In the wake of Dennis Kucinich's attempt to have Dick Cheney impeached, which was scuttled by the House Democratic leadership, a new Rasmussen poll shows that 31% of likely voters agree that the vice president should be impeached, while 41% do not agree.

"Every family has a black sheep."

— Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, making a tongue-in-cheek reference to Vice President Cheney in reaction to the news that Obama and Cheney are distant relatives through an ancestor eight generations back.

This is kind of/sort of/not really interesting: Lynne Cheney says that in researching the family genealogy, she found out that Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are related, sharing an ancestor eight generations back. It's not much, but it's there.

And that's not all — there is also reason to believe that Vice President Cheney may have been Obama's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate...

(Via Think Progress.)

It turns out that Dick Cheney will be hitting the fundraising circuit in some important races, after all. On Friday, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the vice president will be a guest next month at a fundraiser for Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM), who is running to replace retiring GOP Senator Pete Domenici.

Interesting side note: The fundraiser will be in Washington, DC, as opposed to taking place in New Mexico.

In an interesting sign of the times, Dick Cheney has held a grand total of one fundraiser for an incumbent House Republican this year, and zero fundraisers for Republican challengers.

This is down from a ten fundraisers for incumbents and three for challengers at the equivalent point in 2005, when Cheney could charge a donation of $4,200 for a handshake and a photo — and have donors lining up to do it and candidates more than willing to host him.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Ann McBride countered that her boss has done some fundraising for Senators John Barrasso (WY), John Cornyn (TX), and Saxby Chambliss (GA).

"In every election cycle he has done whatever it takes to help Republicans," McBride said. "This is someone who knows the value of campaigning and fundraising. You're going to see that from him this cycle."

By that logic, shouldn't he be absent from the campaign trail entirely?

(Via Think Progress)

It's hard to imagine that anyone in public life is less popular than Dick Cheney, but a new poll finds that one politician has managed to pull it off: George W. Bush.

Take a look at these numbers in this week's new Washington Post/ABC News poll:

Bush
Approve 33%, Disapprove 65%

Cheney
Approve 34%, Disapprove 59%

The last time we know of that a poll found Bush worse off than Cheney was back in January, when a Fox News poll put President Bush's personal unfavorability at 58%, compared to Cheney's 53%.

Meanwhile, the poll also finds that Congress' approval rating is 37%, which is dismal but not as bad as Bush's or Cheney's. Congressional Republicans, however, are faring significantly worse than Congressional Democrats:

Congressional Republicans Approve 34%, Disapprove 64%

Congressional Democrats
Approve 46%, Disapprove 51%

Dick Cheney has sunk to a new low – in a new Gallup Poll, that is. The Gallup survey finds Cheney's approval rating at 30 percent, down four points from last month and a record low for a vice president since Gallup started in 1945.

Even more surprisingly, his job approval among Republicans, although higher, is also at its lowest point yet – 57%. His approval rating among independents is a dismal 26% – barely one in four.

In a trifecta of sorts, Cheney's overall favorability rating is also at its lowest point yet. Only 30 percent say they have a favorable impression of him, down from 37 percent in January. His unfavorable rating is 62 percent.

"The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office."

--Sally Quinn, in a column today in The Washington Post entitled "A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney." Of course, Quinn doesn't quote anyone actually saying this. But as Steve Benen notes, Quinn is the "social director of the Georgetown cocktail circuit," meaning that "if Quinn is writing about it, Republicans in DC are talking about it." So it's at least possible that there's something here.