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August 01, 2007

A "Unique Creature"

Dick Cheney's interview with Larry King on July 30 has certainly made a splash, with several different lines of stories coming out of it. The one I find most interesting is his comments regarding which branch of government he considers himself to be a part of. He's had a knack lately for claiming to be from whichever branch will offer him the greatest right to be uncooperative with Congressional investigations. Now we learn that's because, in his words, " the vice president is kind of a unique creature, if you will, in that you’ve got a foot in both branches." I guess he just picks up whichever foot he needs to when the rules applying to it might get him into trouble.

Back in June, he told House investigators that he was exempt from an executive order that would safeguard classified national security information because he was not an "entity within the executive branch." But in 2001, when investigators sought information about his energy task force, he claimed executive privilege. He also included himself in the executive branch in an April, 2003 interview. So Congressional Democrats, irritated over his refusal now to be considered part of the executive branch, threatened to withhold executive branch funding for his office, to which the White House responded that the statement had reflected Cheney's lawyers' opinions and not the opinions of Cheney himself. Nevertheless, he still will not say the words, "I am part of the executive branch." Because, as we all know, he's a weasel.

The wing-nuts, however, see it all very differently. They think that Larry King was simply much too hard on the Vice President. Matthew Balen at Newsbusters says King threw "light questions" recently at Al Gore, but "pressed" Cheney on "hot political topics" and thereby revealed his liberal bias. Never mind the fact that Al Gore these days is more celebrity than politician, while Dick Cheney is actually effecting policy for the entire nation, if not the world. Not only that, anyone who thinks the White House is incapable of pre-screening and approving all Larry King questions of the Vice President is a moron. Cheney knew exactly what he would be asked and it was all copasetic.

Posted by Becky at August 1, 2007 11:37 AM