Maybe It's Just a Fever for More Cowbell

Arianna has been tracking a new potential cover-up coming out of the White House.

So now in the space of 48 hours, we have three stories:

First, denial that Cheney was ever at the hospital.

Second, an acknowledgement that he was at the hospital after all, but only for an old knee injury.

Third, that after he was checked for the knee injury, he was taken to the cardiac unit to have an EKG, but only prophylactically.

So: why all the secrecy? And if this was only a routine knee check-up, why check in under a false name, Dr. Hoffman -- which sources tell us is the name of the vice president’s doctor in Washington.

And if it was a routine knee exam, why not have Dr. Steadman go out to Beaver Creek, where Cheney was staying?

And why is the White House so forthcoming with health details about President Bush, including his cholesterol increasing from 167 to 170 and his body fat percentage increasing from 14.5% to 18.25%, but somehow the nation doesn't have the right to know what exactly the vice president was doing at the Vail hospital?

So many questions...so little leveling with the American people.

It is admittedly kind of small potatoes compared to lying about WMD, about the length and cost of the war in Iraq, about the Mt. Fuji piles of coke that W used to freebase in a typical weekend back in the good-ol’ days. But still, it’s weird, isn’t it?

Personally, I wonder if the hospital has a secret Alias-style secret basement where Cheney’s circuits get the once-over from the U.S. Navy’s own Commander LaForge. A little tune-up every now and again to ensure he doesn’t go on another killing rampage in true Rutger Hauer style. Mixed movie metaphors be damned!!