Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

by Barton Gellman

book data

223 ratings, 4.13 average rating, 87 reviews (more data...)

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4		49%
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2		2%
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published

September 16th 2008 by Penguin Press HC, The

binding

Hardcover, 384 pages

isbn

1594201862 (isbn13: 9781594201868)

description

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman's newsbreaking investigative journalism documents how Vice President Dick Cheney redefined the role o...more

[close] Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman's newsbreaking investigative journalism documents how Vice President Dick Cheney redefined the role of the American vice presidency, assuming unprecedented responsibilities and making it a post of historic power.

Dick Cheney changed history, defining his times and shaping a White House as no vice president has before-- yet concealing most of his work from public view. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how Cheney operated, why, and what he wrought.

Angler, Gellman's embargoed and highly explosive book, is a work of careful, concrete, and original reporting backed by hundreds of interviews with close Cheney allies as well as rivals, many speaking candidly on the record for the first time. On the signature issues of war and peace, Angler takes readers behind the scenes as Cheney maneuvers for dominance on what he calls the iron issues from Iraq, Iran, and North Korea to executive supremacy, interrogation of Al Qaeda suspects, and domestic espionage. Gellman explores the behind-the- scenes story of Cheney's tremendous influence on foreign policy, exposing how he misled the four ranking members of Congress with faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, how he derailed Bush from venturing into Israeli- Palestinian peace talks for nearly five years, and how his policy left North Korea and Iran free to make major advances in their nuclear programs.

Domestically, Gellman details Cheney's role as "super Chief of Staff ", enforcer of conservative orthodoxy; gatekeeper of Supreme Court nominees; referee of Cabinet turf; editor of tax and budget laws; and regulator in chief of the administration's environment policy. We watch as Cheney, the ultimate Washington insider, leverages his influence within the Bush administration in order to implement his policy goals. Gellman's discoveries will surprise even the most astute students of political science.

Above all, Angler is a study of the inner workings of the Bush administration and the vice president's central role as the administration's canniest power player. Gellman exposes the mechanics of Cheney's largely successful post-September 11 campaign to win unchecked power for the commander in chief, and reflects upon, and perhaps changes, the legacy that Cheney--and the Bush administration as a whole--will leave as they exit office. [close]

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11/12/08

Steve rated it:

Read in November, 2008

After reading Barton Gellman’s (and Jo Becker’s) series of articles in the Washington Post reporting on Vice President Dick Cheney, I couldn’t wait for an expanded book version. The series won a Pulitzer prize for its well documented revelations, and perhaps already aware of many of these, I came to be disappointed as I read ‘Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.’ This isn’t to say that ‘Angler’ is a bad book on any level. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in curr...more After reading Barton Gellman’s (and Jo Becker’s) series of articles in the Washington Post reporting on Vice President Dick Cheney, I couldn’t wait for an expanded book version. The series won a Pulitzer prize for its well documented revelations, and perhaps already aware of many of these, I came to be disappointed as I read ‘Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.’ This isn’t to say that ‘Angler’ is a bad book on any level. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in current political affairs, the inside scoop on the Bush White House, and well documented reporting. However, there are numerous flaws, which kept it from being at the top of my list.

First of all, the book’s title implies that it will be about Dick Cheney. Instead it is an amalgamation of the current administration’s scandals and cover-ups. Similar to real life, in ‘Angler,’ Dick Cheney plays a behind the scenes role, obscured from real meat of the scandals. Not that these scandals themselves don’t deserve the press that they received (thank goodness reporters are finally getting back to work). But don’t be mistaken, this is not a biography of Dick Cheney, nor is it a book solely about his role in the White House. In fact, except for the briefest of flashbacks, the book does not cover any of Cheney’s life previous to his entrance into the 2000 race for the presidency. Instead, it focuses upon the numerous scandals, law breaking, and misdeeds, which racked this administration. Not to fault Gellman’s reporting, Cheney has been the most secretive vice president in modern history, so linking him to anything was quite a feat. I just wished it focused solely on Cheney instead of the scandals, which are already well documented in numerous other sources.

This leads me to my second criticism, that without Cheney as the central focus of the narrative, the book feels like a hodgepodge of different stories loosely linked together. Not that these reports in themselves aren’t fascinating, (the James Comey portion is worth the price of admission itself) just overall there is no cohesive glue. At times the narrative does comes together perfectly, making it an unforgettable read, but these times are far and few in-between.

Likewise, there were some minor points that I took issue with in Gellman’s reporting. I disliked his use of Lynne Cheney’s fictional characters in her books as reference to Dick Cheney’s real life persona. I am sure that there are times that life imitates art, but they are an unfair characterization and bad reporting. I would not judge Stephen King’s family from his books. I could excuse this if Gellman included it once, but comparisons to Lynne Cheney’s novels are sprinkled four or fives times in various places. Shameful in an otherwise well referenced and documented piece.

Overall, I enjoyed ‘Angler’ and the impressive details revealed inside. Gellman’s reporting on James Comey and the Justice department’s revolt over the NSA wiretapping program was top notch. I did wish that there were more revelations on the Harriet Miers nomination, which Cheney disagreed with Bush, and then used the press to derail. This was the best part of the newspaper series and was strangely abbreviated in the book. Gellman did begin expose Cheney’s close links to the press, which he used to leak information to harm those who stood in the White House’s power grab. This topic is a perfect representation for the book as whole, great subject matter, but disjointed and underdeveloped. Hopefully as time passes, more documents will come to light and fully illuminate Cheney’s full role in this above the law, and at times, criminal administration.
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11/01/08

marcali rated it:

Read in November, 2008

add a crunchy top layer to the political casserole created by The Bush Tragedy, The Terror Presidency, Bush's Law and many many NYer articles.

neat summary of these past eight Wonderland years:

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit...said the classified files contained mere assertions, not evidence. When the government declared the intelligence reliable because in appeared in three different documents, the judges mocked that reasoning. "...more

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01/26/09

Remo rated it:

Read in January, 2009

This book provides an interesting perspective on how to take over the entire policy process in Washington. It is not a flattering book, and the author clearly is not a Cheney fan, but an interesting portrait of the former VP comes out anyway. VP Cheney offered to be President Bush’s “detail guy”, handling things the President didn’t want on his plate. The first step (after leading a search for a vice presidential candidate and rejecting all comers) was to be put in charge of the trans...more This book provides an interesting perspective on how to take over the entire policy process in Washington. It is not a flattering book, and the author clearly is not a Cheney fan, but an interesting portrait of the former VP comes out anyway. VP Cheney offered to be President Bush’s “detail guy”, handling things the President didn’t want on his plate. The first step (after leading a search for a vice presidential candidate and rejecting all comers) was to be put in charge of the transition, during the contested recount. Cheney realized that “personnel is policy”, and advocated people of his choosing in lower level positions in departments’ policy shops so he could control the flow of policy recommendations bubbling up from the bureaucracy. Once the right people were in place he could shape how policy was formed from the bottom up, and control how it was decided on at the top. (Those people also provided valuable back-channel information to him.) He had his aides declared advisors to the President, allowing them to sit in on policy discussions at levels below him. Cheney himself sat in on Principal Committee meetings, which had never routinely occurred before. The President chairs these when he attends, but usually the National Security Advisor chairs for him. This gave Cheney a voice in the meetings, and because he routinely briefed the President privately it allowed him to advocate his positions outside the normal policy flow – exactly contrary to the way Cheney operated when he was White House Chief of Staff to President Ford.

Cheney got office space on the House side because the House is where tax revenue (taxes) originates, so he could have a voice in tax policy. He sat in on numerous other meetings normally too low-level for a VP, then briefed the President and made recommendation. Cheney’s capacity for work was enormous, and his attention to detail phenomenal.

Chapter 4, Energy in the Executive, provides a case study in how to manage an errant boss (on the topic of climate change). This chapter highlights the Cheney didn’t really care about politics, he cared about just doing what he thought was right. Other chapters go into a lot of detail on different cases Cheney weighed in on. The war on terror, torture, the clean air act, other environmental issues, taxes, the war in Iraq.

A chapter that really addresses a different side of Cheney is Chapter 9, Demonstration Effect. I’m not sure the author wanted to show how deep Cheney was, how nuanced his world view, but it comes out anyway. The chapter looks at the beginning of the Iraq war, how Cheney pushed it and what he as trying to achieve. Cheney looked for pivot points and threshold questions. He took a long view, especially in international relations. “Can you modify regime behavior without regime change?” One person interviewed said he was able to process information faster than anybody else in the room. (Powell, Rice and Rumsfeld were in the room.) I doubt history will be kind to the former VP, but it is clear from this book that he was a brilliant man striving to do what he thought was best for the country. Unfortunately, it probably wasn’t.
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11/30/08

Garver rated it:

Gellman's exhaustively sourced and gripping account of Cheney's transformation of OVP could not be any more fascinating. Getting beyond all the conspiracy theories and general nutjobbery that surrounds the man, the book tells a story of an almost Greek tragic hero -- a man so blinded by ideology and a lust for secrecy that he may have been at once the most effective and destructive holder of the office. Starting with Cheney's appointment to the ticket (recall, he ran Bush's VP search committee...more

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11/30/08

Kathleen Gilroy rated it:

This was a surprisingly riveting read. One of those books that I could not put down and could comfortably spend three hours reading without a pause. Based on Barton Gellman's Pulitzer Prize winning articles in the Washington Post, Angler details how Cheney amasses and executes power during the two Bush terms. The book opens with a description of the VP vetting process (run by Cheney) during which massive amounts of private and detailed information were provided to the Cheney team by short-lis...more

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02/14/09

Daniel rated it:

bookshelves: politics-history

Read in February, 2009

Why do people hate Dick Cheney? I read this book for answers and, happily, I can say Gellman delivers. The book starts weakly by making some innuendos about Cheney regarding a 'leak' about a VP candidate, Gov. Keating; the offended governor seems to believe only Cheney could have caused his troubles even though he admits he told several people about the subject when he was being cleared for an earlier job. Nevertheless, after this small misstep Gellman does a reasonably good job of illustrating ...more

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05/16/09

Jack added it

Read in May, 2009

There is not a lot of new information here for people who have already followed the Cheney Vice presidency in the news, with the exception of Gellman's discussion of the revolt at DOJ over domestic wiretapping. Nor does Gellman provide a whole new perspective on Cheney the man, although his efforts to treat Cheney as a real human being - but not necessarily a good one - help the book immensely. What Gellman does do is weave together the significant developments and exploits of the last 8 years...more

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12/15/08

Mark rated it:

Read in December, 2008

The best political book I've read about the Bush administration. A remarkably even-handed and detailed profile of Cheney's years in the White House. It destroys a lot of the more ludicrous ideas of Cheney's motives while revealing things that are so calculated and unyielding that its shocking. On one hand, Cheney's secrecy goes as far as to even hide things that would dispel myths about him, like his forfeiting millions in Haliburton stock options. On the other hand, he and his chief lawyer D...more

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12/30/08

Dave Metge rated it:

Learned
1. Cheney is the man behind the power. He had his hands in _everything major_ or so it seems. As I read the book, it seemed like many major decisions were made w/o proper vetting/procedures being followed. THus, it seem like there were almost no types of consultation or critical thinking involved in making and enacting the decisions. From Abu Grab to torture to Fed rates to water management; this guy was making major policy decisions, often with minimal presidential .

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11/11/08

Nathan rated it:

Read in December, 2008

recommended to Nathan by: Amy Morris
recommends it for: political junkies

11/11: Hits the ground running with Cheney's terse, intrusive manipulation of the 2000 vice presidential vetting process, which turned out not to be necessary since Cheney chose himself as vp.

11/12: No surprise. Cheney gives his higher-up subordinates comparable positions in the president's staff, finesses himself into the Principals Committee and the Senate Republican Caucus, and makes himself a confidential adviser to the president on a level with the national security adviser. Mos...more 11/11: Hits the ground running with Cheney's terse, intrusive manipulation of the 2000 vice presidential vetting process, which turned out not to be necessary since Cheney chose himself as vp.

11/12: No surprise. Cheney gives his higher-up subordinates comparable positions in the president's staff, finesses himself into the Principals Committee and the Senate Republican Caucus, and makes himself a confidential adviser to the president on a level with the national security adviser. Most readers would probably be surprised to find out how unprecedented it was for a vice president to make himself essentially co-equal with the president, but the fact that Cheney is in this position is well known. Most revealing is Cheney began amassing this power during the disputed 2000 election.

11/14: Should I have known Jim Jeffords quit the GOP in large part because Cheney wouldn't budge on an education initiative? Should I be surprised that Cheney helped to shift the White House public position on global warming, essentially under the president's nose? Should I?

11/16: A bold assertion, to argue that Cheney fundamentally misread the Federalist Papers in his quest for an unaccountable, unitary executive. Guess I'll have to read those next? And was it wishful thinking for Gellman to note that Cheney wouldn't have made it to the underground bunker in time if American 77 had been aiming for the White House?

Skip a few days...

12/8: Other than a few back-handed digs that reveal something of the author's personal opinions, which would be rather difficult to conceal, this is a surprisingly even-handed account of a man who amassed as much power in the executive branch of the United States government as possible, with little regard for the political implications or the effects on civil liberties, because in his own estimation he felt he was doing the right thing. The author does not seem to think Cheney was deliberately trying to undermine the Constitution. He was trying to construct a political dynamic that would keep the country on a war footing for an indefinite time. The reader's own political leanings may well determine the rightness or wrongness of Cheney's goals.(less)

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01/30/09

Michelle rated it:

bookshelves: politics

Read in February, 2009

Wow. The first two thirds of this book is excellent. Cheney is brilliantly able to achieve his objectives. Gellman describes how he could outmanuever and outwork all of his ideological foes. It is amazing to realize all of the Bush policies that have Cheney's fingerprints all over them--the tax cuts early in the first term, Guantanamo and treatment of detainees, the warantless wiretapping initiative, energy and environmental policy. Truly, he took to VP office to new heights. Oh, the secret...more

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01/03/09

Greg rated it:

Read in January, 2009

An old rule in business and politics is "Never hire someone you can't fire". One of the things Gellman points out early on in this book is that the VP, uniquely amount the President's inner circle, can't be fired by the President. This book, which is relatively even-handed, shows how Cheney pulled the levers of power within the administration. I've never read another book that shows, in detail, the execution of power, and how the day-to-day work of an administration happens. The im...more

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05/22/09

theodore added it

Read in June, 2009

The strength of this book is narrative...I think Gellman does a good job at staying clear, as much as possible, from cherry picking evidence to support preconceived ideas about Cheney. It's fairly raw journalism, and the reader is left to draw his own conclusions.

I do think Gellman could have explained a little bit about the inside workings of the White House, but then again, he stuck to telling the story.

I've learned that:
Cheney did what he did because he could...more

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12/28/08

Rob rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Pretty bad-ass reporting and taut storytelling. Cheney set policy goals and accomplished them, is the essence of it, but how that happened it is still fascinating.

There is a large cast of supporting players -- Alberto Gonzales comes off especially badly -- but in a curious way it's the vice president's lawyer David Addington who dominates this book. Addington, who I've heard called "Cheney's Cheney," seems to be forever shouting at people in meetings, pushing through secr...more

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12/30/08

Tiffoknee the 3rd rated it:

Read in January, 2009

An excellent example of taut, well-researched journalism transformed into an equally fine book-length exploration of the philosophy and ideology of the Cheney imperative. Gellman's writing moves swiftly and deftly through complex policy grapplings. My frustration and disgust often required that I stop to close the book and ponder the ramifications of what I'd read. I predict that someone will make the pitch and ask Mr. Gellman for movie rights. That may or may not be a good thing. Who can s...more

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01/02/09

Mark rated it:

This is a classic, IMHO. Really gives a good sense of how government works and how Cheney drove executive branch to reclaim lost power (of that branch). Cheney's depth of detailed knowledge on everything - policy, law, protocol, people and process is pretty impressive. Raises all sorts of questions on the delineation between him and Bush, and how that defines culpability. Total behind the scenes on key events, not partisan or editorializing but very strong analysis and excellent narrative from m...more

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01/22/09

Emily rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Terrifying, quite frankly. But it's hard for me to really just LOVE non-fiction. Also it does lose some potency when a certain part of it is missing sources (although he apologizes for that in the acknowledgments) and also when it was written prior to cheney leaving office. would love to see an updated version that included a paragraph about him in the wheelchair on inauguration day.

(although i think the writer does make it clear that cheney lost prominence in the 2nd term, and actu...more

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01/01/09

Ronspross rated it:

bookshelves: politics

Read in December, 2008

The Bush administration has been the most damaging one of my life -- and I can remember Eisenhower. The former President still has his apologists who claim he is intelligent, well informed, and engaged. There is no evidence for this whatsoever. The man exhibited no acquaintance with anything other than the cultural prejudices with which he grew up and no awareness of the existence of a host of alternative prejudices. The lack of intelligence or deliberation is evident in the fact that he dem...more

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12/27/08

Jeweleye rated it:

Read in May, 2009

If you are still scratching your head over how the Bush administration took the path it did, defying over 200 years of laws and customs in the process, you must read this book. Angler is about the Cheney Vice Presidency; Angler was/is Cheney's Secret Service nickname, so named because he is a fly fisherman but also because he spent eight years angling and maneuvering to get his ideas before the President. Oh, he is a wily one! And so convinced that he is right! At least that's how I have to look...more

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11/30/08

Kristine rated it:

bookshelves: biography-memoir, highly-recommended-, history

Read in December, 2008

I never thought spending a week inside the mind of Dick Cheney would be an enjoyable experince but this book is really good!!

Love him or loathe him you have to admire his mad political skilz. He basically is the President without being the President and with Bush's blessing. OK so maybe that last part isn't so hard to believe but the way he plays his game on the world's chessboard is masterful.

Oh and in an interview he said he really likes the nickname "Darth Cheney...more

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