I came across this article while googling the news for Cheney. Anyone else notice he's not been making the news much these days?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p01s02-uspo.htmlWASHINGTON – Under the klieg lights of a prime-time press conference, George W. Bush once famously could not recall any mistakes he had made as president. To his critics, the April 2004 moment cemented the notion that he is unreflective about his policies, an immovable object in the face of facts.
The reality, however, is different - as demonstrated by a wave of developments. Most striking has been his series of speeches on Iraq in the run-up to Thursday's elections there, culminating in Wednesday's fourth and final address. The M-word - mistake - is still not a part of his vocabulary, but the word "adjust" is, and is now sprinkled throughout his speeches.
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"The administration knows how to respond to political pressure with the flexibility of an Olympic gymnast," says Marshall Wittmann, a former Republican strategist and now a fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council. "You've seen it on a number of things - No Child Left Behind, prescription drugs, homeland security."
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One question hovering over this burgeoning image of tactical flexibility is where Vice President Cheney fits in. It is he, some analysts say, who has been the true immovable object of the Bush White House, not the president. While Bush's Iraq rhetoric has shifted, Mr. Cheney's hasn't. It may be that, after five years in office, the president is less reliant on Cheney - especially after it was revealed that he played a role in the embarrassing Valerie Plame scandal, in which the identity of a CIA operative was leaked to the press.
"My reading of the tea leaves is that they've put
out to defend himself, and if he succeeds, fine, and if he doesn't, fine, but that he's really on his own now, isolated by the departure of Libby," says Paul Light, a political scientist at New York University and an expert on the vice presidency.
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