Charles Dharapak/Associated Press
Vice President Dick Cheney, who
prefers conservative media
outlets, made an Inauguration Day
exception for the contrarian radio
host Don Imus.
Posted on 01/24/2005 3:04:59 AM PST by Pharmboy
WASHINGTON
The traditional way to start Inauguration Day is with a service at St. John's Episcopal Church across the street from the White House. But last Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney preceded the sacraments with a seemingly sacrilegious visit with the roguish and ribald talk show host Don Imus.
At the very least, the "Imus in the Morning" program on MSNBC was an odd place to find the vice president, whose preferred method of speaking to the public is through conservative news outlets like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's radio talk show. Although Mr. Imus's politics are more contrarian than they are Democratic or Republican, he voted for Senator John Kerry for president and criticized the Bush administration throughout last fall's campaign.
Charles Dharapak/Associated Press
Vice President Dick Cheney, who
prefers conservative media
outlets, made an Inauguration Day
exception for the contrarian radio
host Don Imus.
So is this a new Dick Cheney? Or at least a new Cheney media strategy to warm up Dr. No?
No, no, no, insisted Mary Matalin, Mr. Cheney's longtime friend and adviser who negotiated the appearance of the vice president and his wife, Lynne, with Mr. Imus.
"You guys got us pegged all wrong," Ms. Matalin said Friday in a telephone interview, en route to a weekend in the country after the inaugural celebrations. The vice president, she said, "has a wry sense of humor."
"He has the same sense of humor that Imus has. He thinks Imus is funny. He gets good guests on. And he asks good questions. It's not really strategic or complicated. Not everything we do has to work on 50 different levels."
One question Mr. Imus asked Mr. Cheney was about Iran, which prompted the vice president to raise the possibility that Israel "might well decide to act first" with military action to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. By Friday, an Israeli diplomat in Washington denied any such possibility, and said that Mr. Cheney seemed to be using the Israeli threat to signal to Europeans that they had to get tougher in talks to get Iran to give up its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Iran was the news of the interview, but the vice president was revealing, at least for the administration's chief guard of secrets, on other topics as well.
Mr. Cheney, who did the interview face-to-face with Mr. Imus at the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel near the Washington waterfront, recalled that he gave serious thought in 1994 to running for president in 1996, and then recounted that he told Mr. Bush in the summer of 2000 that he would make a lousy running mate.
Don Imus
"I went through all the reasons why he shouldn't pick me," Mr. Cheney said. " 'I'm from Wyoming, and you're going to carry Wyoming regardless. It's only three electoral votes. I'm in the oil business. That's a liability in some quarters. I've got health problems. I've had three heart attacks.' You know, I went through the whole long list."
Mr. Cheney, who gives few interviews, also described how he spent a typical day. He said he started out at 7 a.m. at home with a briefer from the Central Intelligence Agency, who hand-delivered a copy of the President's Daily Brief. The P.D.B., as it is called, is a top-secret 10- to 12-page document filled with what the C.I.A. considers the most important national security information of the previous 24 hours, including potential terrorist threats against the United States.
Mr. Cheney said he frequently asked the briefer about information in the document. By 8 a.m., he is in the Oval Office to be with Mr. Bush when the president first sees his own copy of the brief, presented by another briefer and the director of central intelligence, Porter J. Goss. "I go over it twice, partly because I don't like to interfere with his time with my questions," Mr. Cheney said, speaking of the president.
Mr. Cheney next sits in on a briefing from the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, about domestic threats. "And then after that, it's whatever's hot," he said. "We'll have a National Security Council meeting. We've got a lot of policy meetings that we do." Mr. Cheney, who was central in the case the administration made for war in Iraq and is now focused on Mr. Bush's plans to overhaul Social Security, said he spent a lot of his time on Capitol Hill.
He said he finished his day by 7 p.m., then went home and watched Brit Hume on Fox, although he and his wife "occasionally" switched to other news channels. "We're junkies," he said.
During the program, Mr. Imus said that some people considered Mr. Cheney to be like Slim Pickens, the actor in the movie "Dr. Strangelove" who rode the atomic bomb dropped on Russia as if it were a bucking bronco. Afterward, Mr. Imus said in an interview that he had gotten "a good vibe" from Mr. Cheney. "And I was surprised at how healthy he looks; his skin tone was good and his eyes were clear," Mr. Imus said.
Also, he said, "he seems like he can be funny, but he isn't quite sure whether he wants to be or not."
Mr. Imus was perhaps recalling a moment in his program when he asked the vice president if, as many critics of Mr. Bush believe, Mr. Cheney is actually president.
"No," Mr. Cheney replied. "But that was a nice try."
Because if the MSM label it conservative that makes look like the soul fair and balanced journalism. They still don't get it.
Not only Bush, but Cheney is vastly 'misunderestimated' by the MSM as well. So far, the strategery is paying off, and the MSM remains off balance.
The big venues will gradually reform over the next couple of decades, as the old guard retires and/or dies, and the upcoming journalism graduates see that what they have been taught in school turns out to be so much mindrot.
Next, take back the universities and colleges.
Cheney was terrific ...Russert came on (grinning)and ridiculed Imus for letting Cheney "get away with it" or some such..
Imus is a self important @ss.
Yes and that's also his shtick..I had to turn him off during the "Kerry is my man" period. He can be funny..unfortunately he has all the regular MSNBC guests and it does get too much to bear at times..I keep on early morning shows for background noise.
"How come they never describe CBSNBCCNNETC as liberal, but FoxNews is conservative?"
Last week, Rush played an interview by Brian Williams where he [Williams] said basically the same thing...that there were people who would hear a republican being described by the MSM as right wing, conservative, etc. and in the same sentence just a democrat's name with no adjectives such as left wing, liberal, etc. and they wanted a news outlet that would speak to them and that's why Rush and Fox News is so popular...Williams said his good friend Brit Hume would often call the reporters on it.
God bless Cheney for the work he puts in day in and day out to protect this nation. I wonder if Gore or Clinton had more than 3 days like that one in their entire tenure.
And the reason.
Sometimes, but if you listened to the interview he was very respectful and came out of it saying he got "good vibes" from Cheney.
The NY Slimes is taking lines from the interview out of context. But, why am I not surprised.
Incidently, if anyone wants to watch the interview online, see this link.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6847999/
Don Imus interviews the candidate he once poked fun at— and gets porkchops as a parting gift from the VP
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.