Dana Milbank: Obama vs. Cheney, More

Post columnist Dana Milbank serves as the capital's foremost critic of political theater in his Washington Sketch columns, videos and blog posts.

He was online Friday, May 22 at noon ET.

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Dana Milbank: Good afternoon, Sketchreaders.

I attended my daughter's "Pre-K Circus" at school this morning, and I was struck how watching their antics (my daughter was a clown) was very similar to what I do for a living each day. Yesterday, of course, was a great gift to the Sketch. Please alert me to anything Sketchworthy you know of for next week -- and send me your questions on any topic.

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Los Angeles: Did you see Cheney's approval ratings are up? I tell you: Cheney in 2012. We need to save the jobs of late night show joke writers everywhere.

Dana Milbank: The lovely and talented Jennifer Agiesta, the Post's deputy polling expert, was remarking on this yesterday. The thinking is this has nothing to do with his recent visibility, because Bush's approval has gone up a similar amount and he hasn't been shouting "9/11" at the average rate of 54 times an hour. Still I hope Cheney interprets the poll vault as a sign that his campaign is working, because I want many more of these Ali-Frazier matches. I think we should sell tickets and use that to pay down the federal debt.

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Rosslyn: Dana,

Does it bother you that this Jon Stewart ripped off a few of your columns this week or do you consider plagiarism the highest form of flattery?

Dana Milbank:

I can only hope that one day he will stoop to have me on his show. But this may become moot, because the Cillizza/Milbank video production is ready to roll. We filmed a promo last night that should be out next week and the only thing I will give away now is that we were both wearing pelts.

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Reston: You're the expert who covers politics so I figured you're the best one to check this with: Dick Cheney is still NOT the vice president, correct?

Just checking.

Dana Milbank:

Well, you see, he's part of the legislative branch, so this gets tricky. Also I suspect that once they get a chance to explore all those bunkers and caves Joe Biden just discovered underneath the Naval Observatory, they'll find that one of them leads to Cheney's house in McLean.

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Rolla, Mo.: So disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is back and now lecturing Pelosi on House Speaker ethics. What's next, Bill Clinton counseling David Vitter and John Edwards on marital fidelity?

Dana Milbank: A guy can always hope.

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New York, New York: Dana

, In your opinion, is Speaker Nancy Pelosi in any danger of losing her position because of the CIA lies scandal?

Dana Milbank: I'm sticking with last week's position that she keeps her job until and unless she suffers a major wardrobe malfunction. An Armani very rarely malfunctions because all critical components have safety redundancies built in.

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Dallas: Why don't I ever read/hear David Addington's name incriminated with Yoo & Company..? What's his line of work now?

Dana Milbank:

Not so -- the guy I wrote about earlier in the week, Naderite Kevin Zeese, listed Addington as one of the 12 guys who should be disbarred in the complaints he filed with the DC bar counsel. Applying my own suggested method for dealing with the so-called torture lawyers, subjecting them to the same type of interrogation techniques they approved, I recommend that the hirsute Addington be forced to shave his beard.

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Edina, Minn.: Who is less hip -- you or Cillizza? Or should this be determined by the video audience via a comparison of your hat collections?

Dana Milbank:

"Hip" is not a word generally found in the same sentence with "Milbank," unless, possibly, it is something about prosthetic replacements.

Cillizza: very hip. He even has a video camera embedded in his Mac.

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New York: Of course Bush and Cheney's approval rating has gone up since they left office! How could it not??

Personally, I like them much much better in their current position than their previous one. Why is this hard to understand?

Dana Milbank:

A good point. My own personal approval rating of Cheney is 100 percent right now -- I want him never to stop what he's doing.

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Steele City: With the Cheney family running loose, Chairman Steele's vow to follow Satchel Paige's advice, "Don't look back, something may be gaining on you," is beginning to look wise. Or, perhaps, he should recall that legend on the mirror, "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear." Steele Crazy After All These Years. Is the Age of Steele bound for the rust heap?

Dana Milbank: My approval of Steele is also 100 percent after Tuesday's "change in a tea bag" speech. And, while we're at it, my approval of Pelosi is 100 percent now, and after Orrin Hatch took the hybrid Hummer on a joy ride and mistook the accelerator for the brake, he's at 100 percent too. Definitely this country is on the right track as far as the Washington Sketch is concerned.

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Rochester, NY: Dana, At the moment, Clear Channel/Fox "News" "commentators" dominate the airwaves, generally spewing a melange of half-truths, spun news and outright falsehoodds. Recently, Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity derided the scientifically supported view that excess carbon dioxide constitutes a threat to the environment. Yet, the MSM seems unable or unwilling confront them when they are either inaccurate or lie outright.

Why is this so?

Dana Milbank: Probably because most of the MSM is out of work, and the rest of us are doing web chats and making videos.

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New York: So what are the other former vice presidents' opinion on the current state of the nation? I didn't see Quayle or Mondale on any of the talk shows this weekend. What gives? I thought that was the job of a former veep.

Dana Milbank:

Quite right, New York. I feel the nation at this time is crying out for more Mondale. Although, it must be said, that Gore fellow hasn't been shy.

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Sewickley, Pa: Have you seen the story about the soldier in Afghanistan who rushed into battle in pink boxer shorts and flip-flops? Do you wear pink boxers with your pelt?

Dana Milbank: That wasn't a soldier -- it was Cillizza!

Has our promo video already hit the web?

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New Haven : Is it just me or is Liz Cheney kind of cute? Should I waterboard myself for being slightly attracted to her?

Dana Milbank:

This question should be a web chat in itself. Sketchreaders, what say you? Liz Cheney: Hot or not? (Bracing myself for the dominatrix jokes. . .)

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Serious question about Newspapers: I sat next to a guy in the airport who had a Kindle. He gave me a full demo and afterward I thought how nice it would be if I could access the WaPo on such a device and PAY A FEE for it. Everyday I would get comfy in my livingroom and read the Post-Gazette, the Washington Post and the NY Times on it instead of sitting in front of a screen in an uncomfortable chair. Thoughts?

Dana Milbank:

That is indeed one of many hopes for my bidness. I'm not hip about such things, as we've discussed, but I do recall from the John Kerry newspaper hearing I covered that Amazon wanted to keep something like 85 percent of the proceeds it would get putting newspapers on the Kindle. So that wouldn't save us, either. No, I think the best hope for newspapers is to collect some really good Liz Cheney jokes and try to sell them.

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Star Trek remake: You as Spock and Cilliza as Kirk?

Dana Milbank: Mark Leibovich of the New York Times is the best Spock. He's got the ears.

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Chattanooga, Tenn.: Top Ten Reasons for another Dana squared chat rather than a Milbank-Cillizza joint: 10. Administration change since last D2 chat. 9. Do you really think pelts are better than orange hunting garb? 8. You promised. 7. Don't mess with tradition. 6. We've been waiting patiently. 5. Dana Priest is smarter than Cillizza. 4. Dana Priest is a better writer than Cillizza. 3. Dana Priest is (way) cuter than Cillizza. 2. Dana Priest is a Pulitzer Prize winner. 1. The fix I need can only be cured by Danas.

Dana Milbank: Hard to tell whether this is a groundswell for a Danas chat or whether there is just one disturbed and determined person out there. Either way, we should do that. I will email her today.

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Dallas: Hirsute & Pelts......you're dangerous.

Dana Milbank: That's what my barber says.

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in stereo: Am catching up with NPR by listening to this morning's show online, and your interview just came on. Was totally not expecting that. So I'm reading your washpost chat and HEARING your NPR chat. It's like the most wondrous kind of acid, except it's legal and labeled as legitimate political discourse. Happy Friday to ME.

washingtonpost.com: Morning Edition

Dana Milbank:

And if you look up right now you may notice that I am skywriting messages above your office. One must do what it takes in these uncertain times to be platform agnostic.

Am a huge Morning Edition fan and leap whenever they call me.

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Ann Arbor: Were you hiding in the glove box of the 100mpg Hummer to get such close-up details of the Senator Hatch's drive?

Dana Milbank:

I guess it's safe to give it away now, because it's unlikely the circumstances will ever be repeated. The makers of the hybrid Hummer, apparently with the consent of the Hatch people, let me sit in the back seat of the Hummer, with my tape recorder running, while the senator drove. I'm not entirely clear on whether the senator himself knew who I was or what I was doing there. I was actually just looking for a couple of lines of color for the Hummer story, but then he had all that trouble finding the brakes and I decided I had a different story on my hands.

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Steele's speech the other day...: Did you notice the irony in Steele's call to "look to the future instead of the past," while calling back to Regan no less than 30 times.

At one point he even said, "(sic) We need to look to the future! Like Regan used to!"

Dana Milbank:

And good for him. Don Regan doesn't get enough mentions nowadays.

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Cheney's role?: Any chance Cheney is just doing the dirty work for the party? Is there information about his contact with the GOP machine?

Also, do you think Michael Steele will be out of a job by year's end?

Dana Milbank:

I don't see any reluctance in either party to do dirty work, so I think Cheney is not doing this as a favor to anybody else.

Michael Steele out? Please, no. I'll barricade the door to the chairman's office to keep him there.

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Boston: Hi Dana,

Chaney keeps working the line that if there is a terrorist attack on US it is Obama's fault because Obama is in charge now and not doing what Dick wants him to do. Why do I NEVER hear Bush/Chaney being blamed for 9/11 since they were in charge then and they were the ones who ignored prior warnings? Are you secretly paying Chaney to keep talking so you have easy material?

Dana Milbank: This chat has been an excellent stroll down memory lane. First Don Regan, now Lon Chaney.

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Evanston, Ill.: Hey Dana, what is the state of the Bush/Cheney relationship?

Dana Milbank: I bet they're trying to tear each other's pelts off.

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Minneapolis: have you ever been on time for anything in your life?

Dana Milbank: Not that I can remember. In fact I am now late for a volunteering thing I've got to go do. This has been a most pleasant chat. Please tune in next week, and continue to help with the Etch-a-Sketch exercises during the week in which you write my column for me while I goof off.

Thanks for chatting.

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