Former Cheney staffer from Utah talks about VP's new book


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SALT LAKE CITY -- Former vice president Dick Cheney is out with his memoir, and it settles some scores. At the very least it is designed to leave behind his version of events for history.

Cheney's latest book, "In My Time," is his take on his years as Vice President to George W. Bush, and he caused a stir by saying "heads would explode in Washington," when the book hit the shelves.

But to American Fork native Anne Marie Gunther, that's because Dick Cheney is "candid," not because he's controversial.

Gunther remembers the personal side of the former vice president. At the White House, she was a scheduler for both Cheney and his wife Lynne, and she recalls a family man who was also as tough as nails.

"He doesn't care about public opinion, necessarily. He does what he feels is the right thing for the right reason, regardless of the ramifications or the way the straw polls go," said Gunther.

Cheney recently gave NBC's Matt Lauer a matter-of-fact support of waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique.

When it comes to defending the decision to invade Iraq: the former Vice President is adamant: the U.S. did the right thing.

Cheney recently gave NBC's Matt Lauer a matter-of-fact support of waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique.
Cheney recently gave NBC's Matt Lauer a matter-of-fact support of waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique.

"I don't think that it damaged our reputation around the world," Cheney has said. "I just don't believe that. I think the critics at home want to argue that. In fact, I think it was sound policy."

That is the Dick Cheney familiar to most. To Gunther, there was more.

"First and foremost, he was a grandfather," Gunther said. "And he took that very seriously. And I think that's how he made his decisions as Vice President … ‘how is this going to affect future generations?'"

The book is critical of of former Secretaries of State Colin Powell, and Condoleeza Rice. In response, Powell went so far as to call parts of the book 'cheap shots'.

Does the book support the idea that Cheney was the 'heavy' from the Bush administration? "This book kind of calls that into question," Said Kirk Jowers, of the Hinkley Institute of Politics. "Because it seems like he's not so willing to be the bad cop all the time."

At this point, Gunther talks only occasionally to the Cheney family. But she witnessed a side of the former Vice President that the American public didn't often get to see.

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