Bush Library Donors Gain Access to Rice and Cheney

Former secretary of state says she never 'tearfully admitted' anything

(NEWSER) - Add Condoleezza Rice to the list of people torqued by Dick Cheney's opus: The former secretary of state is taking umbrage to Cheney's assertion that she "tearfully admitted I had been right" that the administration shouldn't apologize over a claim in George W Bush's 2003 State of the Union. "It certainly doesn't sound like me, now, does it?" Rice bristles. "I would never—I don't remember coming to the vice president tearfully about anything in the entire eight years that I knew him." More»

Prosecution possible, but nailing Cheney a legal headache

(NEWSER) - Those calling for Bush administration prosecutions on torture-related grounds may have their way—but whether those in question can actually be convicted is a whole other kettle of fish, Jeffrey Rosen writes in New York. Much of the case would likely hinge on whether authorities believed their own claims in making a case for waterboarding. And appointing a special prosecutor could create headaches for the Justice Department. More»

Woodward has seen all the mistakes and lived to tell about it

(NEWSER) - George W. Bush’s presidency could teach Barack Obama many lessons—about what not to do. Bob Woodward lays out 10 of them in today’s Washington Post:

• "Presidents need to draw people out and make sure bad news makes it to the Oval Office": Bush went into Iraq "without directly asking Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, or George Tenet for their bottom-line recommendation."
• "A president must do the homework to master the fundamental ideas and concepts behind his policies": One general suspected Bush "lacked a basic grasp of what the Iraq war was about."

White House braces for debut of Iraq-centric The War Within

(NEWSER) - Bob Woodward’s fourth book on the Bush White House, originally a mere 352 pages, has ballooned into 496 pages of inside dope and is due in stores Sept. 8, Politico reports. And the mystery-shrouded volume, which focuses on the Iraq conflict, officially has a name: The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008. Simon & Schuster says it plans to print 900,000 copies. More»

Rice's lousy record should keep her off Romney ticket: Bret Stephens

(NEWSER) - Did you like the Bush administration? No? Then why the heck would you want Condoleezza Rice to be Mitt Romney's running mate, asks Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal . A recent poll had Rice as Republican voters' top choice for the ticket, and it's easy to see why. "He's the business whiz; she's the foreign-policy wonk," Stephens muses. "He's the un-Obama; she's the un-Palin. He's the world's whitest white man; she isn't." There's just one problem: Rice was bad at her job. More»