Cheney's Parting Gift

President Bush is hiding from public view until the election is over -- and for good reason. But Vice President Cheney briefly emerged from the shadows on Saturday to praise the McCain-Palin ticket. And Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama quickly brandished Cheney's appearance like a cudgel.

"John McCain's latest endorsement?" asks a rapidly-prepared Obama campaign ad. Up pops Cheney, proclaiming: "I'm delighted to support John McCain, and I'm pleased that he has chosen a running mate with executive talent, toughness, and common sense, our next vice president, Sarah Palin."

Cheney was speaking at a "victory rally" in a high school in Laramie, Wyoming, on Saturday. "[I]n three days, we'll choose a new steward for the Presidency, and begin a new chapter in our history," Cheney said. "It's the biggest decision that we make together as Americans, a lot turns on the outcome. I believe the right leader for this moment in history is Senator John McCain."

Jim Provance and Tom Troy write in the Toledo Blade that Obama mentioned Cheney on the stump as well: "'President Bush is sitting out the last few days before the election,' [Obama] said in Columbus. 'But yesterday, Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location.

"'Don't need to boo. You just need to vote,' he said in response to the crowd's reaction.

"'Dick Cheney came out, and he hit the campaign trail, and he said, and I quote, that he is "delighted" to support John McCain,' Mr. Obama said. 'You've never seen Dick Cheney delighted before, but he is. That's kind of hard to picture. So, I would like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement, because he really earned it.

"'Here's my question to you, Ohio,' he said. 'Do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain is going to bring change, because he thinks that somehow John McCain is really going to shake things up, get rid of the lobbyists, and Haliburton, and the old boys club in Washington? Ohio, we know better.'"

Shailagh Murray, Juliet Eilperin and Robert Barnes write in The Washington Post: "When he was repeating his lines later in Cleveland, rain started to fall.

"'You notice what happened when I started talking about Dick Cheney,' Obama said with a chuckle. 'But a new day is dawning. Sunshine is on the way.'"

The AFP reports from an Obama rally in Pueblo, Colo.: "The vice president made the endorsement because he 'knows that with John McCain you get a two-fer: George Bush's economic policy and Dick Cheney's foreign policy,' Obama said."

Ewen MacAskill writes for the Guardian that Cheney's "endorsement may help McCain among loyal Republicans, but not with Americans disenchanted with the Bush-Cheney administration, or among independents angry over the stewardship of the past eight years. . . .

"Cheney had announced his endorsement for McCain before, but, like Bush, had been largely absent from the campaign trail during the past two months. His decision to participate in the Laramie rally at the weekend was prompted partly by a desire to speak on behalf of Republican congressional candidates and to deliver what amounted to an emotional look back on his career. He will retire from politics on inauguration day, January 20."