Enough with the Teddy Bears, Time for the Cheney Bears

NewsReal Blog ^ | August 30, 2009 | Gene Mierzejewski

[HorowitzianConservative]

Just when viewers became exhausted by TV's gavel-to-shovel coverage of Ted Kennedy's funeral, along came former Vice President Dick Cheney to stir the pot. Cheney gained national attention with his spirited attack on Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to investigate charges that CIA interrogators allegedly tortured suspected terrorists.

It's an opportune time, then, to glance back at the careers of both men, who have spent their lives in public service.

Despite his checkered past, Kennedy has always been a media darling, while Cheney has been portrayed as both a hero (as Secretary of Defense during the Gulf War) and a villain (during most of his time as veep) on the airwaves and printed page.

Two recent news clips from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show give an indication of how the MSM view Kennedy and Cheney.

In this segment, Maddow ridicules Republican senators' claims that Kennedy would have compromised with the GOP on a comprehensive health care bill (noting, with some satisfaction, that Kennedy was a "doctrinaire liberal"):

[ncfool]

Thank you VP Chaney! You helped keep America safe after 9-11.

Keep telling it like it is!

[cubreporter]

Go Dick Cheney. Push back. I know you will and you should.