Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

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Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
Angler book.jpg
First edition cover
Author Barton Gellman
LanguageEnglish
GenreNonfiction
Publisher Penguin Press
Publication date
September 2008
Publication placeUnited States
Media type Hardback, audiobook
Pages384 pages
ISBN 978-1-59420-186-8
OCLC 191929196
973.931092 B 22
LC Class E840.8.C43 G45 2008

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency is a 2008 book by Washington Post investigative reporter Barton Gellman. Presenting information in a narrative fashion, Gellman asserts that United States Vice President Dick Cheney misled Republican leaders about the threat of Iraq before the invasion of Iraq by the United States. The book levels several allegations against Cheney and his administration. The book is based on hundreds of previously unpublished interviews with high-ranking government officials. [1]

Contents

Background

Barton Gellman, a staff writer for The Washington Post , participated in a lengthy series of Pulitzer Prize-winning stories about Vice President Cheney published in November 2007. [2] Angler is the conclusion of that investigation, and arranges the findings in a narrative fashion. [3]

Throughout the course of the interviews, Gellman spoke on record to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and his predecessor Andrew H. Card Jr., senior presidential advisers Dan Bartlett and Karl Rove, and numerous high-ranking Justice Department alumni, including John Ashcroft and James B. Comey. Cheney and President Bush declined Gellman's requests to be interviewed. [1]

Of the title of the book, Gellman said in a television interview:

Cheney's Secret Service codename. They have a wry sense of humor about the way they give codenames, and a lot of times they have a double meaning. Obviously, Cheney is an avid fisherman. I thought it was a nice metaphor for the way that he works. He tends to approach the levers of power obliquely. He doesn't like to—like you to see him coming, doesn't like to have an overt public role. He finds his way to the place where decisions are made and often doesn't leave many signs of his presence. [4]

Contents

From news sources about the book, with quotes of the book itself:

Armey said he reversed his position after Cheney told him that the threat from Iraq was actually "more imminent than we want to portray to the public at large." [1]

Reception

Critical book reviews have been positive. Time magazine stated that "while Gellman's book feels more like a collection of set-pieces than a cohesive whole, this look at this second most powerful office in the land couldn't be timelier." [9] The Christian Science Monitor calls the book a "meticulously researched, highly readable new biography" that "tells the story of a man who has left a powerful imprint on American government." [10] The Los Angeles Times calls the book a "carefully reported and vigorously written" book that "creates immensely valuable clarity and perspective." [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gellman, Barton (September 16, 2008). "Cheney Misled GOP Leaders". The Washington Post . Investigations. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  2. "The 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winners in National Reporting". Pulitzer Prizes. April 9, 2008. Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Timothy Rutten (September 24, 2008). "'Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency' by Barton Gellman". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on September 27, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Book: Cheney's Drive for Warrantless Spying Nearly Brought Down Bush Presidency". Democracy Now . September 19, 2008. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  5. "Book: Cheney's Drive for Warrantless Spying Nearly Brought Down Bush Presidency". Democracy Now. September 19, 2008. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2008."He did not turn over even most of his public documents, old speeches and testimony and so forth. Halliburton would not cooperate with financial inquiries."
  6. "Book: Cheney's Drive for Warrantless Spying Nearly Brought Down Bush Presidency". Democracy Now. September 19, 2008. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2008.Democracy Now, Gellman: "There's new reasons to doubt that Bush authorized that in advance. It looks as though the Vice President made that decision on his own and looked for a blessing afterward."
  7. Barton Gellman (September 2008). Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency. Penguin Press. ISBN   978-1-59420-186-8.
  8. "Book: Cheney's Drive for Warrantless Spying Nearly Brought Down Bush Presidency". Democracy Now. September 19, 2008. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2008. "it needs to be certified as legal by the Justice Department every forty-five days. So it's—there's a deadline coming up in March of '04, March 11th ... Dick Cheney does not tell the President for three months. The President does not find out that Justice thinks this thing is illegal and won't sign until the day before the deadline." Democracy Now: Burton Gellman
  9. Cruz, Gilbert (September 17, 2008). "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency". Time . Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
  10. "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency". The Christian Science Monitor . October 13, 2008. Archived from the original on October 15, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2008.