You Don't (or Maybe You Do) Know Dick

I’ve followed with interest the exchange on TPM over the last few days about Dick Cheney’s change in personality. One of the fascinating stories of the last decade or so is Cheney’s transformation from boring, hardworking, rightwing technocrat to a secretive, really rightwing extralegal cipher. I think this explanation makes the most sense – this side of Cheney was always there, but it took a weakwilled manchild above him to allow him the space to really put it into effect. That said, I don’t think you can discount the idea of some sort of physiological transformation, either. I’ve known a few people who have had serious brain injuries that resulted in dramatic shifts in personality.

But, perhaps now is a good time to revisit this profile of Cheney from July, 2000 in the USA Today (Motto: “Almost like a newspaper!”).