Cheney v. Obama

Now, out of office, he’s the most public. In attack mode. Going after the Obama administration on national security. Aggressively defending coercive interrogation. Insisting it wasn’t torture. Suggesting that if it was, it was necessary.

He told Face the Nation's Bob Schieffer this past Sunday: "If I don’t speak out, then where do we find ourselves? Then the critics have free run, and there isn’t anybody there on the other side, to tell the truth." You can almost hear the former vice president saying, “The truth? You can’t handle the truth!”

As Republicans work to find a post-Bush/Cheney public image, and Obama works to make a new way, Cheney’s out there fighting for his legacy and his view of the world.

This hour, On Point: Dick Cheney, out of office and on the warpath.

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Guests:

From Washington we're joined by Bart Gellman, diplomatic and Pentagon correspondent for The Washington Post. He is author of "Angler: The Dick Cheney Vice Presidency."

Joining us from New York is Jane Mayer, staff writer for The New Yorker, where she writes on politics and the war on terror. She is author of "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals."

And from Great Falls, Va., we're joined by Mona Charen. She's a nationally syndicated columnist and author of "Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First" and "Do-Gooders: How Liberals Harm Those They Claim to Help — and the Rest of Us."