Why don't all the rules apply?

There's been a great deal of discussion about Vice President Cheney's novel understanding as to exactly which branch or branches of government his office belongs to. Recently he's been claiming that, because his office's sole Constitutional responsibility is legislative (to sit in on Senate discussion and break ties), Executive orders such as those involving audits of the manner in which classified materials are handled don't apply to him or his staff. (X4mr has a post with his views here).

It's worth noting, however, that Cheney's understanding as to which branch of government his office falls under has shifted in the last three years. Back in 2004, when one of the big issues in the national eye was whether or not Congress could force disclosure of Energy Task Force records, Cheney was adamantly claiming the records were protected via Executive privilege, and talking about how important it was the Executive branch defend itself against "continual encroachment by Congress". The Supreme Court eventually ruled in his favor.

Now, I may be just a wee bit confused here, but if one is going to claim something such as "Executive privilege", doesn't that imply one is, well ... part of the Executive branch? If not, the privilege doesn't apply. (Not to mention the budget for the VP's office is within the Executive branch, not the Legislative, but what's a few millions dollars here or there?)

Cheney is obviously doing his utmost to shoehorn his position into some no-man's land that resides partly within the Executive branch (which is where every previous administration and VP would have placed it) and partly within the Legislative, and then trying to emphasize whichever role will allow him to get away with whatever underhanded, dirty little secret he is trying to hide from public scrutiny at the time. You can't really blame him -- he's a disgusting little weasel, so weaselly behavior is just part of his nature.

If, however, he wants to continue to have it both ways, then he can have it both ways ... meaning all rules apply instead of none of them. So, Mr. Cheney, why don't you start acceding to those Presidentially ordered audit requests (which the VP office did, in fact, accede to for the first two years, establishing a precedent if nothing else), and while you're at it you might want to find all those task force records your colleagues in the Legislative branch were asking for. I mean, since you are part of their branch (as you, yourself, have recently argued), you no longer have grounds to deny the requests.