“You’d be amazed at how many people want to go fishing with me nowadays.” (Cheney was referring to the recent blogosphere speculation that there was a naked lady in his sunglasses in one particular photo.) “That’s the last time I go with an outfitter called the Emperor’s VIP Club”

On how his day with the pope compares to a night with journalists: “First I got to spend the morning with one infallible authority then I get to spend the evening with 1,000 of them.”

Cheney said the Pope was “someone who has heard more secrets than I have.”

“We are in the midst of a global warming…or as I call it: Spring.” (Laughter). “I don’t want to sound like an alarmist but it’s going to get even warmer soon.”

Cheney says he’s going to work on his improving his environmental footprint: “Every time I rush to the hospital, I insist on a hybrid ambulance.”

Liz Cheney doesn’t mind it when people call him Darth Vader, says Cheney. He says his wife notes that, “It humanizes you.”

“I’m proud to support John McCain even though he’s running against a relative of mine.” On the reported genealogical links between Cheney and Obama: “He’s Sen. Obama to you but he’s cousin Barack to me.”

Obama “says he’ll find a running mate just as soon as he finds a new pastor.” “If he gets elecfted you’re not going to wanna miss those Washington prayer breakfasts.”

Sen. Hillary Clinton “confused the Bosnia tripwith the time I took her hunting.”

On Clinton’s Pennsylvania beer drinking: “Looks like she replaced Mark Penn with Johnnie Walker,” and perhaps too much booze meant that “when the 3 am call came in, it went to voicemail.”

“Obviously, you’re not the the kind to come down on a bitter man who clings to his guns”