This week at Cafe, Bart Gellman is joining us for a TPM book club discussion on Angler, The Cheney Vice Presidency.

The man, the legend, the consequences-- we'll be taking a look in the twilight hours of his vice presidency. Bart's great opening post will be up in a few moments, but just to give you a little teaser of what's to come, one of his opening questions:

What drove Cheney? His thoughts, more than just about anyone's, are a black box. Even so, I gathered a good deal of evidence for the proposition that the vice president has been fundamentally honest about his objectives, if not always about the underlying facts or the methods he employed. A lot of Cheney critics don't like to hear that, begrudging him a principled motive for policies they dislike. But ANGLER takes him seriously, and the public should too. Think about it this way: Cheney is a man of zeal, and zealots have had a lot more impact on history than self-serving hypocrites.

Joining him are Paul Mirengoff, practicing lawyer and co-founder of conservative blog Power Line; Spencer Ackerman, senior reporter at the Washington Independent and former TPM reporter and blogger; Jacob Heilbrunn, senior editor at the National Interest and author most recently of They Knew They were Right: The Rise of Neocons;
David Greenberg, writer and associate professor of Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University, "History Lesson" columnist for Slate; and Steve Clemons, political blogger and Director of the American Strategy Program and the New America Foundation.

Join us.