[Welcome Online WSJ readers. I think you might want to be here.]

At this point, I’m pretty realistic about the strategy of the Sternly Worded Letter. But Joe Biden gets off a good one here, writing to Fred Fielding:

On December 10, 2007, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino stated that you issued a written directive to White House employees to preserve documents related to the destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes. Ms. Perino did not provide a copy of the directive, however, and she was unable to answer questions as to its breadth and scope.

Please confirm that the directive to preserve documents applied to the Executive Office of the President, including the National Security Council, in addition to immediate White House staff. In light of the Office of the Vice President’s record of fatuous arguments that it is not subject to the authority of the President, please also confirm that the directive included the Office of the Vice President and that the Office of the Vice President intends to comply.

Indeed.

Oh, yeah. Fred Fielding. But wait a minute: If the OVP really is the Fourth Branch of Government, why would Fielding even know the answer to the question? Isn’t Cheney—or whichever whimpering Federalist Society elf he’s unchained for the day—the one to ask?

Well, we do what we can.