There's much debate over whether Marie Antoinette actually uttered those iconic words when informed that the French peasantry had no bread, but there's no debate over Vice President Dick Cheney's equally callous response when informed a few weeks ago that the overwhelming majority of the American people disapproved of the way his administration is handling the war in Iraq.

"So?" he responded.

It sounded so cold, so perfect for an administration defined by its arrogance, that it had to be apocryphal, right?

Nope. It is true. Having missed the original interview on CNN, I went to Youtube.com, typed in the veep's name and the word "So," and -- voila -- there it was.

Cheney further stated that, "You can't be blown off course by the fluctuations of public opinion polls."

The question I'd have asked, though, is, "What fluctuations are you talking about?"

Fluctuation implies that public opinion on the war is vacillating, going up and down. Judging by the polls I've seen, opinion on the war has basically been on a steady, downward path for the past few years -- as the so-called reasons for the invasion change, deaths mount and the Iraqi government shows insufficient initiative in running its own affairs.

Cheney is right about one thing. Running a company or a country by public opinion polls is a way to ensure mediocrity or inertia. By the same token, though, running a business or governing in a democracy should entail listening to what your customers or constituents think and allaying their concerns by persuasively stating your case. More than anything, Cheney's response indicates that this administration feels little need to make its case.

Think about it. If you told the produce manager at the Piggly Wiggly that all of his heads of lettuce were soggy and he responded "So?", chances are he couldn't sell you anything else: You'd find another store to patronize.

Same with presidential administrations.

Oh, wait: The Cheney-Bush produce managers don't really care. They're out of office in a matter of months. With their second disastrous term ending, they have nothing else to sell us and thus no incentive to appease the populace.

In a perverse way, you have to applaud Cheney's honesty -- a trait that has been in short supply lo these past seven years. Is there any way he would have responded in a similarly blunt manner in 2000, when he and George W. Bush were first wooing the voters?

Not likely.

Cheney's comment typified just how out of touch and unsympathetic this administration has been to a hurting country.

Had the CNN reporter informed him that millions of Americans could lose their homes because of the mortgage crisis -- a real possibility -- would he have said "So? Let 'em get condos"?

Or what if she'd told him that millions more have no health insurance. What would he have said then? "Tell 'em don't get sick"?

Whether or not Marie Antoinette uttered the phrase attributed to her, we know her ultimate fate: She lost her head, literally, at the height of a French Revolution that was precipitated by government excesses and indifference to the citizens.

The worst that can happen to Cheney and Bush is that they will likely be remembered as the worst produce managers in U.S. history.