In Arianna Huffington's column today (
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/arianna-huffington/its-not-the-ekg-its-th_3235.html), she outlines a recent visit the VP made to the cardiac unit at Vail Valley Medical Center. The White House, oddly, has made a hash of it: first they claim Cheney was just getting a routine knee checkup, then the truth comes out that he had a "routine" EKG.
My guess is that he had a small heart attack. This is worrisome: not because of any special love I have for him - he is an odious worm, indeed - but because of the question of 2008.
One of the questions hanging over the current administration (recently outlined in Tom Friedman column in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22friedman.html?) - a question that adds to the president's lame-duck status - is the fact that there is no clear successor. It's this question that might be coming on the radar in the coming months.
If Cheney were to be deemed unfit for office, whether by an actual heart attack or a sham one, the president could appoint a more dynamic, personable, and politically viable veep, thus laying the early ground work for a 2008 run. Now, clearly, Cheney is essential to the workings of this administration - his hands run red with blood - and so this may not happen quickly. But let's keep an eye out for this...