Cheney: "A deputy president with a shadow operation"

So much has been learned and validated by the Libby trial: the lies, the spin, the manipulation of the media. And, of course, the fact that the many in media did know about the Plame leak but never reported on it (while the dutifully reported all the denials about the leak -- including the ones from Bush.)

But the most important confirmation is summed up nicely in by an expert interviewed in an Associate Press article:

"What didn't he touch? It's almost like there was almost nothing too trivial for the vice president to handle," said New York University professor Paul Light, an expert in the bureaucracy of the executive branch.

"The details suggest Cheney was almost a deputy president with a shadow operation. He had his own source of advice. He had his own source of access. He was making his own decisions," Light said.

Cheney's been exposed. No wonder he's been acting so deranged.