Dick Cheney hospitalized, complaining of chest pain

Update at bottom: Cheney 'feeling good,' source tells CNN

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, 69, was hospitalized in Washington, D.C. on Monday after complaining of chest pains, according to published reports.

"Two doctors at George Washington University Hospital said Cheney was stable but may have additional treatment Tuesday," NBC News reported.

Cheney, whose heart troubles have been more or less episodic over the last 30 years, reportedly underwent an angiogram on Monday and doctors are considering further procedures.

Since he was 37-years-old, the former vice president has experienced four heart attacks, undergone angioplasties, a quadruple bypass surgery and surgeries to fix arterial aneurysms in his knees. He was fitted with a pacemaker in 2001, which was replaced in 2007. His last heart-related hospital stay was in 2008, when he suffered an abnormal rhythm.

"On Friday Cheney is scheduled to see former President George W. Bush for the first time since they left office last January at a breakfast reunion of Bush White House staffers," ABC News added.

Word of Cheney's most recent cardiac episode first filtered out after Cheney's daughter Elizabeth canceled an appearance at the Lincoln Day Republican dinner in Illinois, the network also noted. Individuals involved in organizing the event told ABC News that she had to leave because her father was in the hospital. Cheney apparently transported himself to the hospital.

In recent weeks, the former vice president has emerged as a fierce critic of the Obama administration's domestic security efforts, slamming the president as having made the country less safe. The Obama administration has largely maintained security policies instituted during Cheney's term during the Bush administration, with a key exception being the torture of terror war prisoners -- a grisly practice which Cheney adamantly supports, despite it being illegal under international law.

A one-time Republican congressman from Wyoming, Cheney also served as President George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense.

He was reportedly resting comfortably at the time of this writing, according to a prepared statement.

This video was broadcast by CNN on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010, as culled by Mediaite.

Cheney 'feeling good,' source tells CNN

On Tuesday, CNN reported that "Cheney was 'feeling good' a day after being hospitalized with chest pains, a source who spoke to Cheney said Tuesday."

CNN adds,

The source told CNN the former vice president watched some of the Olympics Games coverage on television Monday night, hours after being admitted to George Washington University Hospital, but was in a "holding pattern" until more tests were conducted Tuesday morning.

A family source told CNN that Cheney's doctors were evaluating his situation, and another source said Cheney, 69, is up and in touch with his family and friends.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta called Cheney's mobility "a good sign."

At New York Magazine's website, a glib, uncredited post mocks, "But don't worry, because he's up and talking and 'feeling good,' which has never happened before, so he should be healthy enough for respected generals to resume slapping him around in no time."

The short post linked to an AOL News article which had reported, "Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, and Colin Powell, who chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served as secretary of state, defended the president on Sunday morning talk shows after fresh attacks by Cheney and his daughter, Liz, at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)."