Cheney To Rahm: "Keep Your VP Under Control"

CNN reports on a private meeting organized by White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, where 13 of his predecessors offered future Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel some bipartisan advice.

Vice President Dick Cheney had some blunt -- and humorous -- advice for incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel at a private breakfast earlier this month, CNN has learned.

"The best thing you can do is keep your VP under control," Cheney told Emanuel, according to three sources familiar with the White House meeting that had previously not been disclosed publicly.

One of the sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the private meeting, said the room broke up in laughter because of Cheney's reputation for being a hard-charging vice president.

Politico gives the full list of attendees: Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (Ford), Jack Watson (Carter), Howard Baker and Kenneth Duberstein (Reagan) John Sununu and Samuel Skinner (Bush 41), Mack McLarty, Leon Panetta, Erskine Bowles and John Podesta (Clinton) and Andy Card and Bolten (Bush).

Emanuel got tips on how to preserve his family life; was urged to keep in mind that the most important word in his title is "staff"; pushed to hire only the best and then give them Sundays off when possible; and reminded to be candid with the president (something, one former top aide said, would not be a problem with the outspoken and sometimes-profane Emanuel)

He might have been a former top aide himself in the Clinton administration, but Emanuel took "copious notes" the whole time, one participant recalled.

"There was a lot of camaraderie," recalled Emanuel. "This is a shared experience of just about a dozen people, and it was touching that Josh pulled it together and that so many could attend and wish me luck."

Comments

[lawgrrl]

How can anyone, (Cheney doesn't suprise me), but how can anyone find this funny! That SOB is responsible for 4,000 plus deaths and the countless maimed, injured, psychologically damaged soldiers and their families that have been pushed to their limits. How dare they?

[Deadmoose]

Cheney needs to write a book.

[alienufo]

so we can burn it.

[2008CaliforniaFan]

I'm guessing Cheney said it with the same kind of smirk on his face as that on Madoff's face yesterday.­.?
The 3 Stooges-Bush, Cheney ,Rove.... just another 'poke in the eye'

"The best thing you can do is keep your VP under control," Cheney told Emanuel,

John Stossel's line comes to mind... "Give me a break!!"

[MinasTirith]

Do describe Cheney as 'Hard Charging' is to describe a volcano as 'warm to the touch'.

He was / is, a criminal. Hard Charging seems to imply that he's really a good guy who just has too much gumption.

[MikePatronSaintofTruth]

Under Bush/Cheney the US military dropped white phosphorous on innocent Iraqis in Fallujah in 2005.... literally chemically melting hundreds of innocent civilians to death. And at the Huffington Post there's joking and hilarity about Bush/Cheney. Just goes to show that the US is done as a world power. I travel around the world regularly and people IN ALL COUNTRIES just can't believe how callous and evil-hearted Americans have become.

[tyger]

It was a boastful joke from Cheney, but it's also a smack to many America's faces. Cheney was VP in name only, he really was the president and vice versa for Bush. Unlike Bush, Biden works for an intelligent thoughtful boss. Cheney and Rove were Bush's brain and conscience, that's why he seemed so out of touch. If not rich and a President, W would have been a serious criminal.

[KatDawgATL]

That's rich.

[MAragon]

You said it! The Cajones of some people.

[CherryIce1988]

Rahm don't trust him, its a trap!

[bluekatz]

More like Ra.hm should not be trusted either. His agenda is IS.RAEL, since he has dual citizenship! So who is Ra.hm loyal too? A meeting of the JUUWS!

[NYCIC]

Cheney. Smirking til the end. Jail this fiend. If Carl Levin has his way that may happen.

[Nomccain]

Who gives a rats A-- what Cheney thinks about anything. He's irrelevant for the first time in a long time and his popularity ranks right there with Bush's. This jerk should be prosecuted for the things he's done as VP and spend some time in Prison t hinking about it and the constitution.

[4peace]

Actually cheney and bush should both be spending the rest of their miserable lives in prison for the death and destruction they've caused. I wonder why our government officials - so called "public servants' don't have to obey the law yet the average citizen is subjected to a harshed criminal "justice" system. Seriously, we have 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world's prisoners. With privately owned and operated, for profit, prisons there is every incentive to lock up innocent people or those guilty of petty crimes. Couldn't they take just a few hundred more, starting with the current occupant of the white house and work on down the line to VP and congress? Most of them are guilty as sin.

[jimbeaux1961]

Another sickening irony; Cheney himself has investments in For-Profit prisons.

[magen]

Biden should kick Cheney's @$$.

[panurse]

Dick is one

[SparkyDash]

Good one, Megan, but I think Joe actually did that at least once already, during the VP debate.
Joe on fire:

"Dick Cheney was the most dangerous VP in US history."

and with a beautiful smile...

oh, SNAP!

[cae]

It's something to consider--Cheney's an expert on all the bad things that can if the VP's not "under control".

[Nicolaus]

But this a serious advice.
It is most likely that Mr. Emanuel will want to divert foreign policy to meet his avowed objectives, particularly in the Middle East.

The warning is a clear message from Cheney and the Neo-Cons to the new administration to forget about the US national interests - security and otherwise - and maintain the current self-destructive effort in various parts of the world, particularly the Middle East...

[cubs325]

wow...you hit the nail right on the head...our current policies in the middle east have been great for this country and have made the world so much safer for all of us -

NOT

please spew your hatred somewhere else

[SparkyDash]

Even if Cheney's advice was worth anything, I have my doubts that Rahm could rein in our next Vice President: Joe Biden is a delightful force of nature, and a fresh breath of political air. He and Obama have already set roles in agreement. Love that Joe Biden...di­tto Barack Obama ;-)

[BobSF94117]

People who are familiar with canine behavior will recognize this "joke" as Cheney's way of marking territory and letting everyone in the room know that, among former Chiefs of Staff, he's the only one who's actually run a country.

[digdeeper]

Good one bob. send him on the next moon trip

[panurse]

to the great state of Alaska!!!!!

[lungfish]

Cheney To Rahm: "Keep Your VP Under Control"

Lungfish to Congress regarding Cheney: "Git a Rope."

[gcallaghan]

I second