love dick cheney. whether or not president bush or a bush loyalist returns fire and turns this exchange of fire into a full-blown political war remains to be seen, but it is now quite clear that dick cheney's role in our politics now, the mission of the most prominent republican in the country is to defend, for lack of a better construct, the cheney legacy. the legacy he's defended against democrats, republicans, and the other president in the cheney administration. take the issue of guantanamo, for example. this is president bush's take on guantanamo in june of 2006. >> i'd like to close guantanamo. no question guantanamo sends a signal to some of our friends, provides an excuse, for example, to say the united states is not upholding the values that it encourages other countries to adhere to. >> i'd like to close guantanamo. vice president cheney was in favor of keeping it open. june, 2005. should guantanamo bay's detention center be shut down and the detainees moved elsewhere? mr. cheney, no. because

chris: a cheney white house. >> yes, there was a cheney white house and the bush white house. the cheney white house was substantially in control and only after his presidency is george w. bush trying to get his presidency back. and kudos to "time" for being there and helping examine that process because george w. bush is trying to show that he had independence from a guy that we all know really was running things. chris: wow. you guys -- we're coming this from washington. dick cheney is a presence in this city now. george bush has left. he's gone back to texas to write his memoires. dick cheney has unusually for a vice president stuck around. he's playing rear guard. >> i think in a sense both bush and cheney are thinking about their legacies and the history writing that east taking place right now. and they're aiming for somewhat different histories to be written. and that's what's going to be the fascinating thing to study and to have a better understanding of that period in our history. chris: this the ladder days, the president dodged the question of scooter libby. he nev

we're talking about the book that dick cheney and daughter liz cheney are trying to write. again, char hooe, you acknowledge this is complete garbage. >> it is. complete nonsense. >> what's the political benefit for liz cheney. everybody is ridiculing the gop. >> everyone? >> everyone who has an independent thinking mind says this is crazy. >> and, of course, there's never been a political advantage taken by anyone who -- you do not underestimate it. you do not underestimate american people. i'm telling you there's not a substantial political advantage but there is an advantage within the kind of festival of this stuff that is the moderate republican party. >> appealing to 10% of the republic out there that's crazy enough to believe anything. esquire and author of "idiot america." appreciate it. >> thanks, david. >> it will do it for this thursday edition of "countdown." catch me from 3:00 to 5:00 with my colleague tam run hall. but now to discuss the latest dispute between dick cheney and bush, here's rachel maddow. hey, rachael. >> that was enjoyable between you and mr. p

cheney. >> why? >> i think there were two reasons. i think the overarching reason is he just didn't want to admit that dick cheney and he were trying to dig up whatever they could find on joe wilson and it led to his wife to discredit joe -- >> this is going to help that movie a lot, your story, because if this opens up the whole wound again about scooter libby and we're reminded of this horrible story, how we get talked into the war with phony wmd, how they get upset by the fact that the cia was blaming them for the phony wmd, so they start blaming the cia, including valerie wilson of the cia. >> there's a question of possible legal liability. leaking valerie wilson's name was a possible federal offense. scooter libby had to worry about his role in that and had to worry about what dick cheney's role in that was, too. wasn't just covering up a political act. it was covering up a possible crime. so he took one not for the team. he took one for his leader, being cheney, not bush, and i think cheney is

liz cheney has zero credibility at this point. once again, here we have a righty playing on the fears and the emotions of the american people. and who really doesn't know what to make of all of this. let me ask you this. who doesn't want to take out al qaeda leaders? who doesn't want to fight terrorists? they're trying to make the case the democrats don't. this is about alleged law-breaking and secret government operations, and that has the attention of a few americans. joining me now is house intelligence committee chairman sylvester reyes. good to have you with us tonight. i want to know when these hearings are going to start. what wheels are in motion? i was told today by jan chakowski who sits on your committee you're already collecting documents from the cia and the bush administration. give us an update. what's going on here? >> well, first of all, we haven't made a decision yet. we're in the early stages of gathering documentations. we sent a letter to director panetta, who by the way has been very cooperative in this whole

. >>> dick cheney's got a secret.ssination squad kept from congress because it failed, utterly. but cia officials tell "time" magazine it might have been another illegal use of the agency to spy on americans. what the hell, this is dick cheney, you're probably both right. >> the american people need to understand the very serious and grave damage this is doing to our intelligence ability. >> but you are liz and dick cheney, you don't have any intelligence ability. >>> sarah palin of "the washington post." an op-ed on cap and trade. is this the higher calling serving alaskans, shilling for big oil? >>> and is america crawling with cat people, stinking with centaurs? fortunately, senator sam brownback has introduced the human/animal prohibition act of 2009, to ban the animal of human-animal hybrids. those part-human, part-animal creatures which are created in laboratories that blur the line between species. is this a huge problem? was the island dr. marow and nobody freaking told me? >> lab-grown man-goat robert bore. >

it's going on as long as cheney keeps it going. >> cheney is fighting his own battles, bush has unnamedr bush officials fighting in his name. >> what happened here was a deniability strategy. they talk tlud all the key issues and bush unleashed his cheney. i don't want to know the details, i want to know the top line. then bush becomes deniable if there is an emergency of transparency. that is the model here. to sever basic issues of accountability that the president is supposed to be constrained by. >> but to have dick cheney explicitly attacking the president for not pardoning scooter libby, closing guantanamo, torture regime, why is cheney overtly attacking bush now? >> cheney thinks he was right and that bush peeled back the extra legal stuff and cheney says, i'm right, you are wrong. the legacy of this period, the war on terror era, it's my legacy. i was driving the ship. my idea, mr. president, that's cheney's view, were the right ideas. the ones history will affirm is right. at this point you've got, i think, open warfare. a lot of this bush assort of the propitious constitutiona

nobody seems to be able to get a hold of cheney. liz, his daughter -- >> cheney? it's very odd that this week after all the speaking out he was doing weeks ago and months ago defending himself, defending bush administration policies, he's been completely silent. >> where does he hide? >> at an undisclosed location. >> it's not funny at some point. the man is -- well, he's impenetrable. i think history will decide some big things about this guy. as well as scooter. who, by the way, i wish he'd write a book. i'd love to hear his chief of staff tell the whole story. i don't think the guy was out doing stuff on his own. i don't think scooter libby was a renegade. anyway. mike isikoff, thank you. lawrence o'donnell. >>> up next, we've heard judge sotomayor and her senate questioners for two days now. but what are they really saying? the associated press has ton something wonderful. they've actually translated what we're watching during these hearings, those of us who have been watching them, and told us what they really were saying. what they really meant. it's great.

ththeyerere iefing cheney -- >> who saiaid ?? who o to t the ciaiao o ta orde from t thigugu >> well, youounonow >>ususa minute. ron. c cney -- >> t theacact it's juststhehe w this president, prprident bush, structureded h white house. cia would brief ththe esesidt and d e e vi president and then thvice president would esntntlly take over. he wououlde e ere for the daily opoperional briefs -- >> what does this all sasay ouou bu being the decider if f isis gudededes what congress knowows ababt t coterterrorism? >> there wasas aararty of areas that i have writteten ououand others have as well thatat t presididenesesseially says, just ke sure it gets done and i i don'n'wawanto know any more and ck will handle it fromom he.e. this is ononofof tse areas. so the president i in sese o emergegenccacabe deniable about some of f esese ings that we're doing that h he vever the united states never r shldld essentntlllly ke responsibility for. that was the way t thisysyem wowork.. is this runaway govererenent what is this?? erere'no constitut

informed cheney and he refused to accept the decision.l weekend before inauguration, libby himself made a plea to white house lawyers and on the day before inauguration, bush again told cheney he wouldn't pardon libby. >> i'm curious overall, do these men have respect for each other during those final days in office? >> there was an effort on all sides, between the two men and among the top staffers, to try and preserve the relationship. by all accounts, that was successful. they're friends now and have respect for each other and remained respectful of each other then. >> one part of the story, the president's passing boxes while sharing a cigar. quote, if the presidential staff were polled, the result would be 100-1 against the pardon, bush joked. then turned to sharpe, what's the bottom line here. did this guy lie or not? the lawyer replied, affirmati affirmatively. bush indicated he had already come to that conclusion, too. okay, bush said. 100-1 against the vice president's decision. in other words, most of the white house did seem to

. >>> just when you thought dick cheney couldn't shock you anymore, we learned that he pushed george w. bush to illegally order u.s. troops to enter a u.s. city to arrest half a dozen terror suspects. forget the constitution. dick's justification? what else? johnny yu told me i could. >>> finally tonight the rise and fall of an alaskan maverick. >> every day was just a blast. >> a look back at one of the more bizarre political careers in american history. all that and more now on "countdown." >> only dead fish go with the flow. >>> good evening from new york. i'm lawrence o'donnell. keith olbermann has the night off. this time last year there was speculation that senator john mccain might be on the verge of announcing that he had selected a popular republican governor as his running mate. no, not that republican governor. the governor in question was actually tim pawlenty of minnesota. instead, in our fifth story on the "countdown" senator mccain was actually weeks away from even starting to vet the woman who would join his ticket at the last minute, the once obscure sarah palin, no

>> cheney? it's very odd that this week after all the speaking out he was doing weeks ago and months ago defending himself, defending bush administration policies, he's been completely silent. >> where does he hide? >> at an undisclosed location. >> it's not funny at some point. i think history will decide some big things about this guy. as well as scooter. i wish he'd write a book. i'd love to hear his chief of staff tell the whole story. i don't think scooter libby was a renegade. mike isikoff, thank you. lawrence o'donnell. >>> up next, we've heard judge sotomayor and her senate questions for two days. but what are they really saying? the associated press has actually translated what we've been hearing during these hearings and told us what they really meant. it's great. it's on the "sideshow" coming up right here on msnbc's "hardball." (woman) need to sell? re/max agents have the experience to get the job done. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. where do you want to be? that can take

and later dick cheney wanting to use u.s. troops on u.s. soil to arrest terror suspects. details ahead on "countdown." of all the things made for women... maybe one of the most important... >>> the controversy over the arrest of professor henry lewis gates lingers, in part because it begs for an opinion from each and every one of us. full disclosure. i was arrested for disorderly conduct by boston police a long time ago. as in the gates case the charges had to be dropped immediately because i had done nothing to provoke the arrest. i then sued the police in federal court for false arrest and civil rights violations. i won, including attorneys fees. so in our fourth story on the "countdown", as a republican congressman goes to the ridiculous extreme and formally calls on president obama to formally apologize, as the two principals prepare to meet with the president, and as the 911 call just released proves that all kinds of last week's assumptions were just that, assumptions, let's consider president obama's original remarks. though not the most clever politics in the coun

cheney's actions are a matter of interpretation of the law. was the omission vital to national security or not? my good friend and loyal viewer, mike, says obama gets hit in the polls and the subject once more reverts to dick cheney. obama's lackeys are nauseatingly predictable. fun word to say. b.b. bruce says sometimes stuff that is top secret needs to be kept secret. sometimes it's not good for congress to know everything. finally, i doubt anyone is really surprised that cheney is behind cia stuff but dems need to get some spine and prosecute him. there you go. >>> judge sotomayor, we will inquire as to how your philosophy which allows subjectiveity in the courtroom, affects your decision making. >> well, there you go. republicans today going after her but many of them saying i'm going to hear you out. supreme court nominee sotomayor, grilled during her confirmation hearings. we will examine with cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin, who calls today the super bowl, the super bowl for legal geeks. we'll be right back. >>> let me ask you a questi

according to former intelligence officials sang bush and cheney didn'tupport a proposal to send teams of cia and special forces after al qaedthe way israel gothe terrorists who attacked the municolympics. on march3th, 2002, six months, two days after 9/11, mr. bush himsf said publicly of bin laden, quote, i truly am not that conrned about him. tonight's fifth ory, mr. cheneyow reduced to defending their toughness by sending his daughter out to defend the spinning that "wall reet journal" story as will dissect presently, to suggest i somehoreveals democratic weakness on national security. cheney forced to py fense now with the weeke's revelation that it was he who ordered the cia not comply with the laws requiring full intebriefings for congressional leads, followed quickly by today's "wall seet journal" story tt what mr. cheney concealed from congress were the failed attempts to me up with cia plans for tting al eda, a story that raises a ho of questions. concerng the congressional leaders had alrey en briefed abt the president's 2001 rective ordering the capture and killing of al qae

that cheney cacan gi o oers to ththe a? >> i havavtoto s i'm not susurprid.d.ron has w wrienen, i wrote in the book with mikike isofof-- again anand aiain >> you guyuyarare iting books afteththfact. it d didt t dos much good at the time. >> i'm'm sor.. a lot of repeporrsrs we asleep t thewitch back then. the cia servrv t theresident. ththe prididt says, hey, this is my guyuygogo see him -- >>>> do u u ow if he ever told th t tt? >> i donon't kw w he said that. but there's a way inin bureaucracy -- y you kw w w wainingt works better than anyone else. if the president sends a a sigl, you deal witith ckck othis -- >>>>anan y imagine lyndon jojoson calling the cia anand telling them what t d do? it's unimaginanable. depends how you strucucrere t -- >> s spi a agn calling the cia. name a vicice prididt in history ththat wldldave given an order to the cia. >>hehenteresting thing aboutut the story so farars s th even democrats on the hililhahaveaid that thehere'sototecessarily anything that t s s wrg with whatat theiaiaas trying to do. we canan't bsusu because we don'

and later dick cheney wanting to use u.s. troops on u.s. soil to arrest terror suspects.ails ahead on "countdown." i go down to the pool for a swim... get out and dance... even play a little hide-n-seek. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd... which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i take it every day. it keeps my airways open... to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announcer: spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, or have vision changes or eye pain. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine or an enlarged prostate, as these may worsen with spiriva. also discuss the medicines you take, even eye drops. side effects may include dry mouth, constipation and trouble passing urine. every day could be a good day to breathe better. announcer: ask your doctor >>> the controversy over

the argument that dick cheney would make is we are getting hit begin not because we did not tortured because we are being too soft on these terrorists. >> right, and that is the argument they are trying to make, and i think it is not fair because the reason we were attacked in the first place had nothing to do with being soft on people. it was because there was an intelligence failure. the fbi and cia stop talking to each other and dropped the ball. if you talk to experts, they will say this issue of supposedly being tough, using tough methods just hurt more than a help. you get that information, you start to hurt the reputation of america around the world, you make our enemies angry to the point that they are radicalized against us, and this is what all the military leaders have said, is what the fbi says. really, the only people who are still fighting for to be able to use torture or the people who use them before, people like dick cheney. i have to wonder if he is fighting for america where he is fighting for his own reputation. tavis: both probably? >> i think so. tavis: how are

did dick cheney break the law by keeping a cia plan secret from congress? the name is pronounced cheeney. we'll talk about whether should be an investigation into his actions. i'd like to see the use of the subpoena power by the congress. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. you have questions. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that's why we brought together two of the most powerful names in the industry. introducing morgan stanley smith barney. here to rethink wealth management. here to answer... your questions. morgan stanley smith barney. a new wealth management firm with over 130 years of experience. >> what lessons can president obama learn from jimmy carter's malaise speech which he gave 30 years ago tonight? "hardball" returns after this. women who drink crystal light drink 20% more water. crystal light. make a delicious change. has the fastest hands boxing has ever seen. so i've come to this ring to see who'

cheney orred the cia to defy intel laws maating congressional briefings. onunnamed bush ficial telling drea mitchell t adminition did not tell congress aut the cia efforts because, quote, congress didn't ask. mr.cheney, himself, dking comment all ekend allowing s daughter the polil appointee at state to fight for him in an interview wi the conservative "washington times" claiming without any factual bas whatsoeverhat democrats object to getting al qaeda ratr than in facthat they object being kept in the da about plans to get al qaeda or, more accurately, the bush-cheney failure to make a plan to get qaeda. >> there's this big piece in "theall street journal" this morning that says that iwas a number of diffent conceptsor wa we could capture or kill al qaeda leaders in the days after 9/11. now, i really surprised that the democrdecide th'shat ey want to fight over. if they want to go to the american peoe and say that they disagreed with the notion we oht to be capturing and killingal qaeda lders, you know, i think it just going to prove to the american peop

cheney is not talking. members of congress,owever, are. >> to ve a massive program th is concealed from the leaders in congress is not onl inappropriate, it could be illegal. >> i think this is a probl, obviy. iss a big problem, because the law is verclear. we were kept in the dark. that's something thashould neve er happen again. >> senators durbinnd feinstein of course arboth democrats. senator feinstein the chr of the inlligence committee. acss the aisle from them the reaction from republicans been rather more subdued. >> this of course comes onhe heels of the stament unproven by the way of speaker pelo that t cia had lied to her about enhanced introgation techniques, and this looks tme suspicioly like an attempt to provide political cover her and others look, thpresident and the vice president arthe two people who have rponsibilities ultimately foe national security of the country. it is not out of the ordinar for the vice president to be volved in an issue like this. >> buto order it to be kept secret?

tried and failed to get president bush to pardon cheney's former chief of staff, scooter libby. staff thought might be engaging in a cover-up, came close to crossing the line with mr. bush. we'll dig into the details in a moment. >>> plus, more on those republicans, the so-called birthers who insist in the face of all the evidence that barack obama isn't an american. one of the most prominent of them g. gordon liddy of watergate and radio talk show fame joins us later to explain what's behind this fringe unit and why he's a part of it. >>> sticking with birthers for a moment, jon stewart had the best take on why this movement is insanity, and we'll have it in the "sideshow." >>> back to last night, why did the president call a primetime news conference about health care if he had nothing new to say on the matter? we'll ask chuck todd whether last night was a lost

they would love to put dick cheney in jail. they will settle for blowing up the american intelligence committee. >> let me try to disagree. i doubt it was that organized. i do think a lot of people,. a lot of people have been saying presidents have been have done this before. and we were trying to kill fidel by blowing up cigars. panetaf finds out about it, he briefed congress. i'm not sure i buy this scenario that it's all about nancy pelosi. cheney pushed the c.i.a. and its proven. >> paneta did not do anything devious. he heard about it. it was the democrats that leaked that to one, take attention away from pelosi around also eric helder can move forward prosecution about bush era crimes. so the press write about these the tortured eric holder, on the other hand, president obama wants to look forward and not backward. so it's the opportunity to look both ways. we're going to have an investigation, mark my word. >>> judy is shaking her head. let me read a quote about how leaks happen when it comes to national security. here i

>> divisive cheney rhetoric that country had enough of.ur presidential election. i do think that we went through a period of real hysteria where everything was held in tight. everybody was panicked. we're coming out of that period. and so i like the idea of panetta looking at this, deciding he doesn't want to do it. but thinking he ought to brief congress about it. what i don't like, chris, is congress treating this as a gotcha. they've been looking for evidence that the cia is lying to the country. >> who's doing this? >> i'm told that when panetta went up to brief congress on this program that he had just found out about it and decided he didn't want to do it and briefing them immediately. i'm told by people close to panetta the reaction of some house democrats was we have vindication for what the speaker said. now we go out and show them. >> because nancy pelosi said she's been lied to by the cia. >> lied to by the cia. i think that's really the problem here. somehow we got to stop treating the cia as a political football. >> you're say

it is not surprising to me about dick cheney. you have this guy steve about two months back reporting that the cia was carrying out the death squad overseas. this is not a surprise. many people call and want to hear what they want to hear. i have international news at my house. you can see on different programs, a lot of things that americans would not believe. that is what i have to say. have a nice day. host: we appreciate your column. we'll take a short time out and then spend the next hour on the supreme court nomination. we will hear from either sides of the nomination with our guest. plus, more of your calls. ♪ >> on sunday, on president harry truman and his position to recognize the state of israel. >> no one knew until may 14 what truman would do at the press conference. but he had already decided and told only height and staff, said that he was going to support the jewish state at its creation. that is sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. you can also listen on cspan radio and by satellite radio and online to the broadcast. >> l

it is being alleged dick cheney actually informed the c.i.a. not to inform congress about the secret counterterrorism program. we do not know what this program was. we do though in: it did not have to do with enhanced interrogation, it did not have to do with the wiretapping, the domestic -- the pelosi stuff which was back and forth also. >> it is not those particular issues. >> the c.i.a..or at the time said the reason he didn't inform congress it had not developed to the point he says they believed it merited a congressional briefing. >> that's a key point. this program never did develop and that's a good point. >> michael hayden went on to say one of the points that i had in every one of the briefings was to make sure they understood the scope of our activity, referring to congress. they've got to this this is bigger than a bread box i've said. addressing this one of the officials who worked closely with michael hayden. hayden hasn't responded in this particular story but one of the officials close to michael hayden said he has never held an

cheney, as we know, is towards secrecy. that might explain why he felt it had to be overtly kept from congress? >> absolutely. and that's not an uncommon thing, either, as i said, but it's the president that normally directs and it the president who takes the fall. >> i suppose it's immaterial in 1974, president ford issued that executive order banning assassinations by the cia. >> i'm sorry, but predators have been assassinating people under cia and military guise for some time now. >> it's always both good and tremendously alarming to talk to you, retired army colonel, lawrence wilkerson, chief of staff to secretary of state colin powell during the first term of the bush administration, thank you so much for your time tonight, sir. >> thank you, rachel. >>> let's say you're a politician and it became public that your parents paid off your mistress to the tune of $96,000. most people might resign from office at that point. nevada senator john ensign, not most people. we'll have more on that in a moment. (announcer) it's ap

daughter liz cheney.nd also, i think we ought to raise a big question as to whether it was a plan or program or effort because that seems to be in dispute as well. it seems to get brushed off as a program and there are many high level officials that dispute that. >> the op ed which was a re-education or reminder about the importance of accurate education on the u.s. role in the end of the cold war. >> southwest airlines inspecting hundreds of jets after a hole in a plane's fuselage forced an emergency landing last night. the 737 lost cabin pressure, it is not clear what caused the damage but the airline says today's schedule will likely not be affected. tom costello will join us with more details in a few moments. following the speedy reorganizations of gm and chrysler. the head of the auto task force is stepping down to return to private life. this comes amid an investigation of an alleged kickback scheme at his former investment firm. authoritieses have said he is unlikely to face charges. >> bernie mad

thatat cheney can givive orderso the cia? >> i have to say i'm nott rprised. as r ronasas written,n, a i wk o the book whike ikoko -- >> youou guys are writingooooks after ththfat. it didn't't d us ch good at t te time. >>'m sorry. lolot reporters were asep t thewitch at that te.e. the ciaa s sers the president. the president says,, he this is mymyuyuy - >> do you knowow ihehever told th that? >>>> d don know if he side ththt but there's a a w way in burereauacac-- you knowow h washingtononororks better t tn anyone lse. if the preresintntends aignal, you deal with dick - >> nn you imagagee lindeden zwronson callili t cicia teining em what to do? it's uninimananabl >> depenen how you structurere the -- >> spiroro agnew -- name aicic president t inisisto that would ve given an order t the a. >>>>hehe ieresting thing about the story soso f is that even democrats onon the h hi have sa atat tre's notececsarily ytythi that was wrrgg with what the cia wasrying t o.o. we can'te sure b beuse we dodot have the dails buteere we have chhen oncegain owowg his utterer disre

the one which cia director panetta pulled t brakehis spring then ldongress dick cheney order the cia to not tell cgress for eight years. s that because the plan was too much or too little? special prosecut. thwords are whispers of the attorney general, mr. lder. an actual criminal invgation toorture? e sotomayor hearings. invitati to an anti-climax. as sator graham says to her, unless youave a complete meltdown you're gointoet confirme and the sarah con woman chronicles she's going to start herwn coervative party with democrats. plus li hnson is now talking about her, quote, stress levels. all that and more now on "countdown." >>> good evening from new yo. the me bush-cheney administration which failed heed warngs from its own cialans from al qaeda, itself, that fled to prevent the wot attack on u.s. soil, that failed to get the perpetrators of at attack is also we learned today thsame administra which failed to come up with a single viable plan for the cia to capture or kill members of al qaeda, spite running an eight-year long mission so secret theice president ordered e cia to not

i think it's cheney's fault.with that, that the democrats are abusing the cia the way cheney was. >> absolutely. it's their turn. they control the committees. they leak information. they're mad at the cia. sometimes justifiably, but the point is rather than taking thing out on this white house or the last, they're taking it out on the cia. it's an easy target and it's a target that cannot defend itself. >> and i believe that men and women who go behind the enemy lines and risk their lives every second of their lives for this country and get no credit because they can't be identified deserve better treatment than this. the vice president will we'll continue to talk about until he comes on this program and explains himself. david and bob, thank you. >>> up next, remember how john mccain spent his presidential campaign talking up this fellow whose name isn't actually joe and his job isn't actually the plumber, but they call him joe the plumber. mccain's daughter has some choice words for joe and that's coming in the

cheney. the cia director leon panetta has informed lawmakers about cheney's role and his program. efforts to contact the former vice president for reaction so far have been unsuccessful. nasa will try to launch the shuttle again tonight. but only if the shuttle's electrical system checks out and the weather cooperates. last night's launch was scrubbed after several lightning strikes near the launch pad. if the mission gets the thumbs up, liftoff is set for 7:13 p.m. eastern later tonight. those are the headlines on "state of the union." >>> after a week of international travel, president obama and his family arrived back at the white house just after midnight before he left his final stop in ghana, he sat down with anderson cooper for an exclusive interview. you can see, by the way, the full interview tomorrow monday night on "ac 360." the number one topic, as it was for most of us, the u.s. economy. >> vice president biden said you misread the economy. you said no, no, no, we had

people called him cheney's alter ego or cheney's cheney. and he had, of course, become entangled in the controversy and eventual investigation over the leaking of the identity of a covert c.i.a. officer in the period right after the beginning of the war in iraq. host: what eventually happened to scooter libby? guest: scooter libby was convicted march 6, 2007, after a lengthy investigation of two counts of false statements, one of perjury, and more importantly of obstruction of justice. in the leak investigation. he was not convicted of being the leaker, the person who leaked valerie plame's identity to the media, but of obstructing the investigation into that leak. he fought that verdict for a few months, but eventually faced jail time. at that point president bush stepped in and commuted his sentence but left the conviction and some of the other penalties in place. host: which goes to the genesis, the main crux, of your article as far as what happened in the final days of what the vice president wanted from the president. guest: that's rig

it began with cheney working for rumsfeld. in the end cheney was vice president and rumsfeld was secretary of defense. did the relationship change? who was the senior partner? >> that's a very difficult relationship to penetrate. >> rose: don't they have houses now out on chesapeake bay next to each other? >> oh, they do and there was a lot of contact throughout that period. but if there were differences between them, they managed to keep them really pretty much known only to the two of them. snoo soup what does he say when you talk to them? does he have any regrets? does he have any guilt? >> he's struggling. he is still struggling with all of that. on the question of regrets, which i pressed him on in my final interview, he wanted to dismiss the question. he said "that's a favorite press question." and i think in part he isn't sure himself what to think of everything that happened to him. he's writing his own memoir, it's going to take him another year or more. >> rose: but he had to give you the outline of the defense he's

efforts to contact cheney for reaction have been unsuccessful. at least so far. confirmation hearings for the supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor kick off tomorrow morning in washington. they will push back against republican opponents who paint her as an activist judge. if confirmed, she would be the first lutina on the high court. right here our special coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning. all of that and more coming up on "state of the union." >>> you're looking at live pictures of the u.s. capital, a beautiful sunday here in the nation's capital. tomorrow the hearings will begin and the confirmation hearings for sonia sotomayor. history will unfold. welcome back to "state of the union." let's talk about that and more with our senior analyst jeff toobin and senior political correspondent candy crowley. they'll all be here with me tomorrow getting ready to assess what's going on on these hearings. here are some poll numbers, jeff. let me start with you. we asked in a cnn opinion research corporation poll, should the senate confirm sotomayor

we want to know whether vice president cheney ordered the cia to withhold something from congress. what are they basing that on? >> well, they're basing it on a number of reports, david, that leon panetta, the director of the cia under president obama, actually came forward to the intelligence committees and said that there were plans in the works that never materialized for this secret program and that dick cheney said that he did not want congress to be briefed on it. now, of course, congress in this perennial tug of war between the administration and congress over intelligence wants to explore this and find out, hey, where exactly was this program going and why wasn't congress informed? >> i guess the thing we have to be clear about is that if this was such a great program, you would think there would be nothing wrong with telling congress and the fact of the matter is whether it was a good program, one that started or one that did not start, the law is pretty clear. they have to keep congress informed of what they're doing, right? >> not just what they're doing, but what they p

again, goodman, swarnar and cheney who were brutally murdered in mississippi. old were you when these murders took place? >> i was about 9 years old at that time. tavis: you were born and raised in philadelphia, yes? >> born and raised in philadelphia. tavis: so what do you recall -- or do you recall being 9 years old when these murders took place and what do you recall about the years shortly thereafter? >> my parents pretty much kept us aware of what was going on. the voter movement was taking place. they was talking about people coming to help register people to vote, the planned activity was fairly -- fairly open at that time. and i can remember one particular time during that season of laying on the floor with my father, with him having the gun, just because we were told that maybe the klan would be riding through the community. you know, that's such a contrast to where we are today in philadelphia, mississippi. i owe who i am and what i am and the accomplishments that we have accomplished from those guys who lost their lives to come to philadelphia. i wil