Cheney not Satan

Noam Scheiber's article in The New Republic* starts out with this:

There were two key factors at work in the vice-presidential debate last night. The first was expectations. Going into the debate, both candidates probably had low expectations working in their favor--John Edwards because of his reputation as a lightweight, Dick Cheney because of his reputation for being Satan. But Cheney's expectations were far easier to exceed. All he had to do was come off as, well, not Satan, and he'd do wonders for his public image.

*Unfortunately, subscription only.