Bush considered taking Cheney off ticket in 2004

WASHINGTON – Former President George W. Bush says in his new memoir that he considered running for re-election in 2004 without Dick Cheney as his vice presidential candidate. After much thought, he ultimately decided to keep Cheney on the ticket.

Bush said he wanted to put an end to assertions by critics that Cheney was the real decision-maker and to “demonstrate that I was in charge.”

He writes that he spent weeks exploring the possibility of replacing Cheney with Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, who was Senate majority leader. But he says he valued the qualities Cheney brought to their partnership and finally decided to stick with his vice president.

The former president makes the revelation in “Decision Points,” which is due in bookstores on Tuesday. The New York Times obtained an advance copy and reported on the book on its website Tuesday night.

The book is not a conventional memoir, but rather a reflection by Bush on important decisions and moments in his life, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq. But it is traditional in the sense that Bush defends his presidency, including his decisions to lead a multinational coalition into war in Iraq and to authorize the use of harsh interrogation techniques on captured terrorist suspects.

Bush also expresses regret for his sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for agreeing to reduce troop levels in Iraq after the initial invasion in 2003 and for nominating his friend, attorney Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court.

He writes about having “a sickening feeling” upon learning there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and says “cutting troop levels too quickly was the most important failure of execution in the war.”