Andrew Malcolm, the original Bush-flack-turned-LA-Times-Blogger (accept no imitations!), weighs in with a characteristically dishonest interpretation of the new Gallup poll.

Here's Malcolm's headline: “After 18 months of Obama, Americans already feeling fonder of Dick Cheney, less so of Al Gore.”

Based on that, you might think that the poll in question shows that Dick Cheney is more popular than Al Gore. But it doesn't; Malcolm is full of … well, let's just say he's distorting the poll, as is his habit. Here's Malcolm:

The new Gallup Poll, released overnight, shows that a near-majority of Americans now views almost-president Gore unfavorably (49%), while 44% are favorable, down 14 points since his Nobel Prize glory days of 2007.

…

Cheney's robust unfavorable rating melted 11 points during the past 18 months of the Democrat duo of Obama-Biden to 52% now. While the Republican's favorables surged from their low point of 30% all the way up to an impressive 36% now.That's a stunning 20% improvement.

Maybe that's why the genial Cheney's smiling so broadly above.

So, 44 percent view Gore favorably and 49 percent unfavorably. Meanwhile, only 36 percent (an “impressive” number, according to Malcolm) view Cheney favorably, while 52 percent view him unfavorably. Put another way: Dick Cheney's poll numbers are considerably worse than Al Gore's. But to Malcolm, this means Cheney has reason to smile. (Malcolm has been pushing the Dick-Cheney-is-popular storyline for more than a year.)

And here's Malcolm, purporting to explain Gore's shaky numbers:

There's a distinct global chilling going on about former Vice President Al Gore (you know, the divorce/alleged groping/debunked climate stuff).

Er … “debunked climate stuff”? Like I said: Malcolm is full of … um ... "it."