A New Capitol Clash

摘要

For security reasons, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are not supposed to spend much time together. But they made an exception last Tuesday afternoon for a hoary ritual of life in the capital: the briefing of the network anchors. Just hours before Bush's State of the Union address, Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw & Co. were ushered into the Old Family Dining Room in the private quarters of the White House to hear the president and his veep spin the speech. Oneof the first questions was about Enron, and Cheney's refusal to turn over logs of his energy task force's secret contacts with energy executives. "Won't this get in the way of the message of the speech?" one of the anchors asked. "Why not just give Congress the information and get it over with ?" Before Cheney could answer, Bush cut in. Pounding the table, he insisted that a fundamental right of the presidency was at stake: the ability to get information and private, candid advice from anyone, anytime. Bush fully backed Cheney's refusal to comply with the General Accounting Office's demand for the lists. What about the GAO's threat to file a suit? For Bush, it was a Texas Ranger moment. "Bring it on," he said.