But for Dick Cheney, living like an emperor is what Dan Quayle used to call "another lifestyle choice." From the lofty Grand Tetons to the lower elevations of Maryland's Eastern Shore, Cheney is beginning to acquire a string of vice presidential palaces that would make Saddam jealous. (Wonder where Cheney keeps the lions?) In fact, we're getting nostalgic for the "undisclosed location" days, and so are the veep's new neighbors:

According to well-to-do residents near their waterfront estates, Don and Joy Rumsfeld blend in, don't inconvenience their neighbors and get around town with minimum fuss since they bought their weekend house a year ago.

But Dick and Lynne Cheney, who settled into St. Michaels last fall, are being blamed by the locals for stopping traffic, keeping neighbors barricaded in their homes while the motorcade passes by, and disrupting sleepers' REM cycles with low-flying Chinook helicopters.

"I hear that Mrs. Cheney is delightful," a disgruntled neighbor, who lives within sight of Ballintober, the Cheneys' $2.7 million estate, told me yesterday. "But I've had great big helicopters fly over my house at 3 o'clock in the morning and at 1 in the morning. I can tell you I'm not happy. They're very noisy. The dogs start barking, and we can't get back to sleep."

The neighbor continued: "When they travel, the Secret Service clears Church Neck Road and prevents people from leaving their property. When they drive into town, people are actually told to stay inside their houses until the Cheneys go by. And I hear that two weeks ago, they told the DNR Police to keep their boats away from Cheney's house because it was ruining his view."

That last bit is unconfirmed -- although we were thinking it would be neat if a bunch of lefty boaters tried to check this out this spring with a public "Sail-In" on the formerly open waters of the Chesapeake near the vice presidential palace. But we reconsidered after reading this about his top aide (via War and Piece):

Though born in Washington, he [David Addington] styles himself as a "rugged Montana man" in the image of his boss, and he has a photo in his office of Cheney shooting a gun.

OK, forget the protest. Let's just hope there's not a nude beach in St. Michaels. Because nobody wants to see the emperor's new clothes.