Oh ... by all means. Let us wail, gnash teeth, and beat ourselves with flails, lest we forget how insignificant the MSM is.
Posted on 02/20/2006 5:54:19 AM PST by Kitten Festival
For more than a week now, the press has been beating up on Vice President Dick Cheney for his handling – or, rather, for his mis-handling – of how the accidental shooting of his friend while on a hunting trip in Texas was disclosed. The theme that runs through all this criticism is that the Vice President made a terrible mistake in not arranging for news of the shooting to be disclosed immediately, rather than waiting 14 hours to put out the word.
But what if Dick Cheney hadn’t stiffed the press? Let’s conduct what scientists call a “thought experiment.” Let’s press the rewind button and go back to the very moment of the accidental shooting….
Cheney spots a quail, pulls the trigger—and to his horror Harry Whittington falls to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation the Vice President reaches into his pocket, pulls out his cell phone, and calls NBC News White House Correspondent David Gregory.
Gregory? This is Cheney. I’m hunting in Texas and I’ve just accidentally shot my friend.
When?
Thirty seconds ago, maybe forty. Took a while to find your number.
Is he dead or alive?
Don’t know. But I thought I better call you to get the word out fast.
While this conversation is taking place, another conversation is taking place on television:
Welcome to Hardball, I’m Chris Matthews. According to a new MSNBC poll, the Bush Administration is now the most hated and distrusted Administration in our country’s history. The question is, why. My guests today have two very different perspectives on all this. Nancy Pelosi is the House Democratic leader, and Katrina Vanden Heuvel is the highly-respected editor of the non-partisan magazine, The Nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The press will criticize everything this administration does. They might as well STOP trying to appease the press, because it can't be done. Enact your agenda, let the press howl and moan, and at the end of the day, do what Reagan did. Go straight to the American people and make your case.
If DC hadn't stiffed the press NSA would still be the Current Obsession. It was a brilliant operation worthy of Mr. Rove but it may have been actually an accident.
Cheney ought to hold his next press conference while on the commode, allowing the Liberal Drone to really get up close and personal with him.
"Cheney ought to hold his next press conference while on the commode, allowing the Liberal Drone to really get up close and personal with him."
LOL! After a big old bean burrito dinner. ;)
The press would've smeared VP Cheney either way. I think he did the right thing.
No question: his prompt notification of the press would have been treated as a confession of guilt for something really, really bad. They'd be fuzzy on the crime itself, but they'd be very clear that it was bad, and Cheney confessed to it.
If Cheney hadn't stiffed him, they would find something else about the case to criticize him on. They might be going more into "was cheney drunk" theories.
Oh ... by all means. Let us wail, gnash teeth, and beat ourselves with flails, lest we forget how insignificant the MSM is.
Whats funny here...is before Cheney and Gore came along....no one cared about the vice-president and he barely ever got mentioned in the press. If we go back to Mondale...if he was really lucky...there might be regional press to show for a speech and if it were in New York or LA...it'd make the national press...otherwise, we never heard of the guy. If we go back to Agnew...the guy was sitting in a closet the entire time and nobody could even remember his name.
If Cheney had gone first to the D.C. Press, the drumbeat would have been, "he cares more about spinning the news than the health of his hunting buddy".
My mother used to say it seemed like the function of a Vice President was to go to funerals the President chose not to attend. For years the only time they made the news was when they represented the US at a funeral.
pic courtesy of pookie18
I find two types of people who make this disinformation campaign by the MSM dangerous. Those who want to believe the worst about Republicans, and accept many of the distortions as fact. And those who pay very little attention to what goes on in the world, and get their information from the big four...abc, nbcm cbs, and cnn. The first group cannot be turned except by changing the media since they choose ignorance. The second group, hoewever, can be influenced by gently turning them toward more reliable news sources.
Regardless, it is an uphill battle. FReegards...
Cheney did not intentionally start out to allow the press to make fools of themselves, but it sure turned out that way. Not only that, but they are still doing it.
The American media : How low can they go?
ASAP, VP Cheney needs to find something else important to break to a small town newspaper. Just for fun.
I reject this analysis, and claim it was not an "operation" at all. It was the logical way to handle the course of events.
The press would've smeared VP Cheney either way.
But if Cheny were on the commode he could smear them right back.
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