Cheney v. Bush

Here is a prediction: If Dick Cheney foments a war of words between himself and former president Bush, Cheney will lose, Bush's famous incoherence notwithstanding. Bush was a lousy president, to be sure, but no more so than when he hewed most closely to Cheney's desires. And unlike Cheney, Bush is likable. Even after eight years of incompetence, he remains a guy with whom most people would happily watch a ballgame. Cheney is unlikeable and he is not an especially good person. A lot of people bent themselves over backward to support Bush policies that they did not really believe because they were Republicans, because they were conservatives. But even if Bush is not as smart or as articulate as Cheney, I suspect he'll win over the conservatives out of sympathy if nothing else. Cheney is playing a losing gambit here by trying to rehabilitate his own reputation at the expense of people more liked and less feared than himself.