over the line?

The current sorry state of American political discourse at its finest:

Vice-President Dick Cheney told Republican supporters at a town hall meeting in Des Moines that they needed to make "the right choice" in the November 2 election.

"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney said.

Wow. I understand that partisan hyperbole is part and parcel of any political campaign but the Vice-President is taking the concept to new...and increasingly absurd...level.

That he can say things like this with a dour, self-righteous, and straight face is scary enough but the notion that he actually believes that electing John Kerry as President will very probably result in another 9/11-level attack on this country is downright frightening. It's one thing to engage in venomous attacks on your opponents...civility is dead and buried in American political discourse...but another to believe in your heart that the nonsense you're throwing as red meat to the ravenous party faithful is REALLY the truth.

It is so very comforting to have someone with Cheney's rampantly sour, curmudgeonly disposition and deeply-ingrained paranoia literally one heartbeat away from the most powerful political job in the world.