On her MSNBC program today, Alex Wagner poked fun at Dick Cheney's heart disease before branding George Bush a mindless marionette to Cheney's puppet master.
The topic for discussion was Cheney's new book "Heart," which discusses the heart disease he battled most of his adult life, and Peter Baker's account of the Bush administration called “Days of Fire.”
Wagner teased the segment just before the break leaving no doubt of her bias:
Coming up, former vice president Dick Cheney open ups about his heart. Yes, he has one.
She showed the same bias after the break
After a decade of being called heartless, former vice president Dick Cheney is opening up. This morning on the "today" show, Cheney discussed his struggles with cardiac disease, described in his latest book "Heart."
(Cheney Clip)
Cheney's tell-all about his ticker comes as a new book details the many secrets and errors of the Bush/Cheney administration. As excerpted in Politico, Peter Baker's new book "Days of Fire" reveals the motivation behind the invasion of Iraq. According to one U.S. official, "the only reason we went into Iraq, I tell people now is we were looking for somebody's -- this is a family program, butt to kick. Afghanistan was too easy."
I feel like it's… hard for me to stomach, speaking of organs, a book entitled "Heart" about Dick Cheney but I think we wish the Vice President well in deal with his cardiac problems.
To have this come out at the same time as Peter Baker's book which is revisiting, I think, a very painful chapter of American history, is a reminder of the incredibly important role that the President -- Vice President played in shaping American history and certainly the policies of the Bush administration.
Sahil Kapur from Talking Points Memo responded:
Absolutely. He was one of the strongest proponents of the Iraq war as everyone knows now. It was -- what I got from reading the review about Peter Baker's book, I haven't read the book itself, is how Dick Cheney tried to revolutionize the Vice Presidency itself. How he expanded that role and expanded that role and used the fact that foreign policy was at front and center after the 9/11 and president Bush was not experienced with that. That's why President Bush wanted Dick Cheney.
Wagner answered by describing Cheney as the puppet master controlling George W. Bush:
I mean he was acknowledged to need a puppet master. But what was also interesting is that Politico says that by the end of the administration, in 2008 and 2009, Bush and Cheney disagreed on North Korea, Syria, Lebanon, Russia, the Middle East peace talks, gun rights, gay rights, climate change, surveillance, detention, and the auto bailout. And by the end, sort of the Pinocchio understood or I don't know is Svengali a better metaphor, the point is, there was a real rift between these two men.