He'll be operating the snowblower after the ceremony

The snowblower
Originally uploaded by vegacura.

I know that Dick Cheney does not like to attend to the duties usually reserved for VPs, such as attending state funerals and the like. But does he have to be so peevish about it?

Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults.

Like other attendees, the vice president was wearing a hat. But it was not a fedora or a Stetson or a fur hat or any kind of hat that one might wear to a memorial service as the representative of one's country. Instead, it was a knit ski cap, embroidered with the words "Staff 2001." It was the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goodie bag.

It is also worth mentioning that Cheney was wearing hiking boots -- thick, brown, lace-up ones. Did he think he was going to have to hike the 44 miles from Krakow -- where he had made remarks earlier in the day -- to Auschwitz?

What could he possibly have been thinking? Did someone tell him they were going to Lambeau Field? Or did he not think that the suffering of the victims of the holocaust were worth having to suffer through the cold during the ceremony?

Symbols matter. And Cheney just sent a big ugly green one to the world: "My comfort is paramount, the rest of you, '*&%$ off.'"