so reports barton gellman of the washingt"washington post," our guest tonight.ohn dean on why cheney may be admitting he ran the bush administration. and bush v. gore. publicly addressed by the secretary of state in nigeria. >> in 2000, our presidential election came down to one state where the brother of the man running for president was the governor of the state. so we have our problems too. >> and worsts. limbaugh whines he was compared to nazis and then a moment later compares his critics to nazis. all that and more now on "countdown." >> what must your mind-set be to believe that? >>> good evening from new york. at some point in the future you or a loved one will be dying. you'll want to know all the options and their implications. but thanks to the republican party today, sarah palin, senator chuck grassley, and others, thanks to them, if you cannot afford to have your doctor at your side for those questions, you will face death on your own. our fifth story tonight, how sarah palin's functional illiteracy and a senator's dysfunctional pandering just killed

joining us from new york is barton gellman. thank you for being with us. how did this story come about? guest: i was wondering about dick cheney, and i guess it is kind of a obsession for me now that i have written a book on him. my question for him is that what is he putting in his memoir because he is sort of the anti- memoir guy, and he has spoken out for years about the inside cover sessions and then -- host: let me read an excerpt from the piece that you wrote yesterday, that " when the president made decisions that i did not agree with, i still supported him and did not go out and undercut him. now we are talking about after we have left office. i have strong feelings about what happened and i do not have any reason not to forthrightly express those views." guest: exactly, and the views are turning out to be somewhat of what we expected and somewhat otherwise. we knew he did not agree with all of bush's policy in the second term. by the end of the presidency, bush was walking away from secret prisons from a policy of complete isolation against iran a

national reporter and author of angler of the cheney vice presidency, in paperback later this month, barton gellman. is there far more to it than that. >> sure. cheney's not so much about keeping score or taking credit. hay is a guy that cares about outcomes. let's assume the universe in which cheney appeared on your show. he would say to you don't you acknowledge that there is a possibility that terrorists will acquire nuclear weapons and no hesitation in using them. once you can see that -- what wouldn't you take the gloves off for if it wasn't for that? where would -- where would you not say you -- use harsh interrogation measures on terrorists or look for a way to topple the regimes in iran and north korea? he thought he had george bush convinced of this. and bush walked away from it in the second term. it gets more personal than that, however, because cheney is saying bush did so for the wrong reasons. when he describes bush as caring too much about public opinions, that's a cardinal sin in cheney's world. people who seek after popularity, who -- change their mind in response to polls, show re

host: we're talking with barton gellman, a reporter for "the washington post." "some old associates see cheney's new-found openness as a breach of principle. robert barnett, who negotiated cheney past book contract, passed word that the member would be packed with news, that the statute of limitations has expired on many of his secrets." what secrets do you think he is going to reveal? guest: i think fundamentally he is talking about the nature of the internal deliberations. he has always said that you cannot get candid advice as the president because everybody is worried that the competition will be talked about later. that seems to be what he plans to do. the thing about dick cheney is that he is so focused most of all on the here and now, that the country is turning away from his views and that is a huge mistake, a danger, and he knows how to protect us. he is prepared to explain why, but his views on why they were retreated from. host: i would like you to go back to the summer of 2004 because in july and early august, there has been a >> live coverage. >> ge