Wow, just a week into the general election, and the McCain gaffes are flying fast and furious. Actually, this is vintage McCain, buried in a Politico article on how McCain should use Cheney.

In an interview he gave to the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes in 2006 for Hayes's biography, "Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President," McCain said: "I will strongly assert to you that he has been of enormous help to this president of the United States."

Going further, McCain even told Hayes in comments heretofore unpublished that he'd consider Cheney for an administration post.

Asked whether he'd be interested in Cheney had the vice president not already have served under Bush for two terms, McCain said: "I don't know if I would want him as vice president. He and I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities? Hell, yeah."

This is the same Cheney who has earned unprecedented power in Bush's White House as the most powerful vice president in history, even according to his admirers. Who seems to pop up in every Republican administration in some capacity. And who is intimately tied to Halliburton, which has an enormous stake in the future of Iraq. In other words, it's hardly a stretch to think that his influence would continue into a McCain administration.

All of which raises the question, is McCain running for Bush's third term, or Cheney's?