Dick Cheney as Political Liability

I have a question for reporters to investigate: Is Dick Cheney the most unpopular American politician of all time?

This is a serious question. I have never seen a politician with an approval rating below 18% in my lifetime. But I'm not a historian, so I don't have all the numbers in front of me. I'd love to see where he ranks among the most hated politicians of all time.

Was Spiro Agnew below 18% before he was convicted? I know Nixon was higher than 18% when he resigned. How about other indicted, impeached and disgraced politicians - did any of them ever get below 18%? Has anyone ever made it that low?

What's amazing is that anyone takes Dick Cheney seriously. He has got to be one of the largest political liabilities of all time and elected officials still listen to him? Who takes advice from a guy with an 18% approval rating?

Just because cable talk show hosts aren't talking about it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Americans hate Dick Cheney. The fact that Chris Matthews and Sean Hannity might love him is irrelevant. The numbers are already in. Are Republican politicians this callous towards public opinion that they will ignore a clear message from the American people?

There comes a time of reckoning in politics if you keep ignoring what the American people are saying loud and clear. How much clearer do they have to be? Does Cheney have to make it into the single digits before people stop listening to his disastrous advice?

18% approval rating is stunning. The only thing more stunning is that he is not a pariah on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Which politician in their right mind embraces a guy this universally disliked?