Dick - Why You 'illin'?

Yes Dick. It's all a massive mega media conspiracy...this whole Iraq quagmire thing. Thank goodness we have calm, rational and forthright leadership in you to expose it. And Fox News.

We, the "lemmings" (no, you didn't call us that, but if we're buying what they are selling so easily, doesn't that make us lemming-like too?!), appreciate it. Sincerely. In fact, we really should do something nice for you as our way of saying thanks. How about a nice long extended vacation beginning ASAP?

Ok. Now let's be serious and frank for a moment... What's the deal with these fist-pounding crank-fests? Do you and Rumsfeld have a contest going? And is the bet a dollar?

You're an intelligent guy so we know that you know that Cheney in '08 isn't going to happen. You don't want it and neither does the Republican base. So you're destined either for the soft-landing of a board seat or the wide open spaces of good 'ol Wyoming. You did what you were brought in to do - got your boss through two elections successfully (in theory)...Iraq could so easily just be his mess.

You could just clam-up, ride it out through '08, carve out you niche as a private citizen and then patina as you slowly fade from our collective memory the way most VPs do. Look at your predecessors...whether you agree with "An Inconvenient Truth" or not, Al's getting props worldwide. He even won a screen-writing award. And then there's Dan... Dan (like Al) avoided controversy and now he's Chairman of a hedge fund. And dispite his own spelling and word-useage issues, after he left office, people still generally liked him enough to make his book a best seller.

So why limit your options and appeal? You can walk loudly AND carry a big stick on your ranch if you want, but this whole Mr. Wilson, curmudgeon-thing is becoming part of your public persona and won't play well in the boardroom.