Bush hits out at Cheney, Rumsfeld in new biography

George H.W. Bush’s biography titled “Destiny and Power” sees the 41st president hitting out at two aides who served while his son was president of the United States of America.
The former president knocked former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to his biographer, Jon Meacham in interviews for “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” calling Cheney an “iron-ass” and labeling Rumsfeld “an arrogant fellow.”
On Dick Cheney
Bush told Meacham he thought that the famously influential vice president carved out “his own empire” in the White House.
Bush felt that Cheney, who served as defense secretary during his own administration, had changed as vice president. Cheney grew “very hard line” and in response to the terrorist attacks of 9-11.
“I don’t know, he just became very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with,” Bush told Meacham.
Bush attributed some of that hard-right turn to Cheney’s wife, Lynne Cheney, a historian and conservative thinker, according to Meacham.
But Bush also told his biographer that Cheney was “a good man”.
On Donald Rumsfeld
The 41st president was decidedly more critical of Rumsfeld in his conversations with Meacham. Bush charged that the former defense secretary “served the president badly” and was an “arrogant fellow.” He also said of Rumsfeld in interviews for the biography:
“I don’t like what he did, and I think it hurt the President, having his iron-ass view of everything, Bush told Meacham. “There’s a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He’s more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that.”
The elder Bush also describes his effort to get his son to replace Rumsfeld with Bob Gates, at that point the president of Texas A&M University, in the wake of the Republicans’ drubbing in the 2006 elections.
“At A&M he had a marvelous way to get the support of his people, he had a wonderful manner. Bob Gates is motivated by service. He’s not trying to get a better license plate. He’s down to earth, bright, really good guy,” Bush told Meacham.
But Bush 41 didn’t absolve Bush 43 of all fault, directing some criticism toward his son as well. He told Meacham that he still supports his son’s decision to invade Iraq, calling the ouster and capture of Saddam Hussein “proud moments.”
43 supports his team
Despite his father’s dim assessment of how Cheney and Rumsfeld served him, former President George W. Bush was supportive of his team in a statement issued in response to the book.
“I am proud to have served with Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld,” he said in a statement. “Dick Cheney did a superb job as vice president, and I was fortunate to have him by my side throughout my presidency. Don Rumsfeld ably led the Pentagon and was an effective secretary of defense. I am grateful to both men for their good advice, selfless service to our country, and friendship.”
Rumsfeld fired back at George H.W. Bush in a statement Thursday.
“Bush 41 is getting up in years and misjudges Bush 43, who I found made his own decisions. There are hundreds of memos on www.rumsfeld.com that represent advice the Department of Defense gave the President,” Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld and the elder Bush have their own history. In his documentary about Rumsfeld, filmmaker Errol Morris discussed with Rumsfeld about how Ronald Reagan selected Bush for vice president instead of him.

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In the trailer for the film, “The Unknown Known,” Morris states that if Reagan had picked Rumsfeld over Bush, he might have become president after Reagan.
“It’s possible,” Rumsfeld said.
But the eldest Bush called the whole thing “bullshit.”
“The whole idea that Jeb was the favorite one because he was more knowledgeable — that’s all bullshit,” George H.W. Bush told Meacham. “Nothing to it. I thought Jeb had a better chance to win than George when George went up against Ann Richards. Nobody thought he could.”
The book comes at an auspicious time in American politics with the nation is again focused on a Bush and a Clinton, as it was in 1992. Bush recalled his own travails during the campaign, and the surprising rise of a brash billionaire who would eventually help knock him out of office: Ross Perot.
The reactions
Meacham showed transcripts of his conversations with the senior Bush to both Cheney and the younger Bush to elicit their reaction.
Cheney, Meacham says, smiled after reading them, telling the biographer that Bush’s analysis was “fascinating.” The former vice president said that he “never heard any of this from 41” but admitted, “No question, I was much harder-line after 9-11 than I was before.”
George W. Bush told Meacham of his father’s evaluation: “He certainly never expressed that opinion to me, either during the presidency or after.” Regarding the criticism of his rhetoric, Bush said “It is true that my rhetoric could get pretty strong and that may have bothered some people — obviously it did, including Dad, though he never mentioned it.”
Fox News has also reported on excerpts from the new biography and sought reaction from Cheney, who told the network he takes Bush’s “iron-ass” comment “as a mark of pride.”
He said to Fox, “I think a lot of people believed then, and still believe to this day, that I was aggressive in defending, in carrying out what I thought were the right policies.”
Fox reported that Rumsfeld declined to comment.
Credit: CNN

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