Over the weekend, Vice President Cheney told Tim Russert of Meet the Press that the terrorists benefit when Americans debate the merits of the Iraq War:

So you look at situation today in Afghanistan or even in Iraq, and you’ve got people who have doubts. They want to know whether or not if they stick their heads up, the United States, in fact, is going to be there to complete the mission. And those doubts are encouraged, obviously, when they see the kind of debate that we’ve had in the United States, suggestions, for example, that we should withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, simply feed into that whole notion, validates the strategy of the terrorists.

Also over the weekend, Cheney continued to claim there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaida even though the Senate Intelligence Committee had just issued a report showing no such relationship existed. This alleged relationship helped sell the Iraq War. The pros at ThinkProgress.org set it straight better than I can:

On Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that concluded there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. According to the report, “a CIA assessment in October 2005 concluded that Hussein’s government ‘did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates.’” In fact, Hussein tried to capture Zarqawi.

This morning on Meet the Press, Cheney repeatedly cited Zarqawi as the link between pre-war Iraq and al-Qaeda. When Tim Russert mentioned the Senate Intelligence Committee report, Cheney said he “hadn’t seen it.”

Cheney has blown it so many times and exaggerated the facts and smeared administration opponent so frequently that I am beginning to think this is a calculated effort to throw red meat to the true-believers, those who will always support the administration and cheer on Bush and Cheney no matter what. This is what President Nixon did in the early 1970's, when felon Spiro Agnew as Vice President saber-rattled in a way that Nixon probably deemed beneath the Oval Office. Here's Wikipedia on Agnew, who resigned because of unrelated criminal activity:

Agnew was known for his tough criticisms of political opponents, especially journalists and anti-Vietnam War activists. He was known for attacking his opponents with unusual, often alliterative epithets, some of which were coined by White House speechwriters William Safire and Patrick Buchanan, including:

"nattering nabobs of negativism," (written by Safire)
"pusillanimous pussyfoots",
"hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history",
"the liberal intellectuals...masochistic compulsion to destroy their country's strength",
"effete corps of impudent snobs", and
"radiclib," a portmanteau of "radical liberal".
In short, Agnew was Nixon's "hatchet man" when defending the administration on the Vietnam War. Agnew was chosen to make several powerful speeches in which he spoke out against anti-war protestors and media portrayal of the Vietnam War, labeling them "Franco Un-American".

Cheney is too smart to believe what he is saying. At some point during the Bush administration's early stages, he was probably designated the hatchet man, assigned to say outrageous things to rally the faithful just like Agnew did. That's no excuse, of course, for slandering the American public.