Hunting Accident Exposes White House Tensions

Evidently, the White House is not one big, happy family. VP Cheney's staff failed to communicate with the President's staff, hanging Scott McClellan out to dry and leaving egos bruised.
From today's New York Times:

The tension between President Bush's staff and Mr. Cheney's has been palpable, with White House officials whispering to reporters about how they tried to handle the news of the shooting differently...[the] message was clear: There was a procedure for conveying this kind of news, and it was not followed in this case.

What's most interesting is how this has exposed the VP's autonomy within the administration, even on the level of policy issues such as national security. Again, the Times:

In the past five years, Mr. Cheney has grown accustomed to having a power center of his own, with his own miniature version of a national security council staff. It conducts policy debates that often happen parallel those among Mr. Bush's staff.

While the "power behind the throne" or puppet-master jokes have long been a standby of the anti-Bush crowd, it is interesting to see the basis of those fears laid so bare, as they were by this event.