The Rogue Vice-President

Cheney backs his flunky, Edelman, in accusing the senator from New York of aiding the enemy. In so doing, he expressly undercuts defense secretary Bob Gates. The president has open warfare - again! - within his administration. And Cheney is the outlier. Here's the Clinton camp's response:

Let’s recap: Senator Clinton asked a simple yet serious question regarding the contingency planning for the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq. In response, she was politically attacked by Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman who impugned her patriotism and suggested that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies. To clarify the Under Secretary’s remarks, Defense Secretary Robert Gates took a conciliatory tone and told Senator Clinton that he regretted that “this important discussion went astray” and reaffirmed Congress’s role in overseeing the administration. Earlier today, however, Vice President Dick Cheney said he agreed with Under Secretary Edelman, not Secretary Gates, and called the Under Secretary’s political attack a “good letter.” It seems the right hand doesn’t know what the far-right hand is doing. Senator Clinton calls on President Bush to set the record straight.

It's time for Clinton to ask the president whose side of this debate he's on.