Posted on 02/21/2006 4:07:48 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
"I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine." — George W. Bush, Feb. 16, 2006
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." — George W. Bush, Sept. 2, 2005
Some of us have always thought of Dick Cheney, vice president of the United States, former secretary of defense, industrial magnate and general mover-and-shaker, as The Brains of the Outfit.
We still do, but intelligence isn't everything in a leader. Or even the most important thing — like judgment or honesty or prudence or modesty or, well, name your own favorite character trait. Lest we forget, the smartest people can do the stupidest things. (Cf. The Hon. William Jefferson Clinton.)
It's become almost a Washington mantra since Watergate: What really gets a politician into trouble isn't the mistake, even a serious mistake, but how it's addressed afterward — promptly or tardily, candidly or evasively, well or badly enough to amount to a far more serious mistake, as in cover-up.
Dick Cheney now has stepped forward (finally) and taken responsibility, full responsibility, for firing first and looking afterward on that quail hunt, or maybe looking simultaneously, which can be just as dangerous. That's good.
But he's still sticking with his story about its being perfectly proper to wait till the next morning to let the country know that a vice president of the United States has shot a friend in a hunting accident. Even though presidential counselor Dan Bartlett and the president's press secretary, Scott McClellan, both advised him to get the story out — widely — as soon as he could. But the best advice is of no use if one doesn't take it, and the vice president didn't. .
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I have to hit the streets within a few months and work at defeating sitting incumbent Bill Nelson, and I have to do it in the most liberal county in Florida. It seems to me that the WH is intent on putting bullets in my opponent's guns.
You are exactly right BTW, handling the media is their job, and they don't just get to ignore it because they don't like to, they have a responsibility to those of us out here who are already starting to gear up for the next electoral battle.
When it comes to this WH, the MSM is like a rabid, junkyard dog...everyone knows that.
However, to sit and piss off a rabid junkyard dog, then act surprised and indignant at the fact that it tried to bite you is disingenuous at best, downright hypocritical at worst.
November 7th.
Because their actions are enpowering the enemy.
Do you believe everything you see on TV?
Here we are, the second week into the story, and it's still all about how Cheney did not show sufficient respect to David Gregory. The stories about drinking, negligence, killing cute little birdies and the default story about Cheney being an out-of-control, bloodthirsty, war mongering, violent person never got off the ground.
If you think this is by accident, I have a bridge you might be interested in. For sale, cheap!
The MSM was going to hit Cheney with both barrels, no matter what. Now they are spinning their wheels trying to inflict damage on an issue that 99.9% of the people could not care less about. Does it really matter to anybody, besides David Gregory, if David Gregory was informed of this accident at the end of the day Saturday or first thing Sunday morning?
Well I think they have pretty much dis armed the mainstrem media
Exactly. It is a damaging story, but the damage is mitigated by the fact that it is over an issue that nobody, besides you and David Gregory, cares about.
Would you rather have a damaging story about an issue that people did care about?
And The National Review, and Peggy Noonan, and Marlin Fitzwater, and Ari Fleischer, and about half of all Americans polled as well as all the media that continues to cover this "dead" issue.
You get in trouble when you start buying your own disinformation.
Like them or not, it's their job to communicate with the American people vis a vis the media.
The fact that no one is buying the notion that the story is about the media's reaction, not Cheney's doesn't slow you down one bit, does it?
Buried in the Time cover story, however, was one brain-teaser that could fuel more speculation, as it contradicts earlier explanations that Cheney wanted to get the full story out, he was just a bit tardy about it. The passage reads:
"At about 8 a.m. Sunday, a Cheney aide called strategist Mary Matalin, who regularly advises the Vice President. The aide read her a statement about the accident that Cheney had considered releasing before he decided to encourage Armstrong to go to the (Corpus Christi) Caller-Times.
"But the statement 'didn't say much of anything,' Matalin says—not even that Cheney was the shooter. Matalin then spoke with a second aide and with Cheney's family and heard different versions of what had happened in the shooting. She decided no statement should be released amid the confusion. Matalin spoke with Cheney, and, she says, they agreed that 'a fuller accounting, with an eyewitness,' would be preferable."
Time also reports a poll showing that almost two-thirds of Americans (65%) think Cheney should have taken immediate responsibility for the shooting incident. His approval rating stands at 29%; President Bush's approval rating is 40%.
Yes, people don't like it. But how much do they really care about it?
This is Inside Baseball for everybody besides members of the DC Press Corps and former Presidential speechwriters and spokesmen. Beyond the Beltway, people could not care less.
Sure, if you poll, people will give you and answer about whether or not they think the story should have gotten out on Saturday or Sunday morning. But that is not the sort of issue that is going to get pulses racing.
But this is the club that they are beating Cheney with. It is like getting beaten by a pillow instead of a baseball bat. Of course, Cheney would rather be left alone. But given that a beating is inevitable, it is better to get beaten with the pillow.
Let's see, 29% job approval...
Yep, looks like Cheney would not get re-elected if the election were held today.
But the election is not today. And Cheney is not running.
And anyoje who does not think that they (WH) have no impact on the upcoming midterms is insane.
When Bush choked on a pretzel, it was significant news because he fainted and could easily have choked to death. The country came close to losing its president. When Dick accidentally shot Harry, the country came close to losing a nice old lawyer. See the difference? On one side of the scale is the loss of the leader of the free world, and on the other is the loss of a nice old lawyer. Not quite as newsworthy.
Cheney knew that the shooting was an accident, and that everything that could be done for his friend was being done. Moreover, Cheney know that the event had no immediate national significance. There was no information that Cheney could provide that the country needed to know quickly. So, who would he have served by holding a quick press conference? Not the country, just the media. He might have helped them sell more advertising -- not exactly a pressing national priority. For obvious reasons Cheney didn't feel quite up to dancing for the media, and there was no good reason for him not to wait a day.
This incident demonstrated that guns are dangerous, mistakes happen, and the MSM has a disgustingly high regard for its own importance. None of which is news.
I think that Cheney shooting somebody is probably bad for the 'Pubbies prospects for the midterms. I'll grant you that. But that was an accident. Every thing that happens after that is damage control.
I happen to think that a sharply poked thumb in the eye of the White House Press Corps has done Cheney a whole lot of good. The hypothesis that this is an intentional act also provides an explanation for the delay, the releasing of the story to a local paper, and the bizarre cheap-shot on David Gregory by Scott McClellan.
You may ascribe all of these things to screw ups and incompetence, but I think you are missing the pattern, here. But there is obviously nothing I can do to convince you otherwise. You have the MSM meme firmly embedded in your mind and it apparently reinforces an important point for you, so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.
That's all I've been saying, and Cheney and all those highly paid media people should have done better at controlling the release of the information.
"But that was an accident."
Yes it was, thank God Whittington is OK.
"Every thing that happens after that is damage control."
And our demage control people got their asses handed to them.
"I happen to think that a sharply poked thumb in the eye of the White House Press Corps has done Cheney a whole lot of good."
His number remain below 30%.
"You have the MSM meme firmly embedded in your mind and it apparently reinforces an important point for you."
Yes, and that is that we are losing the battle for the mass dissemination of information to the other side's mass communication machine; we need to develop our own media sources, and we need to not be contented with playing victim to theirs.
The fact that they are better than us at the media game indicates a major flaw in the GOP's ability to win political battles.
There are thirty-three seats up in the Senate, six seats swing power to the DNC, and elections are nine months away.
Like it or not, mass media is a factor, and their media has been beating the crap out of our media for months now, and that's not their fault...that's OUR fault.
Media image to the masses is one of the primary functions of a political party, and right now we are losing that battle to their mass media arm.
Where is our media arm, and why does it appear that sometimes my own side is their media's greatest ally?
Ref: post #119
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