Cheney as Old Ironsides?

The USS Constitution is the world's oldest warship still in commission, owned and operated by the U.S. Navy since 1797. They call it Old Ironsides.

So perhaps it's fitting that Vice President Dick Cheney -- who's known for iron-fisted tenacity in internal administration skirmishes over wiretapping, detention and interrogation techniques -- plans to visit the ship, docked in Boston, on Friday.

The Boston Globe reports that Cheney will attend a Fourth of July military reenlistment ceremony aboard the Constitution, which underwent a four-year, $3.7-million renovation in the 1990s.

The Globe also wryly notes that the last time Cheney visited Boston, for a $2,500-per-person GOP fundraiser in 2006, the visit "sparked a traffic jam and prompted scattered protests against the war in Iraq."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Ed Nessen/Associated Press

Comments

He shouldn't desecrate the great ship!