A THEOCON, NOT A NEOCON (profanity alert):

Well after his son had left office, 41 observed that "Cheney had his own empire and marched to his own drummer." If so, it wasn't something 41 addressed with his son during his administration. Any feelings 41 had about the matter were outweighed by his confidence in his son and his inherent optimism that everything would turn out all right. He "didn't worry" about Cheney's influence on 43's presidency, he said in 2013. "It's true," Barbara Bush confirmed in the same interview, "he didn't worry about that. He had great faith in George." Instead, 41 used whatever sway he had with his son to gently question Cheney's recommendations, not Cheney himself.

"I never talked to him about it," Cheney reflected. "He never expressed views of it one way or the other. I've assumed that 41 and 43 talked about it, but I wasn't there. ... He didn't come in and say, 'Dick, you need to do X or Y.' That just wasn't his style." Tellingly, though, 41 said in a 2006 interview that he and Cheney "used to be close," while he remained more closely connected to other alumni in his administration who were then serving 43.

Barbara Bush was more vocal in her criticisms of Cheney, citing her belief that he had changed discernibly between her husband's administration and her son's due to the heart attacks he had suffered. "I think his heart operation made a difference," she maintained, indicating that her view was largely influenced by Baker and Scowcroft. "I always liked him, but I didn't like him so much for a while because I thought he hurt George. ... I think he pushed things a little too far right."

The president was aware of his parents' wariness of the influence of Cheney and the neocons on him. "I'm confident they concerned Dad and Mother," he said, believing that they, in turn, were influenced by the "inside-the-Beltway chatterers" he grew to disdain. Forty-three was appalled by his mother's privately stated belief that he was "unduly influenced" by the neocons "clearly steering him to the right." "Surely, you've got more confidence in your son that I would make up my own mind," he told her on more than one occasion. "If you don't agree with it, it's one thing, but I'm plenty capable of making my own decisions."

Barbara recalled her son's admonishment. "Mom, when you're criticizing someone in my administration, you're criticizing me," he had said. Afterward, she kept her doubts to herself.

Mom, when you're criticizing someone in my administration, you're criticizing me," Bush said. Afterward, she kept her doubts to herself.

Forty-three was incredulous that anyone--let alone his mother-- would believe that he wasn't the one calling the shots of his presidency. "I hear the voices and I read the front page and I hear the speculation," an exasperated Bush said in mid-April 2006, as Washington buzzed that he should replace Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. "But I'm the decider, and I decide what's best." As he put it six years after he left office, "The fact that there was any doubt in anyone's mind about who the president was blows my mind," adding that Cheney and Rumsfeld "didn't make one f[***]ing decision."

Still, why hadn't 43 further sought his father's advice on Iraq?

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