'While
Dick Cheney undoubtedly remains the most powerful vice president this
nation has ever seen, it's becoming increasingly unclear whether anyone
outside the White House believes a word he says.
Inside the West
Wing, Cheney's influence remains considerable. In fact, nothing better
explains Bush's perplexing plan to send more troops to Iraq than
Cheney's neoconservative conviction that showing the world that we have
the "stomach for the fight" is the most important thing -- even if it
isn't accomplishing the things we're supposed to be fighting for. Even
if it's backfiring horribly.
But as his astonishing interview
with CNN's Wolf Blitzer laid bare last week, Cheney is increasingly out
of touch with reality. He seems to think that by asserting things that
are simply untrue, he can make others believe they are so.'
