The New York Times said Cheney had used "an obscenity" against Patrick Leahy. The Los Angeles Times had Cheney saying "Go ... yourself." CNN said Cheney used "the F-word."

But The Washington Post printed the word yesterday for the first time since publishing the Kenneth Starr report in 1998. And that set the town buzzing.

On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice.

"Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.

If we are serious about energy independence, then we can finally be serious about confronting the role of Saudi Arabia in financing and providing ideological support of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. We cannot continue this Administration's kid-glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money.

"Imagine those 19 hijackers [on Sept. 11] with other weapons and other plans — this time armed by Saddam Hussein."

The "what if" argument still has power. But there are signs a correction is setting in.

To a degree unimaginable before the Iraq war, critics are now forcefully pressing that latter case. Robert Keeley, ambassador to Greece under Reagan, William Crowe, a retired admiral who was a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Reagan, and Stansfield Turner, another retired admiral and past director of the CIA, were part of a group of 27 high-ranking former officials called Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change who issued a statement last week charging that Bush's policies had left the nation dangerously isolated in the world.

What if, Kerry seems to be arguing, Bush's answers to the toughest "what if" questions have actually made America less secure?

Whenever gasoline prices rise high enough in the United States, pressure builds to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil.

After weeks of delay, the CIA has decreed that much of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on intelligence failures is too sensitive for the public to know.

It has been a historic few days. We have been reminded of a simpler time.

Mourners include those who are looking for answers to the pressing questions being asked in our country today.

They seem to be asking, What can we do about our country now?

Ronald Reagan embodied the great paradox that is America: wonderful ideals, yet a willingness to pursue policies that go against those ideals. Sadly we see the same gap between rhetoric and policy today.

Margaret Thatcher's attendance at Reagan's funeral is a poignant and important reminder of the special relationship between the United States and Britain and the ability of these Western liberal democracies to confront and defeat the evil of their times.

I usually agree with Rush Limbaugh; therefore I usually don't listen to him. I like to argue with the radio.

I wonder, when was the last time a talk show changed a mind?

There's a certain truth in what Ann Coulter says. But it's what's called a "poetic truth." And it's the kind of poetic truth best conveyed late in the evening after six or eight drinks while pounding the bar. I wasn't in a bar. I was in my office. It was the middle of the day. And I was getting a headache.

Does the left have this problem? NPR seems more whiny than hectoring, except at fundraising time.

Arguing, in the sense of attempting to convince others, seems to have gone out of fashion with everyone.

It was clear from the moment they took power that Bush and Cheney were determined to greatly accelerate oil and gas drilling on the public lands of the West. All anyone asked for was a balanced approach.