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Former Vice President Dick Cheney again harshly criticized President Obama this morning, telling a conservative talk show host that the president's much-debated bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito was "fundamentally harmful" to the country and suggesting that Mr. Obama doesn't understand the negative impact of the time he has taken to craft a strategy going forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Weekly Standard reports that Cheney told Scott Hennen that the bow reflected the fact that Mr. Obama "doesn’t fully understand or have the same perception of the US role in the world that most Americans have."

Cheney also said the decision to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and other Guantanamo Bay detainees on trial in civilian court was a misguided effort at a "show trial" that will allow terrorists "to stand up and spread the terrible ideology that they adhere to."

And he again made the case that the president's "dithering" on what to do in Afghanistan and Pakistan is hurting the country.

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Vice President Joe Biden's popularity has fallen to its lowest point since the Democratic National Convention, a new Gallup poll finds.

There are nearly as many people with an unfavorable opinion of Biden, at 40 percent, as there are with a favorable opinion (42 percent). That makes Biden far less popular than the previous two vice presidents, Dick Cheney and Al Gore, during their respective first years in office.

Biden's favorability rating peaked in November of last year at 59 percent, the poll finds, and has steadily dropped since. While President Obama's popularity has declined over the course of the year as well, his favorability rating remains higher than Biden's at 55 percent, according to Gallup. On average this year, Biden's favorability rating has been close to 20 points lower than the president's.

By contrast, both Cheney and Gore in their first years as vice president held favorability ratings just a few points lower than President George W. Bush's and President Clinton's, respectively. On average, Cheney held a favorability rating of 65 percent in 2001, while Gore was popular among 55 percent of Americans in 1993.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton beats out both Biden and Mr. Obama with a recent favorability rating of 62 percent.

Updated 2:36 p.m. ET

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs this afternoon hit back hard at former Vice President Dick Cheney for his criticism of the current administration, arguing that Cheney "seems to have forgotten his role in the last seven years of Afghanistan."

He said criticism from Cheney, who argues that an Obama administration delay in making a decision on a strategy going forward in Afghanistan hurts American allies and helps American enemies, is "curious" in light of the fact that "the vice president was for seven years not focused on Afghanistan."

It's "even more curious given the fact that an increase in troops sat on desks in [the Bush] White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months, a resource request filled by President Obama in March," Gibbs continued.

"What Vice President Cheney calls 'dithering,' President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," said Gibbs. "I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."

Gibbs noted there were fewer troops in Afghanistan under the Bush administration and wondered why Cheney is pushing so hard for new troops now in light of the fact that the Bush administration "resist[ed] adding an additional 25,000 troops" while in power.

The former vice president's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Wednesday night, while accepting an award from a conservative national security group, Cheney said that "signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries" – a reference to the review process now being undertaken by the Obama administration to decide what to do in Afghanistan.

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Updated 5:39 p.m. ET

A former Congressman has joined with two retired generals and an Iraq war veteran in a push to pressure lawmakers to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility. The group is calling upon Congress to "ignore the scare tactics" of former vice president Dick Cheney, who they accuse of leading "a concerted right-wing smear campaign" against closure of the facility.

On Tuesday the group, called "The National Campaign to Close Guantanamo," released a 30-second ad which you can see at left. The spot will run on national television for a week at a cost of $100,000; it urges viewers to sign an open letter to Congress lobbying for the shutdown of the facility.

"President Obama said we should close it," a narrator says in the ad. "Colin Powell agrees. But Congress stands in the way, continuing to follow the failed Bush/Cheney policies."

President Obama promised to close the facility within a year of taking office, but there are questions about whether that deadline will be met amid opposition from lawmakers concerned about the transfer of detainees to prisons on U.S. soil. Though House Democrats recently blocked a Republican effort to outlaw the transfer of Gitmo detainees to the U.S., members of both parties, fearing political repercussions, have been skittish about detainees coming to their states and districts.

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A group of retired generals say that former Vice President Dick Cheney and his "acolytes," including daughter Liz Cheney (left), are trying to scare Americans over the prospect of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison facility through "nonsense" arguments, Politico reports.

"It's up to all of us to say these arguments advanced by Cheney and his acolytes are nonsense and that really what they're doing is undermining our national security by delaying the date at which Guantanamo is closed," retired Brig. Gen. James Cullen told Politico.

Added retired Gen. David Maddox: "Some of the fear issues that are being raised in this are really unfortunate. It gets people excited about things they shouldn't be excited about and impedes doing what is critical to this country…We take a setback every time somebody, whether it's the vice president or his daughter comes out and says the things that they say."

In June, Liz Cheney said on CNN that "it's clear that al-Quaeda operatives and terrorists have spent a lot of time and have expended a lot of effort to get into the United States. So I think it's impossible to argue that when our government actually helps them get into the United States, as we would do in this case, that it doesn't make us less safe. Of course that makes us less safe."

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First, the White House struck back at criticisms former Vice President Dick Cheney has lobbed at the Obama administration, and now the Democratic National Committee is having its say.

The DNC tomorrow is releasing a new television ad on cable stations nationwide that question the vice president's assertions on national security.

Cheney on Sunday called the Justice Department investigation into CIA interrogations an "outrageous political act" that will do significant long term damage to the nation. He also said the interrogation techniques used against suspected terrorists were essential for preventing another terrorist attack within the continental U.S. borders.

The Democrats' new ad highlights the former vice president's assertions that Americans would be greeted as liberators in Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction ahead of the Iraq war and his newest comments on the importance of "enhanced interrogations." The ad reads, "Dick Cheney, Wrong Then, Wrong Now."

"Long ago, the American people concluded that Dick Cheney could not be trusted on matters of national security and why he thinks they should or would trust him now is mind-boggling," DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse said in a statement.

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A White House spokesman on Monday said former Vice President Dick Cheney had his facts wrong when he criticized the Obama administration's decision to investigate allegedly abusive CIA interrogation techniques.

Cheney on Sunday called the Justice Department investigation an "outrageous political act" that will do significant long term damage to the nation. (Watch more about Cheney's comments here.)

At his regular press briefing Monday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs brushed aside the criticism as "the same song and dance we've heard since literally the first day of our administration."

"I'm not entirely sure that Dick Cheney's predictions on foreign policy have borne a whole lot of fruit over the last eight years in a way that have been either positive or, to the best of my recollection, very correct," Gibbs said.

Cheney said on Sunday that the harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorist suspects were "directly responsible" for the fact that there have been no further mass casualty attacks against the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.

"I think the (former) vice president, if you watched some of his interview, clearly had his facts on a number of things wrong," Gibbs said Monday.

Gibbs contrasted Cheney's statements with Republican Sen. John McCain's comments on CBS's "Face the Nation." Though McCain said it was a "serious mistake" to investigate the interrogations, he said the interrogation techniques of the CIA under the Bush administration were harmful to the U.S.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**Former VP Cheney critical of Obama administration handling of CIA interrogation controversy...

**President Obama returns from vacation to increased tensions among lawmakers as well as his supporters...

**Sen. Hatch says health care reform is less likely without the late Sen. Ted Kennedy...

**Joe or Vicki Kennedy, or someone else to fill Kennedy's seat?

CHENEY vs. OBAMA: President Obama returned to Washington from his family vacation on Martha's Vineyard yesterday to be greeted by the news that former Vice President Dick Cheney had hammered him on his administration's handling of the CIA interrogation controversy.

Expect White House spokesman Robert Gibbs to defend the administration at his press conference this afternoon; there is nothing on the president's schedule as he's technically still on vacation through the end of the week.

"Cheney called the Obama administration's probe of aggressive interrogations of terrorists an 'outrageous political act' that will have 'devastating' consequences within the CIA," reports Bloomberg News' Bill Schmick.

"The investigation 'will do great damage, long-term, to our capacity to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions, without having to worry about what the next administration is going to say,' Cheney said in an interview on 'Fox News Sunday.' …

"Cheney said the probe sets a 'terrible precedent' and he accused President Barack Obama of leading an 'intensely partisan, political look-back at the prior administration.'"

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney is once again taking aim at the Obama administration in the wake of yesterday's news over CIA anti-terror interrogations during the Bush administration.

In particular, Cheney said new investigations and possible prosecutions into past CIA interrogations and the creation of new unit within the FBI to handle future interrogations both were "a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security."

Cheney has become one of the Obama administration's most persistent critics, especially when it comes to anti-terror policies and their criticism of interrogation and detention tactics taken during the War on Terror.

In this statement, the former vice president also zeroed in on the 2004 CIA report on interrogations, which was declassified yesterday. The report revealed more details of the interrogations of terror suspects, including threats made to kill the children of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, other detainees who were threatened with a handgun and power drill and allegations that another suspect was told his mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

HEALTH CARE: Today, as heated town meetings on health care reform continue around the country, President Obama keeps a low profile at the White House in preparation for two of his own town meetings tomorrow and Saturday. He'll head to Montana tomorrow, where protestors promise to show up – outside the venue, at least.

Politico's Mike Allen reports that pro-health reform groups are hitting back on TV beginning today.

"A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall.

"The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union…

"The debut ad is meant to shore up support among the conservative House Blue Dog Democrats, and to target swing senators. So it’s airing in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Virginia. The first buy is expected to run for two weeks, with a weekly spend of around $3 million.

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