicans on the Hill.
Faced with the frightening prospect of public hearings and active Congressional oversight into President Bush's contested domestic spying program, the White House sent out its big dog — Vice President Cheney — to bring straying moderate Republicans to heel.
Indeed, no matter what you have may have heard lately, the fact is that Cheney is still the Bush Administration's most ferocious warrior. Never mind the rumpus about his initial refusal to tell anyone — even Bush — that he shot someone while hunting in Texas. Disregard those reports of tensions between the vice president's office and, well, pretty much everyone else at the White House.
Cheney took point in the White House effort to quash a full-blown investigation into the program. And the guy still gets the job done.
Unfortunately, that seems undeniable. The New York Times noted today that it was Cheney who personally leaned on wavering Republican senators and pushed the Senate Intelligence Committee to give up on the idea of reviewing the administration's warrantless-search program.
The whole dynamic is counterintuitive. As Bush's and Cheney's national support falters, lawmakers who were once inclined to follow the White House's lead should realize that they no longer have any incentive to take these marching orders. This is particularly true of GOP incumbents up for re-election this year. The White House doesn't have any leverage — what's Cheney going to tell Olympia Snowe, that he won't campaign with her in Maine?
Cheney must have some incriminating files on these guys because there's no logical reason for them to go along with his demands.
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Colin Brace
Amsterdam