I supposed the best thing you can say about Dick Cheney’s performance last night was that he did a surprisingly good job trying to defend the indefensible.

The worst thing you can say is that his defense was based on the same litany of distortion —
about the reasons for going to war, the conduct of the war, the current situation in Iraq, and distortions about Kerry’s record on defense.

Meanwhile, John Edwards succeeded in bringing to the debate the abysmal record of the Administration on domestic issues — jobs, health care and the deficit. His self control was evidenced by his ability not to guffaw when Cheney spoke of “putting the U.S. economy on an upward path.”

Sad for the country when the Vice-President is more qualified than the President — and yet shows no
better judgment on matters foreign and domestic.

The most telling aspect of the vice-presidential candidates debate was Cheney’s inconsistency regarding Iran and Iraq. He was perfectly willing to attack Iraq virtually unilaterally — let’s
not kid ourselves — but when there was money to be made he was against unilateral sanctions against Iran. In both cases, Cheney seems to have had his company’s interests before his country’s.