Cheney is running a shadow government, claims Watergate aide

The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 04/04/04 | Julian Coman

[Pokey78]

G Gordon Liddy, the former FBI agent who masterminded the Watergate burglary on behalf of Richard Nixon, once said that he would like to kill John Dean by shoving a pencil through his neck.

This week, as the cerebral Mr Dean publishes Worse than Watergate: the Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, the sentiment is likely to be shared by many in Mr Bush's White House.

Thirty-one years ago Mr Dean - Nixon's legal counsel - began co-operating with prosecutors into the Watergate burglary, revealing the inner workings of the most secretive and manipulative administration in American history.

Now, in the latest political blockbuster, Mr Dean "testifies" against President Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney, accusing them of trumping his former boss when it comes to political sharp practice.

He accuses them of wilfully misleading Congress over the nature of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein before the war in Iraq, and of "stonewalling" over inquiries into the events of September 11.

Much of the blame for the White House style, he suggests, lies with Mr Cheney, who is "by nature a secretive man" who "wants to turn the clock back to pre-Watergate styles of Imperial Presidency".

Mr Dean also claims that the administration's aggressive approach to rebels and mavericks follows a Nixonian pattern, while being even more ruthless. He cites the "outing" of Valerie Plame, a CIA officer whose husband, Joe Wilson, rejected administration claims that Saddam had attempted to buy uranium from Niger.

"When it comes to dealing with dissenters and those willing to speak the truth," said Mr Dean, "this administration is putting Nixon to shame."

He adds: "If Nixon was a member of this administration, he would be scratching his head at what they are up to. He was obsessively secretive - and became so increasingly about national security matters - and overstepped the mark. But only over Watergate. Other than that he was relatively open. But this White House takes secrecy and political expediency as its general mode of operation."

Mr Dean was summarily fired by Nixon and later served four months in jail for obstructing the inquiry into a plot to burgle the offices of the Democratic National Committee.

[Miss Marple]

Bah!

[Support Free Republic]

[John Jorsett]

Another dope with a book to flog. God spare us.

[BFM]

Would someone get Gordon Liddy that pencil... quick...

[Alia]

my, my. Mr. Dean will not have the last word on this. However, I do think it may be the last time his word is given credibility.

[pepsi_junkie]

And John Dean is worth listening to on the inner workings of the Bush white house because....?

[CasearianDaoist]

He was a weasle then and he is a weasle now.

[Mears]

John Dean's opinions aren't relevant anymore.

[MamaLucci]

Only a moron would pay money for this book of fairytales.....what
access or inside information could this joker possibly have obtained as the basis for writing it? Second and third hand accounts from clinton holdovers?

[Paleo Conservative]

Would someone get Gordon Liddy that pencil... quick...

And a video camera.

[woofie]

His 15 minutes is up

[Ol' Sox]

That's the thing about being a convicted purjeror...you're word is worthless forevermore.

[Abcdefg]

"...the cerebral Mr Dean ...

Cerebral. Hmmm. Must mean low life back stabbing scum?

[Reactionary]

You have to wonder what evidence Dean has to back up his claim that Cheney is running a "shadow government." Also, what evidence does Dean have that "dissenters" have been dealt with (as he says) harshly?

On that face of it, the thesis of this book sounds laughable.

[bayourod]

Is John Dean the one with the good looking tall blonde wife whose porno pictures might have been in the Watergate headquarters of McGovern?

[Reactionary]

Liddy has always maintained that the story behind Watergate, as we commonly understand it, has been a fabrication. The real reason they were burgling the office was to undercover a DNC-sponsored prostitution ring.

I don't doubt it one bit.

[anniegetyourgun]

This Dean's scream is as over the edge as the last Dean who screamed....

[TomGuy]

Cheney is running a shadow government, claims Watergate aide

Well, of course!!! Don't you remember right after 9-11, Tommy Daschle was complaining that he couldn't find the shadow government (even though he was standing in the middle of it). Cheney has it for safe keeping.

[Starve The Beast]

"Worse than Watergate: the Secret Presidency of George W. Bush"

That's the title they went with. The working title was "I Had a Minute in the Sun 25 Years Ago: Please, Somebody Pay Attention to Me, I'm Tired of Working in this McDonalds".