This is Just Way Too Weird - Even For Cheney

Dick Cheney has completed his whirlwind trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was an odd trip, one in which the media were sworn to secrecy until Cheney left Pakistan. Major American news services knew where Cheney was and where he was going, they even had reporters on Cheney's flight. They just couldn't let out so much as a hint that the veep was going to Pakistan.

That, however, wasn't the really weird part. It came from a briefing on Cheney's plane on which the official who briefed reporters may only be called a "senior administration official."

The senior administration official, whose identity is not to be divulged, was, of course, the Dickster himself, something obvious from the remarks he made:

"'Let me just make one editorial comment here,' the official said. 'I've seen some press reporting says, `Cheney went in to beat up on them, threaten them.' That's not the way I work. I don't know who writes that, or maybe somebody gets it from some source who doesn't know what I'm doing, or isn't involved in it. But the idea that I'd go in and threaten someone is an invalid misreading of the way I do business.

'I would describe my sessions both in Pakistan and Afghanistan as very productive. We've had notable successes in both places. I've often said before and I believe it's still true that we've captured and killed more al-Qaida in Pakistan than anyplace else. And I think we're making progress in Afghanistan.'"

Has Dick Cheney lost his mind? Reporters can't mention his name but he gives his identity away quite freely in his remarks. Maybe the Dickster has gone off the deep end.