The Vice President is not a fool. That said, one has to wonder why his behavior has become increasingly polarizing and downright belligerent as the campaign grinds on. Granted, the role of the Vice President (or Vice Presidential candidate) is said to be that of the "attack dog"...to say things the guy at the top of the ticket can't...or more often, won't...say to keep the partisan base fired up and happy...but Mr. Cheney seems to relish this role more than most.
Perhaps he feels free because he's got nothing to lose. Win or lose this fall, he is extremely unlikely to vie for the Oval Office in the future (someone with his health history who have a hard time convincing even staunch supporters that he would be up for the stresses of the top job...the Presidency visibly ages healthy men, people with multiple heart episodes who any sense of self-preservation probably should not apply.)
Freed from having to be elected to anything perhaps the Vice President feels free to be "himself". And that would be fine...except the real Dick seems to be smug, crotchety, foul-mouthed, thin-skinned, and arrogantly intransigent (any lack of evidence notwithstanding, for example, he keeps hammering at a close relationship between Hussein and bin Laden as if we're just supposed to accept it as gospel just because he says it's true)...just the kind of fine fellow we want a heartbeat away from the most powerful political job in the world.
The Vice President is not a fool. And so maybe this whole super partisan thing is part of a carefully orchestrated strategy...Cheney secures the hard core believers while the President reaches out to the middle with his brand of "compassionate conservatism"...and maybe it will work in the long run. But it certainly isn't a pleasant thing to watch in the meantime.
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