Cheney was president, I'll say it. Bush was there to be the howdy-doody good-time, aw' shucks happy face to put on Cheney's snarling, drooling fascism as he did shit behind the scenes that NO vice president has ever done before, and often times without Bush's knowledge.
It appears Bush finally wised up during his second term, leading to a schism between the two when wonder boy realized that Cheney had destroyed his presidency and then of course yeah that whole Scooter Libby thing.
From what I understand Cheney was also able to limit access to Bush--keep him in a bubble--which isn't that hard to accept.
Colin Powell certainly was a casualty of Cheney and, to some extent, Condi Rice when she wouldn't be steamrolled by Team Cheney.
I'm watching the United States of Secrets on Frontline these days and holy shit Cheney's fingerprints are all OVER that warrantless surveillance that continues to this day, as they are with the Iraq war disaster and of course the torture.
Is anybody seriously suggesting that Al Gore had that kind of power previously, or that Joe Biden has had it since?
I guess it's fitting that Robo-Cheney is making the rounds on cable news now slamming Obama's foreign policy compared to his (in his deluded mind) while Bush is painting dogs.