Posted on 02/15/2006 5:48:58 PM PST by Daralundy
RUSH: The media no doubt very disappointed as a press conference is taking place down in Texas. The doctors are updating the condition of Harry Whittington, he is exhibiting no complications. They are keeping him in the ICU, the intensive care unit, they say, for privacy. If they had him in a regular room, media people could sneak in there, other patients. You've been to a hospital. They walk around, and anybody can get in these rooms. ICU is off limits. They say he is very near resuming work on his law practice. This, of course, is devastating news to the mainstream media, the Washington press corps, which is hoping as they always do for the absolute worst in this circumstance, all so that they can eventually force Dick Cheney out of office.
People have been asking me, "Rush, you know Dick Cheney." Yes, I do know Dick Cheney. "Well, how is he probably reacting to this?" Let me tell you. I can't say that I know the vice president as a bosom buddy, but I know this much about him. He doesn't care what they say about him. He is not into crisis public relations. He is not into spin management or any of that, in a way like Bush isn't. He does his job. He knows who he is. He's comfortable in his own skin, particularly when he's carrying a shotgun made in Italy, and he doesn't mind being who he is, and all this stuff that's being said about him will not affect his mood or his attitude. He's more upset by what the circumstances are for his friend than by anything David Gregory or these arrogant people in the media are saying.
In fact, I've got a column I'm going to share with you here in a moment by David Ignatius of the Washington Post who refers to this administration as being "arrogant with power," and it is so obvious that the arrogance is on the part of Mr. Ignatius when you read this. But Cheney doesn't care. He's one of these rare people that doesn't care. He is immune to it. He is immune to the name-calling; he is immune to the insults. I've talked to him about it, and he just sort of chuckles and laughs when I've asked him about it, because he doesn't think it's a big deal. You've been in public life as long as he has and held as many jobs as he has, public and private sector as well, he's very confident in himself, very confident who he is, and this stuff, if anything, it would make him mad, but he's not sitting around depressed. In fact, he's continuing to work.
Interesting story here -- and that will depress the media, too. The media wants Cheney in his pajamas all day worrying, not shaving, overeating so he might have another heart attack. They want all kinds of ill to befall the vice president. They hope he's morose, they hope he's depressed, they hope he's crying, they hope he's asking Lynne, "What did I do, why do these people hate me?" He doesn't. He was working yesterday. "Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt: White House sways some GOP lawmakers, by Charles Babington," Washington Post staff puke. "Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week." That is a continual spread of a contemptible lie. There was no domestic spying. It is foreign surveillance. Anyway, let me start again. Trying to help Mr. Babington out here.
"Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday." Awe, shucks, Democrats lose again, folks. Ha-ha-ha-ha, too bad. "The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored motion to start an inquiry into the recently revealed program in which the NSA eavesdrops on an undisclosed number of phone calls and e-mails involving US residents without obtaining warrants from a secret court." Why don't you finish the sentence and be accurate instead of acting like you're Bill Schneider, Mr. Babington? Why don't you point out that these phone calls and e-mails involving US residents also involve them getting or placing phone calls to Al-Qaeda or other terrorist members overseas?
What's so hard about getting the story right? Oh, can't do that because that would take us off the action line! The action line is: Bush is spying on the American people; Bush is the greatest threat to national security we've got. Bush is a greater threat than bin Laden. Bush is a greater threat than any terrorist attack. Bush is who we've got to deal with. But in order to make that case you have to lie about Bush and about what he's doing. "Two committee Democrats said this panel made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week to have the hearings, but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it. They attributed the shift to last week's closed briefings given by top administration officials to the full House and Senate intelligence committees and to private appeals to wavering GOP senators by officials including Vice President Cheney.
"'It's been a full-court press,' said a top Senate Republican aide who asked to speak only on background as did several others in this story because of the classified nature of the intelligence committee's work. Lawmakers cite senators such as Olympia Snowe to illustrate the administration's success in cooling congressional zeal for an investigation."' Let me tell you what probably happened here. All of these inside-the-Beltway Republicans probably -- well, it's not "probably;" I know. You know, some of them have been so cowed and so scared by the lie, the contemptible lie that has been the reporting on this story, that it's a domestic spying program, that they probably believe that. Olympia Snowe probably thought that Bush was doing exactly what the media was lying about Bush doing, and so the White House goes up, "No, no, no. Here's what the program is. Here's who in Congress we told."
There's no other way this could happen, other than for these people to find out what the program actually is -- and maybe we're also told of some of the successes that the program has had. We can't be told that. That would further compromise the program, that maybe some of these people are being let in on this. What else could be the reason why some of the Republicans and Democrats -- okay, because they don't want to embarrass themselves. There will be no other reason than that. So what you have here, the media creating another false action line, a false reality, that this is all about domestic spying, just like this story leaves out the fact that the Americans involved here have to be getting or placing phone calls to terrorists overseas, don't you think that's somewhat important here, accurately presenting the facts to the readers of the Washington Post? (Laughing.)
I'll tell you what: this is some of the most unprofessional work. The body of work that the mainstream press has put its name to in the last four years is some of the most embarrassing and unprofessional, starting with Dan Rather and going through to this story and countless other examples. I also wonder this. You know, I have, in previous jobs, I have had a boss. I am the boss and I don't have a boss now, but I have had bosses for most of my broadcast career. They are called program directors and general managers, and I was once fired in Kansas City for using the word "therefore" too much on the theory that it "confused the audience" and did not represent a "professional presentation." I'm not making it up. When I watched the White House press corps -- and I've had to go through coaching sessions, the show will end and the program director will call you into the office, "We want to review your performance today." Go over and nitpick this and nitpick that. It's interesting.
My success actually didn't kick off until I became my own boss. But I don't want to get sidetracked with that, although it is a great life lesson for everybody. The fact of the matter is I'm watching the White House press corps Monday and Tuesday go absolutely berserk, act like little, spoiled rotten kids, and I'm wondering about their bosses. I'm wondering about the news directors and the presidents of the news division and the editors and the producers back at headquarters, back at NBC, back as CBS, back at ABC, back at AP, back at the New York Times, and I'm just wondering, if their bosses watch that and think, "Oh, gee, we're looking bad, we are looking bad," and they call them in and say, "Look, try to get a handle on yourself in there. There's a way of doing this, but, for crying out loud, don't act like you're five years old." I just wonder if that happens. It looks like it doesn't happen because they never change. In fact, they keep getting worse.
I think what's happening is that the people back at headquarters like it. The people back at headquarters think that that's good journalism, that that's feisty, that's standing up to power, not being shut up, demanding answers and so forth. So my point is I don't think they have the slightest idea how they appear to average Americans who see them. Probably they don't even care, when you get right down to it, because the level of arrogance and self-importance is such that just like other liberals, they will say to themselves, "The audience? What do they know? They're just a bunch of dummies. They don't understand what we do. They don't have the brains. They don't have the experience. They don't have the ability to understand how important that our job is, how important we are! I can't be held to account by people that are as clueless as the audience." I bet that's the attitude, because if it weren't, this would change. The fact that it keeps getting worse and worse and worse is evidence that somewhere this is admired and liked, and perhaps even encouraged.
"Cheney Does Not Care About the Press"
My kinda guy.
Boy, is Cheney ever going to be surprised when he isn`t nominated in 2008.
Love you Rush
He knows about the snakes in the media. He has handled himself in his usual dignified manner. Cheney is a brillant man and his wife is also. My heart goes out to him and our prayers are with Mr Cheney and Mr.Whittington.
"He's comfortable in his own skin, particularly when he's carrying a shotgun made in Italy..."
One like this: http://www.benelliusa.com/firearms/m4.tpl
Say What!
Great speech by Rush. Superb.
I call it a speech because I don't know what else to call it. It's not a rant, because it's too well controlled. It's not a column because it's spoken. It's not exactly an oration, because it's too informal. But maybe oration is a good word, because Rush has a gift for rhetoric, for buildup, for using the right words and rhythms, for making his point and driving it home.
The three major aspects of an oration are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is the character of the speaker: you trust, admire, and believe him. Pathos appeals to the audience's feelings and stirs them up. Logos is the word, the appeal to reason that convinces the audience rationally. Rush does them all very well.
Need your glasses..?
Cheney snubs the press, yet he will always grant FOX an interview. That just fries 'em.
The reason he will prevail is the Washington and other liberal press corps are going nuts, look like they are nuts and are going to be even nuttier when they don't get a direct shot at him.
Why help your adversaries when they are committing social suicide?
As far as the President he should just indicate the VP has said what happened and he, too, is hoping for the early recovery of the victim. If asked in a press conference he should demur with the above comments only.
There is nothing in the Constitution or political SOP that demands obeisance to the Washington press corp.
I don't care about the press either so that makes two of us. Of course, they don't care if we like them they like themselves enough for all of us.
hard to believe that there is one guy out there who could simply grab the nomination with substantial (though not universal) support from every sector: chamber of commerce types, club for growth types, Christian conservatives, defense hawks, neocons, Wall Street types....Cheney is the guy who can come the closest of putting together the Reagan coalition.
Yet, apparently, he's not running.
Incredible, really, if you think about it.
Sweet!!!!
That's what the totalitarian freaks are upset about.
This is the nightmare of the press...
When conservative leaders can openly and with impunity say and ACT like the MSM are irrelevent they soon BECOME irrelevant.
The MSM is terrified that Cheney, by ignoring the prima donnas, is supporting the new media and fostering the demise of the dinosaur media.
The hairstyles on camera are quaking in their mouse bottles.
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