"Hell no" means..."yes"?

According to Bob Woodward, Cheney will be running for President in 2008. On Tuesday of this week, Woodward reasoned:

He would be 67 if he ran and was elected. Reagan was 69. Nixon was 68. Republicans always like the old warhorse ... Both parties like to nominate vice presidents. Cheney would do it, and I think it's highly likely."

Well, on Feb. 6 this year, the VP was on Fox News Sunday, and answered a Chris Wallace question thusly:

Chris, I will have been at this business off and on for most of the last 40 years. And I've loved it. It's been a hell of a career. I will say just as hard as I possibly know how to say -- I don't know whether you want me to take a Sherman...or say, "If nominated, I will not run," "If elected, I will not serve," or not only no, but "Hell no." I've got my plans laid out. I'm going to serve this president for the next four years, and then I'm out of here.

So I can see where ol' Bob would get his deepest conviction that just because Cheney said "Hell no", he doesn't really mean it!

It reminds me of a scene in Dumb and Dumber (on so many levels). Jim Carey's character, Lloyd Christmas, is asking out the object of his affection, Mary Swanson (played by Lauren Holly). She tells him he doesn't have much of a chance of them going on a date. He asks "Are you saying my chances are 1 in a thousand?" She replies by saying "more like 1 in a million", to which he pauses, smiles big, and says: "So you're saying that I've got a chance! YES!" Bob Woodward is Lloyd Christmas.