Clash Of Ideals

Vice President Dick Cheney, who leaves office Jan. 20 as one of the most powerful, if unpopular, vice presidents in recent history, offered an unabashed defense of the Bush administration's claims of broad executive powers Sunday, mocking criticism from Vice President-elect Joe Biden and saying the president "doesn't have to check with anybody" before launching a nuclear attack.

Cheney was blunt and unapologetic about his central role in some of the most controversial issues of the past eight years, including the invasion of Iraq, warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens and harsh interrogation tactics. Cheney also said he disagreed with President George W. Bush's decision to remove embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2006, saying that "the president doesn't always take my advice."

The Bush-

Cheney Team

•Cheney suggested the administration would have gone to war with Iraq even without erroneous intelligence showing that Saddam Hussein had developed weapons of mass destruction.

•Cheney also said he approved of the administration's use of coercive interrogation tactics, including a type of simulated drowning known as waterboarding, against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and others.

•He says he is untroubled by opinion polls showing that he and Bush are among the most unpopular White House occupants in modern times.

•He claims that all U.S. presidents since 1973 have viewed the War Powers Act - which gave Congress the role of declaring war - as unconstitutional. He noted that the president is accompanied at all times by a military aide carrying the nuclear "football" allowing the launching of nuclear strikes.

•Cheney also says he doesn't think President-elect Barack Obama will give Biden as consequential a role as Cheney has had under Bush.

•Cheney does not have any advice for Biden, who will replace him in the vice president's job Jan. 20.

A Glimpse At Cheney's World

During an interview with "Fox News Sunday," he said:

•He expects the Republican Party to rebound from this year's election defeats, but is unsure whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will lead the comeback as the party's nominee for president in 2012. "I don't think she has any kind of lock on that," Cheney said of this year's vice presidential candidate. "She'll have to go out and earn it just as anybody else would have to."

•He thinks Osama bin Laden is alive but questioned whether he is still effectively running al-Qaida. "He's been holed up in a way where he's not even been communicating and there are questions about whether or not he's even running the operation."

"Capturing Osama bin Laden is something we clearly would love to do" before leaving office, Cheney said. But he said it has been more important to stop terrorist attacks against the United States.

•He does not regret using an obscenity beginning with "f" in an exchange with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on the Senate floor in June 2004. "I thought he merited it at the time," Cheney said with a chuckle. "And we've since, I think, patched over that wound and we're civil to one another now."

Next Up: Joe Biden

•Biden will oversee an Obama administration effort to find ways of building up the ranks of the middle class and will lead a task force that will include four Cabinet members as well as other presidential advisers.

•The transition team promised the task force's work would be transparent, with annual reports on its findings and recommendations. Also, any submissions from outside groups are to be posted on the Internet.

•Task force members will include the secretaries of labor, health and human services, education, and commerce, as well as the directors of the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council and the head of the Council of Economic Advisers.

•The Delaware senator has not sought advice from Cheney, whom he called "the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history."

•Biden said he could not name a single good thing that Cheney had done.

A Glimpse At Biden's World

In an interview on ABC's "This Week," he said:

•The loan agreement for automakers will require sacrifices from all segments of the industry. While saying organized labor did not bring the carmakers to the brink of collapse, unions in particular are "going to have to make some additional sacrifices, and they know it and they understand it."

•The economic aid plan being readied by the Obama team will focus on creating a strong energy grid, will pay for thousands of new jobs focusing on making buildings and homes more energy efficient and will help health care providers invest in electronic record-keeping for patients.

•The military prison at Guantanamo Bay Navy Base in Cuba, should close, and the U.S. reputation abroad has suffered as a result of the Bush administration's policies on surveillance and detainees.

•It's up to the Justice Department to determine whether charges should be filed against any member of the Bush administration for prisoner abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo.