This editorial appeared in The (Raleigh) News & Observer.
After eight years of advocating surveillance of American citizens and expansion of all sorts of executive powers – along with pushing the war in Iraq, of course – why should Vice President Cheney turn the temperature to "moderate" all of a sudden? So there's no real surprise in what Cheney is saying as he rides the farewell commentary circuit.
In an interview on Fox News that was broadcast Sunday, Cheney defended virtually everything about the Bush White House, command center of an administration that has presided over an ill-conceived war in Iraq, misguided domestic policies and, by the way, a thunderous decline in economic stability.
Cheney also put down his successor, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, for a gaffe Biden made during the campaign when he cited the wrong Article in the Constitution in a discussion of executive powers. That's ridiculous, of course, as Biden made a momentary mistake, but comes to office with 36 years in the Senate and, as viewed from both sides of the political aisle, recognized expertise on matters foreign and domestic.
To read the complete editorial, visit The (Raleigh) News & Observer.