Several recent news articles (such as this one in the Washington Post and this one by Bloomberg) have traced the failure to get anything done on Social Security back to a January interview that Vice President Cheney had with Chris Wallace of Fox News. "We don't believe a tax increase is necessary," Cheney told Wallace, a remark that "infuriat[ed]" Senator Kent Conrad and "undercut" the efforts of Treasury Secretary Paulson.

Well, here is the transcript:

CHENEY: And so, we don't believe a tax increase is necessary.

WALLACE: So...

(CROSSTALK)

CHENEY: ... sit down and talk about trying to get people to the table to talk about Social Security, we've said, "No preconditions." And that's exactly what it means: Come to the table, and we'll talk.

The problem with the recent news stories is that they have omitted Cheney's commitment to a discussion without preconditions, which makes it seem as though the Democrats who took the lead on this issue had made their way over to the party with flowers and wine only to have the front door shut in their faces.

It's much more likely that Conrad and others were so upset (or pretended to be so upset) because they viewed tax increases as a necessary part of the reform package, meaning that they were the ones with preconditions. Cheney probably suspected that a compromise plan that included tax increases would come back to haunt the GOP, and you have to give him credit for not ruling anything out despite that suspicion.

The Democrats, on the other hand, were so set on their precondition of tax increases that they refused to engage in further talks. Either that, or the whole thing was an excuse on their part to avoid tackling the issue.

Preconditions or cowardice -- it's infuriating either way you look at it.