belongs here. in this office. i accept it. >> sean: the question now is, will attorney general holder heed his warning? we will be following the latest developments as the story continues to unfold. we'll bring them to you right here on hannity. thank you for being with us. have a great night. >> you asked cheney to pick you up at dulles. >> first thing did. >> to secretary of defense. >> he didn't want to have bush's hand tied. >> one of the most controversial vice presidents in history. >> it made him look in arrogant. >> man as you have never seen him before. >> i quickly concluded it was a train wreck. >> the clashes. >> if that happens again somebody has to resign. >> wars. >> the vice president asked

are you going to take care of this guy or not? >> yeah. >> the fight for america's future. >> he is so radical, so far over to the left. >> barack obama will be a one term president. >> from washington, d.c., here's bret baier. >> bret: the story of former vice president cheney is one of the most fascinating in modern american politics. he came to washington in the late 60s without a well formed ideology. he left 40 years later, as one of the most uncompromising conservatives in the nation. he's someone as comfortable alone for hours in a river fishing, as he is in washington's high tension power plays. he suffered multiple heart attacks. that never slowed his career. he's a behind the scenes player who became as much as anyone, the public face of the bush administration's most explosive controversys.

on august 30th, cheney will be back in the news when he releases his memoir. the book will cover four decades in public service. i've spent a lot of time with him over the last decade when he became as often said the most powerful vice president in history. >> i believe you are looking at the next vice president of the united states. >> he said i found my running e going to be a surprise to everybody. >> i picked him because he is president of the united states. this man is a congressman, chief of staff to a president, secretary of defense. >> i'm proud to announce that dick cheney, a man of great integrity, sound judgment and experience, as my choice to be the next vice president of the united states. >> bret: dick cheney served under president george w. bush and his father. in congress, in the reagan and

carter years and before that, under presidents ford and nixon. to really understand him, you have to go back much further. richard bruce cheney was born in lincoln, nebraska, january 30th, 1941. though he was to become one of america's best known conservatives it was hardly destiny. >> i grew up in a democratic family. my grandfather was ecstatic when i was born on fdr's birthday. my dad was a career civil servant. worked for the u.s. department of agriculture. >> bret: in 1954 the cheney family moved to casper, wyoming. >> last house on the east edge of town, 50 miles across the prairie to the next town. just a defense of openness and space. it becomes part of you. >> we grew up in this amazingly optimistic setting. you had a feeling that things would be brighter tomorrow.

>> bret: cheney's high school sweetheart, lynn vincent. how did you meet? >> in junior high. i knew who she was, she didn't know who i was. >> he was new in town. >> she was the star of the class, brightest student, head baton twirler and so forth. i got up the nerve to ask her out. >> i said you're kidding. >> she did. eventually we worked it out. >> bret: a natural leader, hard worker and strong athlete many young cheney showed promise and received a scholarship to yale. >> it was a class of cultures. i think he liked the intellectual stimulation that yale provided. in other ways it was so different from what he had seen and experienced as a child in nebraska and wyoming. >> bret: hayes wrote a biography in 2007. >> he focused on the social aspects in addition to studies. >> bret: hard partying and

weak grids cost him his scholarship. he flunked out, not once, but twice. an event that would never seem to escape him. >> now we know, if you graduate from yale you become president. if you dropout, you get to be vice president. >> when he returned to wyoming he spent time stringing up powerlines. it was a very tough job. he traveled from rural town to rural town. at one point lived in a tent for a while in the back of some guy's pick-up truck. >> bret: for a young man who not so long ago had unlimited prospects this gave him plenty of time to think. and plenty of time to drink. >> it caught up with cheney when he was arrested for drunk driving. actually twice. and i was a moment where he had to decide what direction his wife was going to go in. >> bret: some men dig a hole

for themselves and never manage to climb out. as he sat in jail 223-year-old dick cheney -- 22-year-old dick cheney resolved to turn his life around. he couldn't see where he would end up in a little more than a decade. in the white house. chief of staff to the president of the united states. dick cheney's amazing rise, when we return. [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ] we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

in one place. ♪ the race of your life you never ran. the trip around the world you never took. the best-selling novel you never wrote. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event, with exceptional values on the lexus es. but only until september 6th. see your lexus dealer. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that.

[ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. we know how to tighten our purse strings. sugar salmon flakes! sorrbuddy. even with bath tissue. that's why i buy new charmin basic. it's very reasonably price and it holdsp so much better than the leading competitive brand. new charmin basic has a duraflex texture... that's soft and durable. plus, it's two times stronger when wet versus the leading competitive brand. new charmin basic works for my bottom line. and my bottom. we all go. why not enjoy the go with new charmin basic?

>> bret: it was 1963, dick cheney a 22-year-old college drop-out with two dwi's had few prospects. even his girlfriend lynn threatened to dump him, unless he shaped up. cheney stopped his hard partying and applied to the university of wyoming. he earned a bachelor's and masters in political science. those academic credentials

didn't mean he had a well formed political philosophy. the future vice president was less of a staunch conservative than a blank slate. >> my first political job was intern in the wyoming state senate. there were two of us were internships the other guy was an active and rabid young democrat. mule coloration the republicans were willing to take me. that was the beginning. >> >> bret: lynn was willing to take him as well. they married in 1964 and had two daughters elizabeth and mary. cheney went on to start work on a ph.d at the university of wisconsin. during the 60s, while vietnam raged, he received five draft deferments something later detractors were quick to note. in school his academic

research focused on the mechanics of elections and voting patterns. he also began thinkinging about the proper role of government as well. >> i worked for the governor of wisconsin. my exposure to misguided attempts of government to do good things that's what really got me started thinking in terms of what government's role ought to be. >> bret: in 1968 he moved his family to washington, d.c.. >> i won a congressional fellowship to spend a year on the hill. through that process two hooked up with a guy named don rumsfeld. >> bret: he was then a 36-year-old representative from illinois. the job offer didn't come for another nine months. when rumsfeld left congress to run the office of economic opportunity or oeo for president nixon. i was the beginning of a decade's long political partnership. in 1971, rumsfeld, a stalwart advocate of free market

economics was tasked with running a program he opposed the nixon administration's wage and price control program. cheney went with him. >> you could not substitute successfully, the decision-making processes of a few bureaucrats and office holders in washington for the genius of americans all over the country. >> bret: in 1972 cheney left the administration to join a consulting firm. rumsfeld moved to brussels as ambassador to nato. soon after the nixon administration imploded. neither cheney nor rumsfeld were tainted by the watergate scandal. when nixon resigned ford called rumsfeld back to washington. you asked cheney to pick up at dulles. >> that's the first thing i did. he met me at the airport. >> bret: that had to be an interesting radio ride? >> i was. >> he asked me if i could get

free of my job for a few weeks and help out. i said sure, why not. >> we rode back into the white house. the president had been president for less than an hour. >> bret: ford asked rumsfeld to run the transition. later appointed him chief of staff. cheney was his deputy. one night in a washington restaurant, came his next big lesson in economics. a former yale classmate, economist famously sketched what would be known as the laffer curve on a dinner napkin. >> a couple of times we invited guests and he invited cheney. >> they were trying to explain how you could raise more revenue if you cut rates. laffer whipped out a white linen napkin, a good high quality napkin. laid it out on the table andrew out the curve. in a black sharpie kind of pen

that he used. and i'm told that's the first time the laffer curve was drawn or describe today in that fashion. >> it is absolutely brilliant. the truth is zero tax rate you get zero revenues. 100% tax rate you also get zorro revenues somewhere in that curve you can optimize revenue without dissuading and discouraging entrepreneurial activity and investment in the kinds of things that create the jobs and products for this wonderful country. >> i blame a believer. you fast forward in 2003 we cut the capital gains rate, rate on interest across the board cuts on the income tax and passed by -- this is 30 years later. >> bret: 14 months into the ford administration, cheney got a huge promotion. ford moved rumsfeld to defense secretary, elevated cheney to his chief of staff.

>> i feel a certain pride in america myself. >> bret: cheney was only 34-years-old. >> that the nation is able to find and identify a man like gerald ford. >> bret: do you think you had the experience to do that job, at that time? >> i was so busy i didn't have time to worry about it. >> i had a very positive view of cheney in those years. >> bret: kissinger said the man who would become known for his strong views on america's place in the world had little to say on such matters in the ford administration i am >> i don't remember any interaction with cheney on foreign policy. i thought he was a helpful facilitator. >> bret: the is. gave cheney the code name -- the secret service gave cheney the code name, backseat. ford made him campaign manager. they would not beat carter.

after ford loses to carter, the rumsfelds go on vacation with the cheneys. >> right. >> bret: what did you talk about there? >> both of us were unemployed. we went down and played a little tennis and sat in the sun and talked about the future. i was clear that dick was thinking about going back to wyoming and interesting himself in politics. >> bret: cheney did go back to wyoming and ran for congress in 1978. in that first campaign, cheney a 37-year-old, three pack a day man with a family history of coronary disease suffered his first heart attack. >> having had a mild heart attack, led me to pause and reflect. upon reflection we decided we didn't want to continue the campaign. >> his wife stood in to enable cheney to take time off to get better and return to the campaign trail and win a congressional seat. >> bret: cheney would be

reelected six times. in congress he had two more heart attacks. in 1984 and '88. they wouldn't stop his rise. he became minority whip, the second in command among house republicans. though he was a leader in the legislative branch, he remained a forceful supporter of executive power. speaking out in favor of ronald reagan during the iran contra scandal. >> i think what the president was guilty of was making unwise decisions sending arms to iran. i think he had the legal authority to do that and seek funds from third countries to support contrast. he had the legal authority to withhold notification from congress. >> bret: back then cheney was one of the most popular republicans with the media in 1989 president george h.w. bush asked him to before in the executive branch as secretary of defense. >> i was the special assistant of soviet affairs.

i remember then secretary of defense cheney was someone who was able to debate and talk with even somebody as junior as i was at that time. >> bret: when plans were made to repel saddam hussein's invasion of kuwait, cheney argued behind closed doors on behalf of a powerful presidency. >> he didn't want president bush to go to congress. he didn't want him to go the united nations either because he didn't want bush's hands tied. >> bret: bush did both and go their endorsements. >> seems there is only going to be one outcome, his defeat. >> bret: "desert storm" perhaps the most successful military operation in modern history. the coalition left saddam hussein in power, cheney defended that controversial decision. >> bottom line question for me was, how many an al americans lives is saddam hussein worth? -- how many additional american lives is saddam hussein worth? not very damn many.

>> bret: bush had sky high approval ratings following the gulf war. a sluggish economy made those numbers palm mit. bush's son thought he would have a better -- better chance against clinton if his dad changed the bottom of the ticket. you suggested to your dad that he replace quayle with cheney? >> i thought he needed to make a big change to change the dynamics of what looked like a very difficult campaign. one suggestion was maybe you ought to think about cheney. dad dismissed it out of hand. >> bret: george h.w. bush lost to bill clinton for the third time in cheney's career his boss was forced from office. what next? cheney was starting to see himself as presidential timber. that story, when we come back. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with the strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. you had me at♪ robiotic." ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can cot on. ♪ [ kate ] can't believe i have high blood pressure. what's that thing? another medication.

♪ i really should have taken my shoes off before i got weighed. [ female announcer ] you've got a lot on your mind. that's why every walgreens prescription goes through a 10 point safeguard check that reviews your current walgreens health record for allergies and potentially harmful drug interactions. [ kate ] i can do this. [ female announcer ] the 10 point safeguard check from walgreens. there's a way to stay well.

>> bret: by his early 50s cheney had a remarkable career run. nixon aide, ford chief of staff, congressman and george h.w. bush's defense secretary. in 1993, cheney was out of government. he joined a conservative think tank in washington, d.c.. cheney had bigger plans. to run for president himself. >> he was evaluating whether to run or not. he would go out and see people and give speeches and raise money. >> bret: cheney asked him to set up his political action committee. >> that keeps new the public eye and in good graces with others in the party. >> did 160 campaigns. concluded after that exercise that i was not going to be president. that i didn't want to do those things i would have to do to

be a candidate for it. >> bret: cheney left washington. moved to texas. and became very rich as ceo of the halliburton corporation. an oilfield services company and big government contractor. cheney pocketed more than 20 million dollars between 1995 and 2000 when texas governor and gop presidential nominee george w. bush called. he asked cheney to help him find a running mate. after an extensive search bush picked dick cheney. >> brings a lot of stature not only to the process, but judgment as well. >> bret: how concerned were you about the perception about getting some of your father's cabinet members and going back to his defense secretary? >> i wasn't that worried about following in daddy's footsteps syndrome. dick is a reluctant person which made him more attractive. >> he said he wanted me to be part of the team. he wanted me to be there to work with him on the issues of the day.

he has kept his word. >> bret: was there an earlier agreement this would be a different vice presidency? >> no. dick didn't expect one. the vice president is a key adviser. and what makes him different of course is he actually campaigned. no, no preconceived plan about his role. >> bret: the choice looked good when cheney performed well in national debates. >> i'm pleased to see dick from the newspapers that you are better off than you were eight years ago too. >> and i can tell you joe that the government had absolutely nothing to do with it. [ laughing ] >> i can see my wife and i think she is thinking i wish he would go out into the private sector. >> i'm going to try to help you do that joe. [ laughing ] >> bret: the election turned out too close to call. bush tapped cheney to run the transition in the event they won. it was during this time cheney suffered his fourth heart attack. it was a minor one.

but a bump in the road for an already tumultuous transition. bush and cheney had lost the popular vote but won the electoral college and the presidency. after the supreme court ruled in their favor in a series of decisions on the florida recounts. as the new administration settled in, cheney helped get his longtime friend and mentor donald rumsfeld, a job. his old position, secretary of defense. >> enormous surprise. i had no more idea of going back into government fulltime than the man in the moon. >> bret: january 2001, when you are sworn in, in the oval office with cheney again. did you look at each other and say here we go? >> he wrote it on a piece of paper. >> bret: there it is. r -- rummy, who would have thought. dick. 31 years later. he faced his first controversy.

>> cheney puts together a task force which included a lot of energy industry types. there were a series of lawsuits to have these records and the meetings paid public. cheney resisted. >> i've been around town for 34 years. time after time, administrations have traded away the authority of the president to do his job. we are not going to do that. >> bret: the issue went to court. atington now council to the vice president. >> we were -- counsel to the vice president. >> we were polite, no it is not your person how recommendations are formed and given to the president. we won that in court and they chose not to appeal. >> bret: politically, it was a minor scrape. it showed good or bad, cheney was not a man to give into public pressure. soon the white house and cheney would be tested as never before. now get an incredible offer

on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪ geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands ojobs. at our kearl project in canada,

we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for oucountry's energy security and our economy. ♪ i'm a speck of dustr oualone in the wire jungle. some dust rags say i'm unreachable, [ grunting ] but that's how i like it. unattached, free, indep... i've changed my mind. ♪ i believe in miracles [ female announcer ] swiffer attracts dust. new and improved swiffer dusters with dust lock adhesive picks up two times more dust than a dry dust rag and locks it away. you're very adventurous! [ female announcer ] swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning.

and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st.

>> reporter: i'm marianne rafferty. u.s. markets down again today ending a fourth straight week of losses on wall street. major indexes fluctuating throughout the day accelerating declines by the nasdaq sliding 1.6. u.s. recession fears and worry over the financial health of european banks blamed for the volatility. >> three arkansas men in prison since 1993 for the murders of three cub scouts the so-called west memphis three an tkwraoeg to a plea today. they were allowed to plead guilty to murdering the 8-year-old boys in exchange for time served. the deal ending a long running legal battle that raised questions about dna and key witnesses. i'm marianne rafferty. now back to fox news reporting: dick cheney revealed.

>> bret: welcome back. the 9/11 attacks chained the world. america's response to them would define the bush administration. if anyone was prepared for such a shattering crisis, it was dick cheney. >> i was in my office in the west wing in that first hour. radar caught sight of an airliner heading toward the white house. secret service agents came into my office and said we had to leave now. a few moments later, i found myself in a fortified white house command post somewhere down below. >> bret: president bush

>> bret: that flight was united 93. where a brave group of pants tried to take back the plane from the hijackers. it crashed near shanksville, pennsylvania. >> my wife lynn and i were put on the helicopter and flew up to camp david to spend the night. we flew over the pentagon. you could see that massive hole into was left after the airliner struck. those are images you will never forget. i'm not emotionless, as some people would allege. >> bret: as the reality of the attacks emerged the president and vice president agreed on one thing, this was war. and there was need for a strong response. >> regime that harbors or supports terrorists will be regarded as hostile to the united states.

>> bret: october 7th, the military launched operation indaughtering freedom, attacking al-qaeda and taliban in afghanistan. before the year was out taliban lost control of the country. the low-grade war would continue almost a decade and post a serious challenge to america's will. next the administration set its sights on iraq. where a dangerous foe was believed to be building weapons of mass destruction. harboring terrorists and violating u.n. sanctions. dick cheney became one of the administration's strongest advocates for the war. >> there is no doubt that saddam hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. there is no doubt that he is amazing them to use -- he is amassing them to use against our friends, allies and us. >> bret: radical turn from the first gulf war when he said we should not spill american blood to force saddam from power. what changed?

>> we were faced with a different situation. all of a sudden what was going on in that part of the world would impact home. >> bret: iraq, vice president cheney said he felt that you werezfz worrying too much about united nations approval. >> yes. >> bret: the vice president asked at one of your private lunches, are you going to take care of this guy or not? >> yeah. there was an impatience. i was doing everything i could to avoid the use of the military. >> bret: march 20th, 2003, the u.s. invaded iraq. three weeks into the war, saddam hussein fled baghdad. dramatic success on the battlefield kept the public behind bush's global war on terror. that included a host of nonmilitary measures to protect america from further terrorist attacks. eavesdropping on terrorist phone calls. tracking their money.

locking them up indefintely at guantanamo bay. using enhanced interrogation techniques to make them talk. it add up -- it added to an extraordinary an of presidential powers, aggressively pushed by cheney and his staff. >> the power to win a war, was not and is not an unusual view, cheney's view of the president. is it traditional view. >> it certainly has it limits. >> bret: one of the first major decisions to try foreign terror suspects in special military tribunals. a decision pushed by cheney, shared with few in the administration itch >> the military tribune thats were authorized by the president in an order -- in an order that i have not seen. went to the president and i said mr. president, if that happens again, somebody is going to have to resign. >> bret: nobody resigned. cheney's critics depicted him as a4ia÷ secretive schemer, usig the war as an excuse to shred the constitution.

to them his secret service code name, angler, was all too apt. you love fishing. they say you are the angler in more ways than one. is there some truth to that? >> well, the secret service came up with the code name. the code name i had in the ford administration was backseat. maybe i should go back to that one. >> bret: as the 2004 election approached cheney was willing to do more than take a backseat. he was willing to step aside for a new running mate. he offered to step down? >> he did. i was impressed that the vice president, during a lunch would say if you think you can strengthen the ticket, i will move on, no hard feelings. nobel gesture on his part. everybody's vice president ought to do that. >> bret: you gave it thought? >> absolutely. i decided it didn't make

sense. >> bret: cheney never became a campaign issue in 2004. his daughter mary did in a presidential debate. >> if were you to talk to dick cheney's daughter who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she is being who she was. >> bret: cheney was furious. >> you saw a man who will say and do anything in order to get elected. >> bret: in the end end voters stuck with bush and cheney over kerry and edwards. the second term would prove more difficult and divisive for the country. that story, after the break. i know you're worried about making your savis last

and having enough income when you retire. that's why i'm here -- to help come up with a plan and get you on the right path. i have more than a thousand fidelity experts working with me so that i can work one-on-one with you. it's your green line. but i'll be there every step of the way. call or come in and talk with us today.

[ grandpa ] relationships are the basis of everything. [ grandma ] relationships are life... if you don't have that thing that fills your heart and your soul, you're missing that part of your life that just fulfills you. ♪ [ male announcer ] for us at humana, relationships matter too. the better we know you, the better we can help you choose the right medicare plan. that's why humana agents sit down with you to figure out your medicare options. and we have nurses you can call anytime, even at 3 a.m. because when you're on the right humana medicare plan and taking good care of yourself, then you can be there for the people who matter most. [ grandma ] my family is my joy, my hope... they are my heart. it's the reason we get out of bed in the morning... [ grandpa ] the reason we fall into bed at night sometimes. [ grandma ] yes. that's right. [ male announcer ] humana.

>> . breath after 9/11 the global war on -- >> bret: after 9/11 the global war on terror almost completely occupied the military in thick of it as often as not, vice president dick cheney. >> either we are serious about fighting this war or we are not. >> bret: dick cheney never wavered in that view. >> we look forward to a renewal of the patriot act in 2006. that law has done what it was intended to do and this country cannot afford to be without its protections. >> bret: critics who portrayed cheney as cold and calculating had a field day a month later. on a hunting trip in texas he

accidentally shot a friend and did not alert the national media. >> you can't blame anybody else. i'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. >> bret: wittington suffered a mild heart attack after the shooting but recovered. the cracks about cheney and the dark side didn't stop. >> vice president's motorcade pulls into the capital and darth vader emerges. >> i asked lynn if deep down it bugs her that people have taken to calling me darth vader? she said not at all. it humanizes you. >> his seeming imperviousness that he didn't lead in public that made him look maybe arrogant, but it reflected his sense of duty and his sense that somebody had to be the lightning rod. before he became vice president he was

generally considered accessible, easy to deal with. >> bret: do you think you've changed since you've been in this administration? >> have i changed? i hear that from time to time from old friends that say, gee, what happened to the old dick cheney i used to know? people who don't walk in my shoes, don't sit down every morning and go through the intelligence reports, which i do. >> bret: you don't mind the characterization? >> i'm not here to polish my image by any means. i'm here to do a job. >> bret: that job was getting tougher everyday. bad enough that u.s. troops did not find weapons of mass destruction in iraq. even worse, a bloody terrorist insurgency began killing americans by the day. even one of cheney's old friends joined the ranks of his critics. >> i never suspected the occupies would be so incompetent. and i was dashed with that. and i couldn't stand the

thought that people are dying because of their incompetence. >> we've been coming out of the oval office one day cheney said there is only 800 days or something, joking that the administration had a couple years left is all. and i said for you, not me. >> bret: in november 2006, voters gave democrats control of the house of representatives for the first time in a dozen years. the next day, president bush fired rumsfeld. cheney strongly disagreed with the decision. bush asked him to deliver the news to his old friend any way. >> don was the toughest boss i ever had. the most demanding and the most commanding. i've never worked harder for as about and i never learned more from one. >> bret: even with rumsfeld gone, a growing color russ demanded america get out of the -- growing chorus demanded america get out of the car. almost 3 americans died in a rack. >> 6 in 10 feel it was a

mistake to go to war. >> we didn't get elected to be popular. our mission is to do everything we can to prevail in what is now we believe a global conflict, fundamental test of the character of the american people. whether or not we are going to prevail against one of the most evil opponents we've ever faced. >> bret: i guess the question most americans have is how much is enough? >> any casualty is regrettable. we need not to fold our tent and go home. go we do that we validate the strategy. >> bret: when the bipartisan iraq study group recommended a phased withdrawal in december 2006. cheney thought i was a horrible idea. he backed instead president bush's plan to send more troops to defeat the terrorists. and the surge worked. in bush's second term, cheney hardly won every argument. the administration began an policy of engagement, with

hostile rejeeps in north korean -- north koreaia and iran. cheney opposed that. condoleeza rice prevailed. >> vice president was clear he didn't agree with everything the president decided to do toward the end of the administration. >> bret: while cheney helped vet >> you additional an points president bush did not consult him on his ill-fated choice of harriet miers for the supreme court. >> that was pure george bush. i said, well okay. >> bret: the vice president's biggest disagreement with the president involved cheney's long time friend and chief of staff, scooter libby. libby got into big legal trouble over the leaked identity of cia agent valerie plame. libby was not the leaker, but got 2 1/2 years in prison for lying and obstructing a federal investigation. the president commuted libby's sentence in 2007. after the the 2008 election

the vice president pushed his boss to grant libby a full pardon. in one of their last meetings before president obama took office, president bush told cheney, he was letting the conviction stand. >> no question about it. it upset dick. and i was concerned that it would strain our relationship. i can tell you, i still know he thinks it is the wrong decision. >> bret: how do you see your relationship now? >> it is good. i consider him a close friend. and i'm glad i picked him in 2000. i'm grad i kept him on the ticket in 2004. -- and i would make the same decision again. >> bret: president bush largely stayed silent while president obama blamed his administration for the country's ills. dick cheney not so much. coming up, after the break. [ male announcer ] want to achieve more with your money?

pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and other financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you at pncvirtualwallet.com. ♪ pnc bank. for the achiever in you.

president by the time i took office we had a one year deficit of over one trillion dollars. >> bret: after he took office. >> the president: most of this the result of not paying for two wars. >> bret: president obama continued to use his predecessor as a opinion. ing bag. >> the president: they leave this big mess and suddenly, they are -- they are complaining about how fast we are cleaning it up. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. >> bret: george w. bush remained silent. >> the president: in some cases it led us to act contrary to our traditions and

ideals. >> bret: dick cheney did not. >> they've chosen a different path giving into the angry left. slandering people who did a hard job very well. all the zeal decked at the interrogations is misplaced. the white house must stop dithering while america's armed forces are in danger. >> bret: you were cheering on vice president cheney? >> you bet, finally. somebody spoke up and spoke the truth, absolutely. >> bret: were you surprised by how vigorous he was standing up for your administration? >> not really. he wasn't personal and he wasn't vicious. he was very dick cheneyesque, thoughtful, measured and logical. >> what the obama people are doing is saying we don't need those tough policies that we had. that says either they didn't work, which we know is not the case, they did work, they kept us safe for seven years. or now somehow the threat has

gone away. >> bret: as it turned out president obama has continued a number of bush-cheney policies that he criticized. he's kept the detention facility at guantanamo bay open. increased the up in of targeted assassinations of terrorists with drones. largely followed bush's post search strategy in iraq. he ordered a surge in afghanistan. he did set a date for a troop draw down in the same speech. cheney remains no big fan of president obama. as he told us in february 2010. >> i believe that based on what has happened in the last few months there's a good chance that barack obama will be a one-term president. >> bret: five days after this interview, cheney suffered his fifth heart attack. cheney had emergency surgery to install an artificial heart pump. it left him technically with no pulse. nine months later a skinnier and frail cheney remerged.

he and hises did are now considering a heart transplant. now 70-years-old, cheney is in a period of reflection as he finishes his memoir on his decades of public service. >> i've had a great tour out of the last 40 years most in government, politics. i've loved every minute of it. >> the vice president was someone in whom the president could trust to give him his best advice. to argue with people like me. and then when the president decided to -- [ inaudible ] >> bret: there are very few people who have the history that you two have. the pinnacle of u.s. power. you reflect on that when you get together? >> we don't. we talk about the future. we talk about the country. we talk about the world. he's a man who served his country noblely and did it

well. >> bret: today cheney is free to spend as much time as he wishes in the wilderness. the impact he has made on the country lasts. so does the debate over the policies he advocated and advanced. that debate is not likely to end soon. that's our program. that's our program. thanks for watching. closed captioned by closed captioning services, inc. walk into a bar. the fuel economist says, "i have an s.u.v. with a v-6 engine that can go up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas." the horsepower enthusiast says, "well, my s.u.v. has a v-6 engine with best-in-class towing and power." the punch line is they're both driving a dodge durango. the s.u.v. is back. right now, get $2,000 cash allowance or 0% apr financing on the 2011 dodge durango. [ whistle blows ] oh!

[ baby cryg ] ben harper: ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing ♪ slowly turned into a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that ds that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

for red lobster we can find. male announcer ] hurry into crabfest at red lobster and savor 3 crab entrees under $20 like our crab and seafood bake. or our snow crab and crab butter shrimp. my name's jon forsythe and i sea food differently. or our snow crab and crab butter shrimp. at exxon and mobil, our smart gasoline works at the molecular level to help remove deposits and clean up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, our gasolines help your engine run more smoothly. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. in one place. ♪ the front-row tickets you never bought.