To resolve the question of whether Dick Cheney as Vice President is part of the executive or legislative branch, we solicit wisdom from Extreme Mortman senior historian Richard Andrews.  He offers this:

It’s not either/or.  He’s both.  This is not an unusual concept. 

Many state lieutenant governors are not only state senate presiding officers, but (unlike the VP) have substantial executive responsibilities imposed on them by their state constitution and/or statutes.  These vary greatly.  (I believe there has been a good bit of litigation among the states on the leg?-or-exec? question about lt. govs. The answer is, generally: it depends.) 

A number of them automatically become acting Gov. whenever their Gov. leaves the state.  (Like, famously, California; That always means an interesting time when they are of opposing parties, and the Gov. is trying to run for President.  This happened to Jerry Brown & Pete Wilson.)

Something not addressed in the Washington Post series on Cheney (and that I doubt will be) is that Cheney’s ability to carve out this sort of relationship with “W” is partly based on the uniqueness of Texas.  Bush’s ONLY previous gov’t. experience is being her Governor.  The only kind of #1/#2 relationship he’s had is the one he had THERE.

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is unquestionably the most powerful in the nation.  On the legislative side, as President of the state senate, he is not merely some once-in-a-while presiding officer; he’s like Maryland’s Mike Miller - appoints all the committees and their chairmen, decides which committee(s) bills will be referred to, establishes the chamber’s “calendar” (agenda), et cetera.  On the executive side he is a member of numerous state commissions & boards that are the  (hydra-) heads of many state agencies, and exercise vast power.  These commissions are not directly answerable to the governor, and to the extent that he appoints their members at all, it is to staggered fixed terms.

Additionally, W was exceeding fortunate to have had a lt. gov. who, even though a Dem., was highly cooperative. 

These two happenstances have necessarily molded the relationship w/Cheney.

Check out what must be the biggest metaphor ever uttered, from today’s Washington Post story on Dick Cheney:

On the home front, the vice president is well known for leading a secretive task force on energy policy. But in a town where politicians routinely scurry for credit, Cheney more often kept his role concealed, even from top Bush advisers.

“A lot of it was a black box, and I think designedly so,” said former Bush speechwriter David Frum. “It was like — you know that experiment where you pass a magnet under the table and you see the iron filings on the top of the table move? You know there’s a magnet there because of what you see happening, but you never see the magnet.”

Hoo-ey! Thank goodness the Post doesn’t pay its interviewees by the word.  Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just call Cheney a babe magnet?

Poor Harry Reid. First he gets smacked around   (Instapundit, Mystery Pollster, Volokh ) for using mythical numbers for rhetorical excess in saying that only 9% of the American people like Dick Cheney.

But what’s worse than having 91% of the people hate you?  Having David Broder doubt you:

Reid is assuredly not a man who misses many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth. … The Democrats deserve better, and the country needs more, than Harry Reid has offered as Senate majority leader.

Today’s Broder column is the the OUCH! heard ’round the political world.

UPDATE: A point of clarification.  I missrepresented Volokh as among the smackers.  Here’s Volokh’s point:

I realize that some laypeople might miss the jocular hyperbole, but I suspect it will be very few. And Reid was apparently speaking to reporters, and in that context even someone who realizes he may be quoted might be pitching his off-the-cuff comments at the sophistication level of the audience that is present.

Today’s Washington Post “Reliable Source” column mentions that Valerie Plame is writing a book.

Gee, hope that doesn’t materially harm the lawsuit she’s filed against Vice President Cheney, Scooter Libby, and Karl Rove for “gross invasion of privacy.” After all, privacy is sacrosanct in the Wilson-Plame household.

UPDATE:

Coming up next after the break … What do Valerie Plame, Gordon Lightfoot, Michael Nifong, and Quin Hillyer all have in common? … Some surprising answers… For a sneak peek, click here.

Wednesday, of course, is President Bush’s big visit to the Harley-Davidson plant in York, PA.

A quick stroll — er, loud revved-up head-turning ride — down hog heaven lane:

Joe Lieberman boldly says: “If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It will strengthen them and they will strike again.”

Planes, terrorism, and Lieberman together. What a delicious symbolic combination. How about this scenario: In the November elections, Democrats win a 50-49 majority. Independent Jim Jeffords continues to caucus with the Democrats. But fellow independent Joe Lieberman caucuses with the Republicans. Vice President Cheney gets the deciding vote. Lieberman is rewarded with a sweet committee chairmanship.

Extreme Mortman’s historian-on-retainer Richard Andrews remembers this 1956 incident involving Spain’s King Juan Carlos. His younger brother, the Infante Alfonso, died of a gunshot wound in Estroil Portugal, with Juan Carlos as the only witness. The official explanation is that it was an accident which occurred while cleaning a gun. Alfonso suffered from hemophilia and did not survive.