Even As His Polls Fall, Cheney Tells the Truth

Rejection of 'Revisionism' Comes as His Standing Drops in Polls

That's sort of a wierd way to start a story, don't you think? Aren't people whose poll standings are low have a right to speak? And don't their words deserve to be judged on their merit and not upon the personal popularity of the speaker?

Thank God that people listened to Winston Churchill in the 1930's, even when his poll numbers were low.

This is what the story should be about: "In remarks before the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research organization where he once served as a research fellow and a trustee, Cheney said Democratic critics of the war are lying when they say Bush lied about prewar intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

"Any suggestion that prewar information was distorted, hyped, fabricated by the leader of the nation is utterly false," Cheney said, decrying the "self-defeating pessimism" of many Democrats. He added that to begin withdrawing from Iraq now, as some lawmakers have suggested, "would be a victory for the terrorists."

But this is what the Washington Post wants the story to be about: The speech came amid a determined White House effort to answer critics of a war that polls show is growing increasingly unpopular, and that in recent weeks has helped erode Bush's standing with the public to the lowest of his presidency.

But the war has hurt Cheney's reputation even more. A recent Newsweek poll found that only 29 percent of Americans regard him as honest and ethical. The same poll found that more than one in four Republicans agreed with that dim assessment of Cheney's integrity -- a finding that surprised some top White House aides, who were already concerned about how the public views the vice president.

Beyond Iraq, Cheney's popularity is sagging under the weight of the indictment of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in the CIA leak case and by his determined campaign to exempt the CIA from anti-torture standards, which has provoked opposition even from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

You tell me: Will the course of history turn more on Cheney's popularity or the outcome of this war?