Positively Negative

Apparently, the only thing harder than getting a smile out of Dick Cheney is getting him to answer questions. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed the Vice President the other night and got nowhere. Cheney was contrary at nearly every turn. Here is a sampling of Cheney’s responses to Blitzer’s inquiries:

“I don't want to be that precise… It's just not true… I've heard that charge. It's simply not true, Wolf… You can argue about that all you want. That's history… No, there is not. Wolf, that's not going to happen…There is not… I just think you're wrong, Wolf... is just dead wrong…Wolf, I simply don't accept the premise of your question… I just think it's hogwash… It won't stop us… No, you're not asking questions… No, I don't… I'm not going to discuss it… I haven't discussed it with anybody in the press yet, and I'm not going to discuss it with you today… Wolf, you've got my answer… You've got my answer… I'm not going to speculate… Well, I just disagree with him… I just fundamentally disagree… I think you're out of line… I just fundamentally disagree with you… And I think, frankly, you're out of line with that question.”

The interview wasn’t all negative, however.

When asked his thoughts on the Iraq War he said he believed things there were going well. (What part of the war he’s talking about nobody-not even the president-seems to know). “The bottom line is that we've had enormous successes and we will continue to have enormous successes,” Cheney said.

When asked about what it was like sitting next to Nancy Pelosi at the State of The Union he responded: “I prefer Dennis Hastert, obviously.” (Well, the two have been quite a pair, visually, flanking Bush during the past several SOTUs.—think: Shrek and Jabba the Hut.)