In a PBS interview airing tonight, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney told Jim Lehrer "the terror threat was inherited because of the poor handling by previous presidents" and blamed the "Democrat-controlled Congress" for failing to defuse the "key triggers" of the financial crisis.
Cheney said that he leaves Washington with "a great sense of accomplishment" and called descriptions of the Bush Administration as a failure "dead wrong".
(Story found on Talking Points Memo.)
Vice President Cheney invoked the name of "al Qaeda" fourteen times, "terror/ist" ten times, and "9/11" eight times through the course of the interview, describing the prevention of "mass-casualty attacks against the United States after 9/11" as the centerpiece of the Bush Administration's legacy. He mentioned "Osama bin Laden" twice.
Cheney described the administration's intervention in Iraq as the establishment of "a vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East" and a "major, major accomplishment."
As for the Bush Administration's economic record, he cited "good economic policies," describing the economic crisis as an unforeseeable global problem.
Although he blamed Democrats for failures ranging from terrorism to the collapse of the economy, Cheney singled out Senator Joe Lieberman for praise as "my favorite Democrat" and "a great guy."
Cheney rejected the notion that the Bush Administration had failed, arguing that historians will come see it in "a fairly favorable light," comparing current public opinion to the initial outrage over President Gerald Ford's pardon of President Richard Nixon.
MR. LEHRER: One more general scope here, Mr. Vice President. What do you make of a current suggestion that you have been in fact the most powerful vice president in history, but in one of the most failed presidencies in history?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I don’t buy that.