It's worth carefully reading the Washington Post's now Pulitzer-winning two-part series on how exactly Dick Cheney exercises his influence inside the Bush White House. In large part, it seems that Cheney's alliances with undersecretaries and deputies in various federal agencies -- folks whom he mentored and helped place in jobs -- allowed him to trickle his own policy preferences down through the bureaucracy, and then, as the President's closest adviser, advocate for them as they came back up through the ranks.
There are some juicy interviews, including one with Dan Quayle, who tells the Post that Cheney informed him that he and Bush had "a different understanding" of the vice president's role. Also, we learn that Bush referred to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as "Fredo," the simple-minded middle brother in The Godfather. (Full disclosure: I stayed inside most of the day Sunday watching Godfather I and II.) The nickname makes sense because, according to the Post's reporting, Gonzales was manipulated by Cheney into claiming as his own the Vice President's policy of denying foreign military combatants access to any court.
But does President Bush realize that he's often been referred to as the Fredo of the Bush clan? For example, actor Matt Damon once said of Bush, he's "kind of like Fredo. ... They didn't even let that guy run the family business, much less the country."
--Dana Goldstein
