So?

In an interview with ABC's Martha Raddatz, Vice President Cheney brandished his usual contempt for public opinion:

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So? [Sneers.]

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

Watch it here.

This got me thinking: Suppose the interview had continued along the same lines:

RADDATZ: Actually, sir, the polls aren't fluctuating. The American people turned against the Iraq war years ago.

CHENEY: So? [Sneers.]

RADDATZ: Some might say that a democracy fighting a war that its people don't support is in trouble -- that it has lost its way.

CHENEY: So? [Sneers.]

RADDATZ: That doesn't concern you?

CHENEY: No. Sometimes you have to sacrifice democracy in order to protect it. [Sneers and winks.]

RADDATZ: Historians already speculate that the Bush Administration will be considered a failure and quite possibly the worst in history along with the Buchanan and Harding presidencies.

CHENEY: Historians? Who cares? [Sneers.]

RADDATZ: Historians aside, sir, public disapproval of the Bush Administration is unprecedented.

CHENEY: So? [Sneers.]

RADDATZ: Sir, people consider the failures and incompetence in Iraq, the failures and incompetence in addressing the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the mortgage crisis, and the declining economy, and...

CHENEY: Iraq has been, I think, a success by any definition. We're making great progress there. Not only that, Iraq has offered tremendous growth for great American firms like Blackwater and Halliburton. [Sneers.]

RADDATZ: Sir?

CHENEY: And, we've lowered taxes for millions of deserving Americans. [Sneers and winks.]

RADDATZ: Sir, many say that those Americans are not deserving -- that the Republican tax policy is a matter of making the rich richer at the expense of the middle class.

CHENEY: So? This is our due. [Sneers and snarls.]

RADDATZ: Getting back to Halliburton, it's actually not an American company.

CHENEY: Martha?

RADDATZ: Sir?

CHENEY: Go f*** yourself. [Sneers and winks.]

DISCLAIMER: Most of this interview is fictional. It could never happen like this.