Reading The Pictures: <em>Cheney Holiday Card Says "Already Outta Here!"</em>

Well, the Cheney's final holiday card is now available and it makes for an interesting comparison to George and Laura's.

I'd say the two compare favorably in the "power trip" department, the Bush's card emphasizing pointy monuments and pillars, the Cheney card emphasizing pointy mega-mountain ranges. At the same time, though, the Bush card is almost pathetic in the way it romanticizes the end game, isolating on the very outer edge of the White House and singularly emphasizing the muscularity of the building, and physical Washington, as the sun sets on this failed presidency.

The Cheney card, on the other hand, offers a thorough and abrupt departure from the executive residence as subject matter, especially as compared to Dick and Lynne's previous contributions.

Last year's card, for example, showcasing the Naval Observatory the Veep's official residence, was soft, innocuous and distant (perhaps intentionally so in light of the Libby affair and the Attorneys General controversy). Of course, we had a whole lot of fun with the '06 card which, if generic in its own way, seemed to also brilliantly telegraph Cheney's narcissism.

When you compare this version to the previous offerings however, you don't get any of Laura and Dubya's pastel and rosewater wistfulness at all. Instead, in the crisp black-and-white of what I presume is a Wyoming mountain range, the message feels much closer to: "Screw this, we're outta here."

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Update:
Oh by the way, here is the piece of scripture that graces the other side: O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: The earth is full of thy riches. -- Psalm 104:24 (KJV)

(image: Hallmark Corp.)