What public image?

Raw Story: (my bold)

"What we learned from the Libby trial about the inner workings of the White House, especially the secretive operation of Vice President Dick Cheney," Jim Rutenberg and Scott Shane's article will detail, according to an early budget received by RAW STORY.

"The story will focus mostly on one crucial week in early July 2003," the budget continues.

On Sunday, the LA Times noted that Cheney was leaving for Asia on Monday for a week long trip, "and many people in Washington are wondering if he might be grateful for an excuse to high-tail it out of town."

"The past few weeks have not been kind to the vice president -- or at least to his public image," Maura Reynolds and James Gerstenzang wrote on Sunday.

The article continued, "This month, a close ally was dressed down by the Pentagon inspector general for skewing intelligence before the Iraq war. The trial of his former chief of staff has depicted the vice president's office as a center of underhanded intrigue. And last week's announcement of a nuclear agreement with North Korea appears to be a repudiation of Cheney's long-term opposition to a deal."

"Those events, culminating months of bad news for the conservative wing of the Republican Party, have prompted speculation that the once-formidable vice president -- the most powerful in American history -- has become a spent force," Reynolds and Gerstenzang wrote.

What public image? Cheney is in the basement in the polls, people know he's a liar (last throes, my ass), Condi Rice is apparently maneuvering behind his back:

Minneapolis: On foreign policy, do you think Secretary of State Rice finally has figured out how to outmaneuver Cheney, especially now that he doesn't have Rumsfeld? Seems to be some evidence on North Korea and maybe even Iran.

Michael Abramowitz: Great question! I have been wondering about this myself -- I certainly think many conservatives in town believe this. I think interestingly Cheney probably has been hampered by the loss of his top aide, Scooter Libby, to the perjury trial. Whatever his faults may be, Libby was considered a very skilled bureaucratic player who well advanced the vice president's interests.

Cheney's neocon dreams of an American Imperial Empire is falling apart. He reminds us of the Pale Man:

or this strange sea-creature blob:

So I ask again, what public image?