Former US president George W. Bush once considered replacing vice president Dick Cheney, viewed as the "Darth Vader of the administration," Mr Bush says in a revealing memoir in which he also admits mistakes on Iraq and Katrina.
Mr Bush's book, Decision Points, is full of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details of eight eventful years that began with the September 11th, 2001, attacks and ended with an economic meltdown in which he "felt like the captain of a sinking ship".
Mr Bush wrote of many errors involving the Iraq campaign and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction there, despite numerous intelligence reports pointing to their existence. "No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do," Mr Bush writes.
The book includes the revelation that the controversial Mr Cheney had volunteered to step down in 2003 so Mr Bush could pick someone else as his 2004 campaign running mate. The former president wrote he considered the offer, writing that while Mr Cheney "helped with important parts of our base, he had become a lightning rod for criticism from the media and the left".
While Mr Bush did not like Mr Cheney's image as described by critics, accepting his resignation offer would help "demonstrate that I was in charge", he writes.
"While Dick helped with important parts of our base, he had become a lightning rod for criticism from the media and the left. He was seen as dark and heartless - the Darth Vader of the administration. The president resented the caricature that Mr Cheney really controlled the White House. Accepting Dick's offer would be one way to demonstrate that I was in charge," the New York Times quoted his memoir as saying.
Mr Bush said he talked to aides about asking Republican Senator Bill Frist to run with him instead of Mr Cheney, but ultimately stuck with his vice president because he valued his steady hand.
Mr Bush, blamed by many Americans for a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said his initial mistake was failing to communicate his concern for the storm's victims, many of whom were black. He said he should not have done an Air Force One flyover of New Orleans while much of the city was under water.
Accusations from critics that he was a racist because of the response to Katrina was the "worst moment" of his presidency. "I feel the same way today," he wrote.
Mr Bush (64) has largely remained out of sight and kept his opinions to himself since leaving Washington for Texas in early 2009. His job approval ratings at the end of his term were in the 30 per cent range.
While his book clearly is an effort to boost his image, he believes it will be decades before a judgment on his presidency can be rendered. "Whatever the verdict on my presidency, I'm comfortable with the fact that I won't be around to hear it," he writes in the book.
Mr Bush offers no judgment on his successor Barack Obama, who repeatedly attacked his economic policies on the campaign trail this year.
But he rejects accusations, which he said have come for years from both Democrats and Republicans, that he "squandered" the budget surplus left to him by his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton when he took office in 2001.
While avoiding a lot of score-settling typical of Washington memoirs, the former president singles out for criticism Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid for a comment Mr Reid made in 2007 that the Iraq war "is lost, the surge is not accomplishing anything".
"It was one of the most irresponsible acts I witnessed in my eight years in Washington," Mr Bush writes.
The book, to be officially released on November 9th, describes a youthful reliance on alcohol, a drunken escapade at a Willie Nelson concert and a boozy question to a woman at a dinner with his parents: "So what is sex like after 50?"
Years later when he turned 50, the woman returned the favour with a note: "Well, George, how is it?"
Reuters