Before it was known Vice President Cheney wouldn’t testify in the Scooter Libby trial, the New York Times made a bizarre reference to “the awesome authority of his office”:

If he testifies, Mr. Cheney will bring to the jurors the awesome authority of his office and could attest to Mr. Libby’s character as policy adviser and family man, and to his crushing workload and dedication to keeping the country safe.

Somewhere, Dan Quayle is laughing. As the Times surely knows, the vice president actually has very little constitutional power; Cheney’s “awesome authority” comes from the influence he has in the Bush administration.