If Armstrong had not made the call, it is not clear when, if ever, the vice president's office would have told the public about the incident.

He possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence; courage without ferocity; and all the virtues of man without his vices

Even a sitting president who has a vice president running for office doesn't have a great impact on the way the administration behaves. The goal of the next three years is to repair the president's popularity and resolve the situation in Iraq to some decent outcome. ... If Bush leaves office in January 2009 with Iraq in chaos, nothing else will matter.

The secretary of defense under cover of the vice president's office,

To sanction Vice, and hunt Decorum down.

But will they come when you do call for them?