If Dick Cheney finds himself testifying in the Scooter Libby trial, he could have a thoroughly rotten time. Scott Shane and Jim Rutenberg look at that "what if" in today's Times.
First, there's the matter of Cheney's image as Vice President, using his position and staff to carry out a personal vendetta.
...The vice president may be forced to describe in uncomfortable detail how he directed the counteroffensive on Joseph C. Wilson IV, the former ambassador who accused the administration of twisting prewar intelligence.
“This could be great theater,” said Peter M. Shane, a law professor at Ohio State University. Anything Mr. Cheney says for the defense, Mr. Shane said, becomes “fair game” to be picked apart by the prosecution. If Mr. Cheney makes a statement that conflicts with the public record — and nearly every witness so far has done so at least once — it could prove embarrassing for him and for the administration.
“If Cheney said anything that’s contradicted in the record, though I think that’s unlikely, Pat will slam him,” said a former federal prosecutor who knows Mr. Fitzgerald. “He’ll do it respectfully, but I have no doubt he’ll do it,” said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity...
The trial has chipped away at the public image of Mr. Cheney as a sober-minded policy architect and tough political combatant, never rattled by the sniping of critics or the fickle commentary of the press.
Then there's the matter -- now increasingly under public scrutiny -- of Cheney's obsession with power for power's sake, his dogged certainty that he's right and everyone else is wrong, his focus on imposing imperial powers on a democratic office.
Mr. Cheney has come under increasing fire for comments proclaiming success in Iraq when even Mr. Bush is expressing dissatisfaction. Senator John McCain, a leading Republican presidential contender for 2008, went on record in an interview last month with The Politico, a new Washington political publication, saying Mr. Bush had been “very badly served” by Mr. Cheney, as well as Mr. Rumsfeld.
In a recent interview on CNN, the host, Wolf Blitzer, told Mr. Cheney, “Some of your good Republican friends in the Senate and the House are now seriously questioning your credibility because of the blunders, of the failures.” Mr. Cheney, in a striking display of pique, responded: “Wolf, Wolf, I simply don’t accept the premise of your question. I just think it’s hogwash.”...
Theodore Olson, who knows both Dick Cheney and Patrick Fitzgerald, evidently thinks Cheney is at risk.
By taking the stand before a rapt national audience, Mr. Cheney would essentially be leaping without a net, because neither the defense nor the prosecution would be duty-bound to protect his interests, said Mr. Olson, who represented Ronald Reagan during the Iran-contra affair. “You never know what’s going to happen on a witness stand with cross-examinations,” Mr. Olson said. “Surprises happen all the time.”
