The pundits have arrived at a meme that has tremendous power. I have seen it repeated in various columns and articles, it's almost as if the journalists have reached an "intramural" agreement.
Whenever Cheney is mentioned in an article these days, more often than not the following phrase appears: "... the most powerful vice president in American history."
Which is as close to saying he's the president as you can get, but it's much more effective as a meme because it avoids that exaggeration.
The second meme that is going to play strongly, was launched by Maureen Down in the last sentence of her latest column: "W. was listening to a surrogate father he shouldn't have been listening to, and not listening to his real father, who deserved to be listened to."
Bush roasting on an open fire.