Abstract
George W. Bush became president following one of the most unusual and controversial election outcomes in US history. In December 2000, after the Supreme Court halted the vote recount in Florida and delivered that state’s Electoral College votes to Bush, the president-elect said in a victory speech before the Texas state legislature, “I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation … Whether you voted for me or against me, I will do my best to serve your interests and I will work to earn your respect.”1 However, as we show in this chapter, Bush defied expectations of compromise and proceeded to govern on the basis of intense partisanship, pursuing in unadulterated ways corporate growth and profits and, especially after the 9/11 attacks, a militarized version of national security. As one political scientist wrote of Bush, “He is, arguably, the most radical president of the past fifty years. Who would have expected this from a candidate who came in second-best in the popular vote?”2
I’m the commander—see, I don’t need to explain—I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being president.
—George W. Bush
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Notes
Bert A. Rockman, “Presidential Leadership in an Era of Party Polarization: The George W. Bush Presidency,” in The George W. Bush Presidency: Appraisals and Prospects, ed. Colin Campbell and Bert A. Rockman, Washington: CQ Press, 2004, p. 352.
Michael Isikoff, “The Money Machine,” Newsweek, January 24, 2000, p. 48;
Don Van Natta, Jr., “Early Rush of Contributors Opened the Floodgates for Bush,” New York Times, January 30, 2000;
Anthony Corrado, “Financing the 2000 Elections,” in The Election of 2000, ed. Gerald M. Pomper, New York: Chatham House/Seven Bridges Press, 2001, pp. 97–101.
John B. Judis, “Taking Care of Business: George W. Bush’s Compassion for Corporations,” New Republic, August 16, 1999, p. 28.
See Brent Staples, “The Republican Party’s Exercise in Minstrelsy,” New York Times, August 3, 2000.
Quotes from Nicholas Confessore, “The Winner: Clintonism,” American Prospect, December 4, 2000, p. 12.
Al From, “Building a New Progressive Majority: How Democrats Can Learn From the Failed 2000 Campaign,” Blueprint, January 24, 2001.
See Will Lester, “‘New Democrats’: Gore Lost By Not Being Republican Enough,” Associated Press, January 24, 2001.
Jeff Madrick, “Are Bush and Gore Flip-Flopping Over How to Manage the Economy?” New York Times, October 26, 2000.
See Stan Greenberg, “The Progressive Majority and the 2000 Elections: A Report on Post-Elections National Surveys,” Institute for America’s Future, December 15, 2000;
Ruy Teixeira, “Lessons for Next Time,” American Prospect, December 18, 2000, pp. 12–14.
David S. Broder, “Bizarre Twists Raise Fairness as an Issue,” Washington Post, November 9, 2000.
Kevin Phillips, “Gridlock Central,” Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2000.
David S. Broder, “One Nation, Divisible; Despite Peace, Prosperity, Voters Agree to Disagree,” Washington Post, November 8, 2000;
Thomas B. Edsall, “Bush Cuts Deeply Into Democratic Coalition; But Gore’s Base Kept Contest Competitive,” Washington Post, November 8, 2000;
Marjorie Connelly, “Who Voted: A Portrait of American Politics, 1976–2000,” New York Times, November 12, 2000.
On voter irregularities in Florida, see Mireya Navarro and Somini Sengupta, “Arriving at Florida Voting Places, Some Blacks Found Frustration,” New York Times, November 30, 2000;
Ford Fessenden, “No-Vote Rates Higher in Punch-Card Counts,” New York Times, December 1, 2000;
John Mintz and Dan Keating, “Fla. Ballot Spoilage Likelier for Blacks; Voting Machines, Confusion Cited,” Washington Post, December 3, 2000;
Dan Keating, “Fla. ‘Overvotes’ Hit Democrats the Hardest,” Washington Post, January 27, 2001;
Joel Engelhardt and Scott McCabe, “Under-Votes Could Have Meant Victory For Gore,” Palm Beach Post, March 10, 2001;
Joel Engelhardt and Scott McCabe, “Over-Votes Costs Gore the Election in Florida,” Palm Beach Post, March 11, 2001.
For discussion see Linda Greenhouse, “Bush Had Sought Stay—Hearing is Tomorrow,” New York Times, December 10, 2000.
Ronald Brownstein, “Bush Has Legitimacy, But It’s Fragile,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2000;
Janet Elder, “Poll Shows Americans Divided Over Election,” New York Times, December 19, 2000;
Richard Morin and Claudia Deane, “Public Backs Uniform U.S. Voting Rules,” Washington Post, December 18, 2000.
Thomas Edsall, Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power, New York: Basic Books, 2006, p. 50.
On Rumsfeld, see William D. Hartung, “Rumsfeld Reconsidered: An Ideologue in Moderate’s Clothing,” Foreign Policy in Focus, January 1, 2001: http://fpif.org/rumsfeld_reconsidered_an_ideologue_in_moderates_clothing;
Michael T. Klare, “Rumsfeld: Star Warrior Returns,” The Nation, January 29, 2001, pp. 14–19;
Jason Vest, “Darth Rumsfeld,” American Prospect, February 26, 2001, pp. 20–23.
Falwell quoted in Mike Allen, “Bush’s Choices Defy Talk of Conciliation; Cabinet is Diverse but Not Politically,” Washington Post, December 31, 2000.
On Ashcroft, see Ed Vulliamy, “Unrepentant South Mounts New Assault on Washington,” Observer (UK), January 14, 200; Joshua Green, “How Ashcroft Happened,” American Prospect, February 26, 2001, pp. 16–17.
Dana Milbank, “Religious Right Finds Its Center in Oval Office,” Washington Post, December 24, 2001.
See Jonathan Freedland, “Big Business, Not Religion, is the Real Power in the White House,” Guardian (UK), June 7, 2006. Mark A. Peterson argues, “Bush’s White House and his administration throughout the executive branch have promoted—I would posit more than any previous presidency—relationships with a consistently narrow band of like-minded interests for the singular purpose of prosecuting an unusually ideologically-focused policy agenda.”
Mark A. Peterson, “Still a Government of Chums: Bush, Business, and Organized Interests,” in The George W. Bush Legacy, ed. Colin Campbell, Bert A. Rockman, and Andrew Rudalevige, Washington: CQ Press, 2008, p. 288.
Julian Borger, “All the President’s Businessmen,” Guardian (UK), April 26, 2001.
Dan Morgan and Kathleen Day, “Early Wins Embolden Lobbyists for Business,” Washington Post, March 11, 2001. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act did not become law until 2005.
Thomas B. Edsall, “In Bush’s Policies, Business Wins,” Washington Post, February 8, 2004.
Quotes in Sam Parry, “‘Real Men’ Don’t Conserve,” Consortium News, May 15, 2001.
In the 1990s Cheney served as chairman and CEO of the Halliburton Co., an oilfield services company. On the task force’s consultation with industry, see Dana Milbank and Justin Blum, “Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force,” Washington Post, November 16, 2005;
Michael Abramowitz and Steven Mufson, “Papers Detailed Industry’s Role in Cheney’s Energy Report,” Washington Post, July 18, 2007.
Quoted in Don Van Natta, Jr. and Neela Banerjee, “Bush’s Policies Have Been Good to Energy Industry,” New York Times, April 21, 2002.
The bill did not allow for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. For an analysis of Bush’s energy policies, see Meg Jacobs, “Wreaking Havoc from Within: George W. Bush’s Energy Policies in Historical Perspective,” in The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 139–168.
Olga Pierce, “Medicare Drug Planners Now Lobbyists, With Billions at Stake,” ProPublica, October 29, 2009: http://www.propublica.org/article/medicare-drug-planners-now-lobbyists-with-billions-atstake-1020
On the strong-arm tactics used to win passage, see Common Cause, “Democracy on Drugs: How a Bill Really Becomes a Law,” in Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics, eds. William F. Grover and Joseph G. Peschek, 9th ed., New York: Pearson, 2013, pp. 192–199.
Janet Hook, “They Invested Years in Private Accounts,” Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2005.
For a historical analysis see Nelson Lichtenstein, “Ideology and Interest on the Social Policy Home Front,” in The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 187–193.
Quoted in Paul Krugman, “Hitting the Trifecta,” New York Times, December 7, 2001.
Richard W. Stevenson, “Bush Unveils Plan to Cut Tax Rates and Spur Economy,” New York Times, January 8, 2003;
Robert Kuttner, “Bush’s Titanic Tax Deceptions,” Boston Globe, January 8, 2003.
Kevin Phillips, “A Tax Cut Rooted in the Bush Pedigree,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2003.
Hendrik Hertzberg, “Dividends,” New Yorker, January 20, 2003.
For an overview, see John Maggs, “Winners and Losers in the Bush Economy,” National Journal, May 15, 2004, pp. 1494–1501.
Paul Krugman, “Our So-Called Boom,” New York Times, December 30, 2003.
Jonathan Weisman, “Recovery Trickles Down Very Slowly, Washington Post, January 16, 2004.
Isaac Shapiro and David Kamin, “Share of Economy Going to Wages and Salaries Drops for Unprecedented 14th Straight Quarter,” Washington: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 29, 2004.
Jacob Hacker, “Call It the Family Risk Factor,” New York Times, January 11, 2004.
Edmund L. Andrews, “Budget Office Forecasts Record Deficit in ‘04,” New York Times, January 27, 2004.
Nick Beams, “U.S. Trade Gap Highlights Rising Debt Burden,” World Socialist Web Site, March 15, 2004. January 12, 2004;
Sherle R. Schwenninger, “America’s ‘Suez Moment’,” Atlantic Monthly, January-February 2004, pp. 129–130.
Robin Toner and Janet Elder, “Poll Bolsters Bush on Terrorism But Finds Doubts on Economy,” New York Times, January 18, 2004.
Richard Morin and Dana Milbank, “Support for Bush Falls on Economy and Iraq,” Washington Post, March 6, 2004.
John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira, “Movement Interruptus,” American Prospect, January 2005, p. 27.
The survey was conducted by the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA). For a summary of the findings, see Jim Lobe, “Bush Backers Steadfast on Saddam-al Qaeda, WMD,” Inter Press Service, October 21, 2004.
Ronald Brownstein, GOP’s Future Sits Precariously on Small Cushion of Victory,” Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2004.
Adam Nagourney and Janet Elder, “Americans Show Clear Concerns on Bush Agenda,” New York Times, November 23, 2004.
Michael A. Fletcher, “Poverty Rate Held Steady Last Year, Census Says,” Washington Post, August 27, 2008.
Arloc Sherman, Robert Greenstein, and Sharon Parrott, “Poverty and Share of Americans Without Health Insurance were Higher in 2007—and Median Income for Working-Age Households was Lower—Than at Bottom of Last Recession,” Washington: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, August 26, 2008.
Jared Bernstein, “Median Income Rose as Did Poverty in 2007,” Washington: Economic Policy Institute, August 26, 2008.
Elise Gould, “Overall Health Insurance Coverage Rises, But Masks Decline in Private Coverage,” Washington: Economic Policy Institute, August 26, 2008.
Tara Siegel Bernard and Jenny Anderson, “Downturn Drags More Consumers Into Bankruptcy,” New York Times, November 16, 2008;
Steven Greenhouse, “Will the Safety Net Catch Economy’s Casualties,” New York Times, November 16, 2008.
Josh Bivens and John Irons, “A Feeble Recovery: The Fundamental Economic Weaknesses of the 2001–07 Expansion,” Washington: Economic Policy Institute, December 9, 2008.
Peter S. Goodman, “Economy Shrinks With Consumers Leading the Way,” New York Times, October 31, 2008.
Louis Uchitelle, “Spending Stalls, and Businesses Slash U.S. Jobs,” New York Times, October 26, 2008;
Peter S. Goodman, “Jobless Rate at 14-Year High After October Losses,” New York Times, November 8, 2008.
Louis Uchitelle, Edmund L. Andrews, and Stephen Labaton, “U.S. Loses 533,000 Jobs in Biggest Drop Since 1974,” New York Times, December 6, 2008;
David Leonhardt and Catherine Rampell, “Grim Job Report Not Showing Full Picture,” New York Times, December 6, 2008.
Ronald Brownstein, “Closing the Book on the Bush Legacy,” Atlantic Monthly (online), September 11, 2009: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/09/closing-the-book-on-the-bush-legacy/26402/
Quoted in Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, “Bush Speaks in Defense of Markets,” New York Times, November 13, 2008.
Matthew Benjamin, “Americans See Widening Rich-Poor Income Gap as Cause for Alarm,” Bloomberg News, December 12, 2006.
Nell Henderson, “Bernanke Urges Reduction of Income Inequality,” Washington Post, February 6, 2007.
Quoted in Richard L. Berke, “This Time, More Accord Than Discord,” New York Times, October 12, 2000.
Rahul Mahajan, Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003, pp. 112–113.
Hendrik Hertzberg, “Manifesto,” New Yorker, October 14–21, 2002.
Quoted in Walter LaFeber, “The Bush Doctrine,” Diplomatic History, 26, no. 4, Fall 2002, p. 550.
All quotes from Niall Ferguson, “Hegemony or Empire?” Foreign Affairs, September-October 2003, p. 155.
Quoted in William Pfaff, “Look Who’s Part of the Harsh Disorder,” International Herald Tribune, August 1, 2002.
Quoted in Robert Kagan and William Kristol, “Burden of Power is Having to Wield It,” Washington Post, March 19, 2000.
Max Boot, “The Case for American Empire,” Weekly Standard, October 15, 2001.
Max Boot, “American Imperialism? No Need to Run Away From Label,” USA Today, May 5, 2003.
Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance New York: Metropolitan Books, 2003, pp. 13, 14.
Andrew J. Bacevich, American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002, p. 3.
Andrew J. Bacevich, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 4–5.
Anatol Lieven, America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Anatol Lieven, “Bush’s Choice: Messianism or Pragmatism?” openDemocracy.net, February 22, 2005, p. 3.
On the American national destiny, see William Pfaff, “American Destiny,” Commonweal, May 17, 2002, pp. 13–17.
Paul T. McCartney, “American Nationalism and U.S. Foreign Policy from September 11 to the Iraq War,” Political Science Quarterly, 119, no. 3, Fall 2004, p. 401.
Conn Hallinan, “The Cross of Iron,” Silver City, NM &Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, December 19, 2003;
Andre Verloy and Daniel Politi, “Advisors of Influence: Nine Members of the Defense Policy Board Have Ties to Defense Contractors,” Washington: Center for Public Integrity, March 28, 2003.
Paul Rogers, “It’s the Oil, Stupid,” openDemocracy.net, March 24, 2005.
Michael T. Klare, “The Carter Doctrine Goes Global,” The Progressive, December 2004, pp. 17–21;
Michael T. Klare, “The New Geopolitics,” Monthly Review, July–August 2003, pp. 51–56.
For a full development of this analysis, see Michael T. Klare, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004.
See Jason A. Vest, “The Men From JINSA and CSP,” The Nation, September 2–9, 2002, pp. 16–20;
Tom Barry and Jim Lobe, “The Men Who Stole the Show,” Silver City, NM & Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, October 2002;
Jim Lobe, “All in the Neocon Family,” Alter Net.org, March 27, 2003;
John Patrick Diggins, “The Ism That Failed,” American Prospect, December 2003, pp. 22–27;
Michael Lind, “A Tragedy of Errors,” The Nation, February 23, 2004, pp. 23–32;
Martin Durham, “The American Right and the Iraq War,” Political Quarterly, 75, no. 3, July 2004, pp. 257–265.
For discussion, see Patrick E. Tyler, “U.S. Strategy Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop: A One-Superpower World,” New York Times, March 8, 1992;
David Armstrong, “Dick Cheney’s Song of America,” Harper’s Magazine, October 2002, pp. 76–83;
Jim Lobe, “The Anniversary of a Neo-Imperial Moment,” Alter Net.org, September 12, 2002.
Chalmers Johnson, “Agenda Unmasked: Deposing Hussein Was a Distant Dream for Administration Officials—Until 9/11,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2003;
Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004, pp. 228–229.
The development of the foreign policy views of Bush’s national security team is examined in detail by James Mann, The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet, New York: Viking, 2004.
David Domke and Kevin Coe, “Bush, God, and State of Union,” Common Dreams.org, January 29, 2005;
David Domke, God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the “War on Terror,” and the Echoing Press, London: Pluto Press, 2004;
Chip Berlet and Nikhil Aziz, “Culture, Religion, Apocalypse, and Middle East Foreign Policy,” IRC Right Web, Silver City, NM: Interhemispheric Resource Center, December 5, 2003.
Kevin Phillips, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush, New York: Viking, 2004, p. 11.
Michael Lind, Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics, New York: Basic Books, 2003, pp. 143–158;
Ken Silverstein and Michael Scherer, “Born-Again Zionists,” Mother Jones, September-October 2002, pp. 56–61;
Bill Berkowitz, “Religious Right Relishing Road Map’s Collapse,” workingforchange.com, November 21, 2003.
Quoted in Paul Rogers, “Christian Zionists and Neocons: A Heavenly Marriage,” openDemocracy.net, February 3, 2005, p. 2.
Anatol Lieven, “The Push For War,” London Review of Books, October 3, 2002, p. 10.
Duane Oldfield, “The Evangelical Roots of American Unilateralism: The Christian Right’s Influence and How to Counter It,” Foreign Policy In Focus, Silver City, NM: Interhemispheric Resource Center, March 2004.
For a review of the systematically misleading statements on Iraq by members of the Bush administration, see James P. Pfiffner, “Did President Bush Mislead the Country in His Arguments for War With Iraq?” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 34, no. 1, March 2004, pp. 25–46.
Sidney Blumenthal, “There Was No Failure of Intelligence,” Guardian (UK), February 5, 2004;
Scott Ritter, “Not Everyone Got It Wrong on Iraq’s Weapons,” International Herald Tribune, February 6, 2004.
Quoted in David S. Cloud and Mark Mazzetti, “Pentagon Group Criticized for Prewar Intelligence Analysis,” New York Times, February 9, 2007.
Klare, Blood and Oil, p. 82. One of the best explorations of the relationship between oil interests, broadly defined, and the Iraq War is by Michael Schwartz, War without End: The Iraq War in Context, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2008, Chs 1–4.
Andrew J. Bacevich, “Iraq Panel’s Real Agenda: Damage Control,” Christian Science Monitor, November 28, 2006.
Glenn Kessler and Thomas E. Ricks, “The Realists’ Repudiation of Policies for a War, Region,” Washington Post, December 7, 2006;
David E. Sanger, “Panel Urges Basic Shift in U.S. Policy in Iraq,” New York Times, December 7, 2006.
Peter Baker and Robin Wright, “Bush Appears Cool to Key Points of Report on Iraq,” Washington Post, December 8, 2006;
Farah Stockman, “Bush Faults Panel Ideas, Calls Victory in Iraq Vital,” Boston Globe, December 8, 2006;
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Bush Asserts That Victory in Iraq is Still ‘Achievable’,” New York Times, December 21, 2006.
Cheney is quoted in Peter Baker, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, New York: Doubleday, 2013, p. 514.
Michael Abamowitz and Robin Wright, “Bush to Add 21,500 Troops in an Effort to Stabilize Iraq,” Washington Post, January 11, 2007;
David E. Sanger, “Bush Adds Troops in Bid to Secure Iraq,” New York Times, January 11, 2007.
On right wing reaction to the Iraq Study Group report and to Bush’s proposed surge, see John M. Broder and Robin Toner, “Report on Iraq Exposes a Divide Within the G.O.P.,” New York Times, December 10, 2006;
Michael Abamowitz and Robin Wright, “Hawks Bolster Skeptical President,” Washington Post, December 10, 2006;
Jim Lobe, “The Urge to Surge,” Inter Press Service,” December 20, 2006;
Jim Lobe, “Bush’s Surge Strategy Faces Heavy Opposition,” Inter Press Service, January 5, 2007.
Juan Cole, “Top Ten Myths About Iraq, 2008,” Informed Comment, December 26, 2008. Available online at: http://www.juancole.com/2008/12/top-ten-myths-about-iraq-2008.html;
See Robert Parry, “Reviving the ‘Successful Surge’ Myth,” Consortium News, June 19, 2014.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., “Imperial Presidency,” Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, edited by Leonard W. Levy and Louis Fisher, New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1994, p. 798.
From an interview with David Frost. Quoted in James M. Naughton, “Nixon Says President Can Order Illegal Actions Against Dissidents,” New York Times, May 19, 1977.
Dahlia Lithwick, “The Imperial Presidency,” Washington Post, January 14, 2007;
Editorial, “The Imperial Presidency at Work,” New York Times, January 15, 2007.
Jennifer Van Bergen, “The ‘Unitary Executive’ and the Threat to Democratic Government,” in Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics, eds. William F. Grover and Joseph G. Peschek, 8th ed., New York: Pearson Longman, 2010, pp. 253–260.
Ron Suskind, “Without a Doubt,” New York Times Magazine, October 17, 2004, p. 51. The aide is widely thought to have been Karl Rove.
Elizabeth Drew, “Power Grab,” New York Review of Books, June 22, 2006.
Garrett Epps, “The ‘Unitary Executive’ Is a Dictator in War and Peace,” Atlantic Monthly (online), June 9, 2011: http://www.theatlan-tic.com/national/archive/2011/06/constitutional-myth-3-the-unitary-executive-is-a-dictator-in-war-and-peace/239627/
Charlie Savage, “Bush Signings Called Effort to Expand Power,” Boston Globe, October 5, 2006;
See also Charlie Savage, “Bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws,” Boston Globe, April 30, 2006.
The best study of these practices and their relationship to the Constitution is James Pfiffner, Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution, Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2008.
Glenn Greenwald, “What Illegal ‘Things’ Was the Government Doing in 2001–2004?” Salon.com, September 15, 2008.
Robert Parry, “Cheney’s Contempt for the Republic,” Consortium News, December 23, 2008.
Greg Miller, “Cheney Was Key in Clearing CIA Interrogation Tactics,” Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2008;
Joby Warrick, “CIA Tactics Endorsed in Secret Memos,” Washington Post, October 15, 2008.
Joby Warrick and Karen DeYoung, “Report on Detainees Abuse Blames Top Bush Officials,” Washington Post, December 12, 2008;
Editorial, “The Torture Report,” New York Times, December 18, 2008.
Cheney quoted in Elisabeth Bumiller, “Enron’s Many Strands: The Vice President; Cheney Is Set to Battle Congress to Keep His Enron Talks Secret,” New York Times, January 28, 2002.
On Cheney and presidential power, see Charlie Savage, “Hail to the Chief: Dick Cheney’s Mission to Expand—or ‘Restore’—the Powers of the Presidency,” Boston Globe, November 26, 2006. “Cheney believed the president’s inherent functions—command of the Army and Navy, direction of the Cabinet, execution of the law—were indivisible. Exercise of those powers was beyond the reach, in principle, of legislative or judicial review.”
Barton Gellman, Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, New York: Penguin, 2008, p. 96.
Quoted in Joel K. Goldstein, “Cheney, Vice Presidential Power, and the War on Terror,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 40, no. 1, March 2010, p. 115.
On what the “dark side” actually involved, see the revealing account by Jane Mayer, The Dark Side, New York: Random House, 2008.
Cheney quoted in Dahlia Lithwick, “Open and Shut Cases,” Slate.com, December 22, 2008.
Quoted in Robert Parry, “Bush Still Lies About Iraqi Inspections,” Consortium News, December 2, 2008.
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© 2014 William F. Grover and Joseph G. Peschek
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Grover, W.F., Peschek, J.G. (2014). The Conservative Mirage: George W. Bush and Empire Waning. In: The Unsustainable Presidency. The Evolving American Presidency Series. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137485984_4
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