The New York Times has an article regarding Dick Cheney’s ongoing defense of the Bush administration. I find this theory fascinating:

It is the kind of scene that Americans have come to expect from their elder statesmen: a quiet, unassuming return to private life after giving up power. Except, that is, for the quiet and unassuming part.

In the three months since leaving office, Mr. Cheney has upended the old Washington script for former presidents and vice presidents, using a series of interviews — the first just two weeks after leaving office — to kick off one last campaign, not for elective office, but on behalf of his own legacy.

Americans have come to expect a “quiet, unassuming return to private life after giving up power”?? Maybe they expect such a thing of Republicans, but certainly not of Democrats. Say what you will about them, but Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore upended the Times so-called “script” long before Dick Cheney did.