"I realy, really like lame leak metaphors"

Metaphor?

Or comparison?

Or comparaphors?

(Pause for sound of mind blowing)

C and G are the significant items.

All the others pertain to attitudes among the media and White House staff, which are ultimately unimportant. But the White House staff (that is, Karl Rove and Andy Card) would not be able to give orders to the Vice President and his staff only if President Bush felt unable to do so. No Vice President has any power unless the President gives it to him, and no President before Bush -- not the strong ones, nor even the weak ones -- has ever given his Vice President as much authority and autonomy as Bush has given Cheney.

This suggests that Cheney is only the most powerful Vice President in history because Bush is one of the weakest Presidents. If Hubert Humphrey or Spiro Agnew had shot someone, stonewalled local law enforcement for nearly a day and not even informed the White House immediately as to what had happened they would have been sent to work out of a converted closet in the National Weather Service office in Nome.

Everyone is talking about this as though there's obviously no fire, just smoke. How do you know? What if the guy dies? Or just sues, claiming that Cheney was criminally negligent? Because of the spinning, we all seem to think Wittington just got "peppered" in a "common" "mishap." If it turns out he got killed by a criminally negligent Vice President, then it'll stop looking like a symptom of troubling secrecy in this administration and start looking more like a cover up.

How about (I) None of the above. The press is obsessed by its own importance.

Well, hell, Matt, as long as we're doing "what if"'s, why stop there? What if David Gregory and Marvin Fitzwater die mysteriously? What if Chney barricades himself in the Oval Office and holds the President hostage? What if Cheney is a lizardman from tau Ceti?

Personally, I'd vote for Juan Williams' explanation:

(I) the whole mess has made visible the barely-concealed rage the press feels toward Cheney, who not only treats them as unimportant, but keeps winning the big battles, like the energy meeting reports.

Due to the "innocent delay" in reporting the event by the VP, any evidence that Cheney had been drinking some brown liquor during hunt will not be found.

Imagine, for a moment, a world with Vice President Scowcroft.

All Things Beautiful TrackBack Another Black Eye For The MSM

In the absence of any pressing news these days -- other than Iran's nuclear weapons development crisis, the election of Hamas terrorists in Palestine, ongoing worldwide Muslim riots and killing in reaction to a cartoon, Al Gore's near sedition while speaking in Saudi Arabia, the turning over of our East Coast ports to be managed by a United Arab Emirates firm, the criminal leaking of vital NSA secrets to the New York Times

Seriously, doesn't everyone agree Dick Cheney is just a fucking bozo? If your a bozo and cocky to boot, then it will require that you not care about public feedback.

The guy is a fucking bozo. He's a poor decision maker. As far as poor decisions go, turning around 180 degrees and peppering someone is the least of his fuckups.

Chucky,

If Cheney is a lizardman from tau Ceti, wouldn't his claws have trouble gripping the trigger? He might also not be able to follow a flying grouse smoothly, since he would experience 'jerky' neck movement. But, it could be that he didn't 'see' Whittington because he was using his sense of smell.

Now if he were a lizardmonkey, whooboy!! Might be on to something there.

Soooo...Cheney, who is taking a handful of drugs
each day for his heart condition is being allowed
to drink beer?

Now that's a cocktail mix.

Ehawwwwww...

So Cheney just had Whittington kept at the ranch until he was ablt to pass a sobriety test and then the ambulance took him to the hospital. That is really cruel. Almost as bad as Ted kennedy leaving a woman underwater for several hours before notifying authorities.

If Cheney is a lizardman from tau Ceti, wouldn't his claws have trouble gripping the trigger?

Custom stock.

Uh, James, not only are there lots of drugs that don't have much, if any, interaction with alcohol, but a lot of cardiac patients are actually urged to drink a little alcohol every day.

Drugs can be used with beer?

Ok. Lets see the list of drugs Cheney is taking.

Then I'll go to a doctor and see what is what.

My guess...Cheney was drunk enough, and there is
at least one drug that should not be taken if
your gonna drink.

Re: C and G.

What's the difference between a VPOTUS with no political ambitions and a terrorist?

You can negotiate with a terrorist.

(I heard that from a Dean with "Full Professor" replacing VPOTUS.)

Oh, and regarding the "press debacle." Don't speak too soon. Cheney has very publicly bitch slapped the WH press corp. If he gets away with it people will remember. Milbank, Gregory, et. al. stand to lose a lot in this deal.

Oh, I agree, Bob. The rage level is only going to go up.

As well it might, and should. Just you or I try shooting someone, stoning local law enforcement until the next day and drafting a friend to release the news to a "reliable" small local newspaper.

I'm aware that if the media is critical of any thing, that thing will find enthusiastic defenders in some quarters. It doesn't matter how tacky, unworthy or appalling the conduct involved. But the issue here is not people who can only define their politics in terms of opposition to Washington reporters. It is instead the culture of entitlement run amuck, under the benign auspices of a lazy, disengaged President.