The following is the last paragraph in the NYT editorial titles "Cheney as Pot, Putin as Kettle"

Balancing America's sense of mission in spreading democracy with its national interests has long created contradictions in its foreign policy and global behavior. But so long as there was a moral compass, there was at least a tacit distinction between principled actions and necessary evils. When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire," his words bit deep, because America was then a powerful symbol of freedom. It would be good if Mr. Cheney's truths also had an impact — but how does it go about the mote in your own eye?