In the uncertain weeks following the 2000 election, you show Cheney focused on the process of building the new administration, with a particular attention to filling key cabinet posts. Who were the key figures that Cheney brought into the Bush Administration, and how did this build his influence as vice president?
Donald Rumsfeld has to be top of the list, because the Cheney-Rumsfeld axis dominated national security policy for the first six years of the Bush Administration. Bush knew he wanted Colin Powell, who at the time, according to Gallup polls, was the third most popular man in America. (Bonus points if you knew the first two were Bill Clinton and the pope.) Cheney wanted a counterweight.
Dan Coats had the job of Secretary of Defense sewn up, but he lost it when he blew his interview with George W. Bush. Donald Rumsfeld was not called in until after the Coats Debacle. From this interview, the author of this "anti-Cheney" book seems unaware of that fact. I am curious to see what he has to say about Cheney, but I am not going to waste my money on his book if he cannot get his basic facts right.
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