Former Vice President Dick Cheney apparently has fully embraced his image as a dark and brooding voice of dissent.
During a day-long visit with Wall Street Journal reporters, Cheney revealed a prized possession of his that serves as a nod to an unflattering nickname that has long been attached to him: Darth Vader.
While attending his granddaughter’s high school rodeo in Casper, Wyoming, Cheney showed reporters a trailer-hitch cover in the shape of the infamous “Star Wars” villain. “I’m rather proud of that,” he told them with a smile.
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This isn’t the first time Cheney has paid homage to the character he is often linked to. He dressed up as Vader during a “Tonight Show” appearance in 2011 and has told conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham he is “honored” by the comparison.
President George W. Bush also cracked a joke about it during Halloween season in 2007 while he was still in office. “This morning I was with the vice president,” Bush he said while addressing grocery manufacturers. “I was asking him what costume he was planning. He said, ‘Well, I’m already wearing it.’ Then he mumbled something about the dark side of the force.” That same year Cheney said, “I’ve been asked if that nickname bothers me, and the answer is, no. After all, Darth Vader is one of the nicer things I’ve been called recently.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, which snapped a photo of the Vader image, the 74-year-old Cheney regularly transports his granddaughter to and from her rodeo events around the state in his Ford F-350 Super Duty pick-up truck.
When he’s not at leisure, the polarizing ex-vice president is busy being a thorn in the side of the Obama administration. Cheney most recently called Obama the “worst president in my lifetime, without question,” during an interview with Playboy magazine.
Adam Howard