Cheney’s War

VP Cheney has made another blistering speech attacking the war’s critics. Cheney knows what emotional punches to pull and of course the biggest charge is “not supporting the troops”:

“When members of Congress pursue an anti-war strategy that’s been called slow bleed, they’re not supporting the troops, they are undermining them. And when members of Congress speak not of victory, but of time limits — (applause) — when members speak not of victory but of time limits, deadlines or other arbitrary measures, they’re telling the enemy simply to watch the clock and wait us out.”

But perhaps its a last harah as Time reports that Cheney’s influence is waning following on from the Libby verdict or as Time’s Michael Duffy cheekily calls it “the Cheney verdict”.

Cheney has become the Administration’s enemy within, the man whose single-minded pursuit of ideological goals, creaking political instincts and love of secrecy produced an independent operation inside the White House that has done more harm than good.

On an imaginary political balance sheet, Cheney is the Democrats’ most valuable asset. And reversing that situation is getting close to impossible….But for all the personal shows of support, more Republicans with each passing week have acknowledged privately what is felt across Washington when it comes to the Vice President: his time has passed.

Significantly this is actually affecting the decision making process in the Bush White House – a process Cheney once dominated. And this is a major shift with major implications for international foreign affairs

A senior Administration official told TIME last week that Cheney has been part of all the arguments and has simply begun to lose some. But that alone means ideas that would have been unthinkable just a year or two ago — early engagement, muscular multilateralism, even patient negotiation — are becoming more acceptable in Bushland.