Barack Obama's affable veep-to-be (in just 4 days, yippee!) says he won't be another Dick Cheney when he gets to the White House.
Mr Biden told The New York Times that he would "restore the balance" of the vice-presidency by returning to the days when the second-most powerful person in America was neither seen nor heard. He used his first newspaper interview since the election to accuse Vice-President Dick Cheney of extending the office out of all proportion.
The Dickster, unable to blow off Joe Biden's face, blasted back anyway:
Mr Cheney also mocked Mr Biden for saying he does not intend to have his own "shadow government" in the White House. He said it was up to Mr Biden to decide if he wants "to diminish the office of vice-president". There was more scorn in the ultra-conservative Weekly Standard magazine which said recently that "it may be fair to assume that Biden will be the least consequential vice-president since Alben Barkley", a dimly remembered No 2 to Harry Truman.
Mr Cheney's efforts to airbrush his dark record in office have been called dishonest. This has been well-chronicled by investigative journalists and authors who have pointed to his hidden role in the Bush administration's most fateful choices in war: shifting the focus from al-Qa'ida to Iraq, promoting torture and allowing US intelligence services to spy on US citizens at home.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/preparing-for-power-biden-limbers-up-for-office-with-scathing-cheney-attack-1380410.html
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