Reply #5: It was a series of unrelenting facepalms [View All]

But as Gellman noted in an interview, Bush, even in his first term, did not hesitate to go against Cheney when the VP was advocating what the president viewed as a politically losing proposal. Although Cheney pushed hard, he could not get Bush to agree to a plan to inoculate all Americans against smallpox in the event of a biological attack. Bush could not stomach the idea that some people would likely die from the vaccine.

"Bush really was the decider," Gellman said, with Cheney working on the "broad scope of Bush's authority." This dynamic became clear as the president gained experience and lost confidence in Cheney's political judgment. Bush ruled in favor of civilian trials for terrorism suspects, against the continued use of waterboarding, and in favor of the release of some Guantanamo prisoners to their home countries -- with Cheney on the opposite side of each of those major decisions, as he now ruefully acknowledges.