Deborah Tannen says Joe Biden is a compassionate cusser but Dick Cheney is just a cuss:

Vice Presidents Joe Biden’s and Dick Cheney’s uses of the same expletive, on the surface, could not be more different. Biden’s whispered utterance, unexpectedly picked up by a microphone, was a moment of intimacy, a private acknowledgment that the excitement about a momentous event was appreciated and shared.
Cheney’s utterance was an expression of anger that was meant to be heard.