Where does Cheney fit in?

July 3, 2007

One of the curious ambiguities of the commutation controversy is what role, if any, Dick Cheney played in the process. As the recent WaPo series made clear, not much happens in this White House without the VP’s direct involvement (i.e., dictation), but what did Cheney do about keeping his former chief of staff out of jail?

The Bush gang has been more than a little cagey about the details, which generally hints at the answer. The WaPo noted on the front page this morning, “An unanswered question last night was Vice President Cheney’s role in advocating leniency for his former chief of staff and alter ego.”

Reporters tried to get a few more details out of Tony Snow this afternoon.

At this afternoon’s White House press conference, reporters peppered Tony Snow with questions about Cheney’s possible involvement in the pardon, which Snow refused to answer. “Did the vice president weigh in?” one reporter asked. “I’m sure that everybody had an opportunity to share their views,” Snow replied, failing to note that Bush issued his decision without much consultation.

Later, Snow waffled on Cheney’s involvement, stating on the one hand, “I’m sure that the vice president may have expressed an opinion,” but then backtracking. “He may have recused himself. I honestly don’t know.” […]

One reporter asked Snow if he is aware of any plans Vice President Cheney may have to bring Scooter Libby back into his office. “I don’t have any idea. This is not something that’s come up,” Snow responded.

Brendan Nyhan took a few people to task today for “asserting without evidence that the decision was made or influenced by Vice President Cheney.” Perhaps.

But given the dodging, hedging, and awkward tap-dancing in response to questions about Cheney’s role in this fiasco, and given what we know about Cheney’s role in every fiasco, I hardly think it’s a stretch to suspect the VP’s fingerprints are all over this one.

The Dick-tator calls the shots and King George makes them law. Pretty basic.

  • Where does Cheney fit in?

    I guess the snarky answer would be: Cheney’s hand fits into the hole in Bush’s back.

    But seriously, tying the president even tighter to the VP who’s less popular than several strains of VD might be a good idea. Likewise, getting all the Republican presidential contenders to pipe up about this criminal coverup will also be useful in 2008.

    Hey [insert candidate here], is it fair that Paris Hilton should serve more time than Libby, who committed multiple felonies?

  • It’s the Grand Ventriloquist who moves the Dummy and gives it a voice.

    Of course Deadeye was the prime mover. For one thing, Shrubsy by himself probably would not be able to figure out that commutation was better than a full pardon (at least until January). Just because Deadeye isn’t visible front and center on this doesn’t mean anything; the Grand Ventriloquist can throw his voice a long way, doesn’t have to have the Dummy right in his lap.

  • Funny.

    I was going to suggest yesterday that Cheney ought to bring Libby back into his employ just to show every Dim in town that he’s the man.

    I’d love to see it…
    It’d be pure power Politiburo politics!
    Anybody know when Dick gets his new testosterone patch?
    Or… has Mary swiped them all?

  • Hell yes Cheney was all over this. This decision to commute Libby’s sentence was mad some time ago. Hoping the courts would set him free or by appeal to the courts commute his sentence or delay it till Bush leaves office, and then Bush would pardon him was already decided upon. Cheney told Libby from the git-go not to worry, that he would never serve a day in jail.

    Because the courts denied his appeal and would go ahead with making him serve time, Bush had to come out early and commute the jail sentence only, as this would prevent Libby having to give testimony before the Congress, but Bush still plans to Pardon Libby before he leaves office.

    Cheney/Bush decided this long ago. It was just a matter of timing. There was never any chance that Libby would spend a day in jail. This was not a decision they pondered over for weeks just recently…this is why Bush didn’t need to consult the DoJ or other “experts” because he and Cheney had already been over all of this long ago and already knew what they would do.

  • Thank god Brendan Nyhan’s still around to remind us that someone needs to fact-check the self-appointed fact-checkers.

    What’s the opposite of “pleasantly surprised”? I suppose I’m unpleasantly unsurprised that he’s still sucking up to conservatives by taking their arguments at face value and attacking Democrats to show how “moderate” and “non-partisan” and “unbiased” he is.

    Asshole.

  • Since we have no evidence that Cheney is not directly involved, I am forced to recall the immortal words of Peggy Noonan:

    Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to. A great and searing tragedy has occurred, and none of us knows what drove it, or why the president did what he did. Maybe Congress will investigate. Maybe a few years from now we’ll find out what really happened.

  • Actually this whole affair tends to strengthen my suspicion that Bush may not have known about the outing of Plame until after the fact and if not, likely blames Cheney for all the blowback from it. I could see how he could get from that to sure, Libby was in on it and deserves punishment but he was just following orders and is now taking the fall for it out of loyalty for the guy who’s really responsible, so maybe keep him out of jail but leave it at that.

  • I’m sure Cheney had a lot to do with this. It’s pretty obvious that Libby was lying primarily to protect Cheney (and Rove). A large part of Cheney’s power comes from his network of aides, who have infiltrated every major part of the federal government, and who are fanatically loyal to him. If he were to be seen by them as not protecting one of them, that loyalty might diminish. Plus, Cheney was probably the person most likely to be damaged by anything Libby might have said if he’d actually been jailed.

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