"He was justifiably lionized," Joe Klein, columnist for TIME Magazine, said. "And he just died for God sakes. I think, you know, the bad stuff was mentioned, it wasn't dwelt upon, although there were some conservative commentators who did."
Watch: More on covering Kennedy
(CNN) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the Justice Department's decision to review waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques is politically motivated.
Cheney said he opposes the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to ask a former prosecutor to review CIA interrogations of high-profile terrorism suspects.
Cheney made clear he believes President Obama directed Holder to launch the review because the president is feeling pressure from left-wing Democrats. Cheney said the review will undermine the willingness of CIA personnel to conduct necessary operations.
"I think it's a terrible decision," Cheney said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's clearly a political move. There's no other rationale for why they're doing this."
He criticized Obama for allowing a review considering the president previously said that CIA operatives involved in the interrogations would not be prosecuted. "I think he's trying to duck responsibility for what's going on here, and I think it's wrong," Cheney said.
Updated: 2:43 p.m.
“I would tend not to,” Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union when asked whether she would support a public health insurance option included in health care reform bills passed by committees in the House of Representatives. “But, we’ve got to keep working to find solutions,” Landrieu added.
“There are some portions of our health care system that are working, but it’s all too expensive.”
The Democrat told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King she thinks costs could be contained without the inclusion of a public health insurance option. She said she supports an alternative proposal co-sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, that focuses on “providing insurance through the free marketplace with the right regulations and safeguards.”
Landrieu also told King “it would be very difficult” for her to support a health care reform bill that allowed taxpayer-funded abortions even though “general insurance policies now – subsidized through the government by the tax code – allow women to make those choices right now, again, within the confines of the Constitution.”
Because of her moderate to conservative views, Landrieu has become a target of some Senate Republicans hoping to win her vote on any health care reform bill presented to the full Senate later this year. On Friday, two Senate Republicans, who are also both medical doctors, paid a visit to Landrieu’s state to discuss health care reform.
(CNN) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he was "probably" the strongest advocate in the Bush administration of a military strike against Iran's nuclear program.
Cheney told FOX News Sunday in an interview conducted Friday that he believed the military threat was crucial to negotiations with Iran on ending its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.
"I was probably a bigger advocate of military action than any of my colleagues," Cheney said. "I think it was very important that the military option be on the table. I felt that negotiations couldn't possibly succeed unless the Iranians believed the military option was on the table."
Asked if he opposed former President George W. Bush's decision to enter negotiations with Iran and European nations on the issue, Cheney said he would discuss the matter further in an upcoming book on his life.
However, he said a recent Washington Post story that reported he will criticize Bush in his book was wrong.
"We had policy differences, no question about that," Cheney said. "But to say that I was disappointed with the president isn't the way it ought to be phrased."
When asked again if he believed that Bush went "soft" in his second term, as reported in the Washington Post story, Cheney replied: "No, I'm not going to speculate on it. I'm going to write a book that lays out my view of what we did."
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A close personal friend of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy said Sunday that the Massachusetts lawmaker’s death ought to act as an inspiration for Democrats and the entire Senate to set aside partisan differences and pass health care legislation.
“We ought to sit down together and work it out and go through this” Connecticut Democrat Sen. Christopher Dodd said on CNN’s State of the Union a day after Kennedy’s funeral. “That’s what we do in the Senate. That’s how things move forward. . . . The country cannot afford this any longer. We need to have a health care plan in this country that’s accessible, affordable, and quality. And how we get there is the challenge before us. And we must meet that challenge. ”
Pointing out that Kennedy introduced his first piece of health care reform legislation roughly 40 years ago, Dodd also said that his friend would be “terribly disappointed” if partisan politics dominated the debate over fixing the nation’s health care system.
“He expected more of us and I think we can meet that expectation and I’m confident we can,” Dodd told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King.
Related video: 'What would Teddy do?'
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, also a close friend of Kennedy’s, suggested that the partisan gulf between the two parties on health care may be too wide to bridge.
Getting a bill passed is “going to take a lot of work,” Hatch said Sunday. The Republican also said it was “crazy” to try to squeeze money out of the Medicare program in order to help fund broader health care reform including a hotly contested public health insurance option.
“Is there any chance – despite the passing of your friend – is there any chance that a bill with a public option is going to pass the United States Senate?,” CNN Chief National Correspondent John King asked Hatch Sunday on State of the Union.
“I really don’t think so,” Hatch bluntly replied.
The Utah Republican noted that health care accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy and that the country faces projections of mounting budget deficits in the next decade.
“Our senior citizens are scared to death,” Hatch said.
One of Kennedy's Democratic colleagues, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, suggested on the same program that a public health insurance option was one way to introduce competition into the insurance market.
A public option “is a very key component” to controlling costs, said Cantwell.
Cantwell also said the status quo was unsustainable because of the rate at which health care costs have been increasing.
“Doing nothing and thinking that we’re going to get out of this expense is not really an option,” the Democrat said.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Bipartisan support may have faded further from reality Saturday when the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee condemned Democratic health care proposals which he said would “make our nation’s finances sicker.”
In the GOP’s weekly radio and Internet address, Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyoming, said that a comprehensive health care reform bill should decrease costs and be deficit-neutral. He said that the Democratic bills put forth “fail to meet these standards.”
Democrats have proposed some cuts to Medicare which would be used to cover uninsured Americans. Enzi accused Democrats of “raid[ing] Medicare” and said “savings from Medicare should only be used to strengthen Medicare.”
“These bills would expand comparative effectiveness research that would be used to limit or deny care based on age or disability of patients,” Enzi said.
Enzi also said that his colleagues in the Senate have put forth amendments that would “protect Americans by prohibiting the rationing of their health care.” He continued, “The Democrats showed their true intent by voting every amendment down.”
After making clear Republicans’ dismay with Democratic proposals, Enzi urged President Obama and Democrats in Congress to “reject the go-it-alone path that they are currently on.”
(CNN) - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest Saturday after a procession through Washington that included a stop at the U.S. Capitol. Thousands lined the streets as his hearse passed by toward Arlington National Cemetery, which is across the Potomac River in Virginia.
Earlier in the day at the funeral in Boston, President Obama eulogized him as "a champion for those who had none."
A large crowd that had assembled at the steps and across the street from the Capitol applauded as the hearse carrying the flag-draped coffin pulled up, and family members emerged to greet members of Kennedy's staff and congressional colleagues.
Among them were the longest-serving senator, 91-year-old Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who has been out of the spotlight lately because of deteriorating health.
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More photos of the funeral service after the jump:
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