Biden, Cheney Trade Punches

The current vice president and his predecessor are snarling fiercely at each other all over the Sunday talk show dial. Topic: Which administration is waging a better war on terror. Joe Biden kicked off the fireworks last night, telling Meet the Press in a taped interview that Dick Cheney in his criticism of the Obama administration is "either misinformed or misinforming" and "trying to re-write history." While Bush officials "did their best," Biden dismissed that as inferior to his boss' efforts.

Cheney responded on This Week, taking aim at Biden's earlier claim that Iraq would be one of Obama's success stories and calling the credit grab "a little strange." Further, Biden is "dead wrong" in his assertion that a 9/11-scale attack is unlikely, calling such an attack “the biggest strategic threat” America faces. Further, the current White House erred in taking enhanced interrogation off the table, the former veep says—an option it should have had in dealing with the would-be Christmas bomber. Speaking of waterboarding, Biden got the last word in an aggressive takedown this morning on Face the Nation: “Thank God the last administration didn’t listen to him at the end.” (More Dick Cheney stories.)