Sure, Duncan. The way to electoral empowerment for the Democrats is to follow Arianna’s lead and try to make a big stink about the Vice President’s heart:
So kudos to Lloyd Grove, but this has to appear in a gossip column? When is the national news media going to pick up on this case of dishonesty involving an issue that’s of the utmost national importance — the heartbeat of the man who (all W. jokes aside for one fleeting moment) at least constitutionally is a heartbeat away from the presidency?
Also, why then did a “senior hospital official” anonymously tell the Vail Daily News this — that “he
Jeff
“….for a Vice-President who has been elected twice with known heart issues…..”
Well, that’s your first mistake. 99% of the braindead kooks that read Atrios don’t think Chaney was ever legitimately elected once, let alone twice.
Don
I might have thought this had some bearing pre-election but what difference does it make now?
tbone
So Cheney had to go in for his annual lump-of-coal replacement – some “scoop.” There’s plenty of big fat targets in this adminstration, Arianna; why tilt at windmills?
Compuglobalhypermeganet
One thing the Bush-haters will never run out of: fake outrage.
Jimmy Jazz
Hmmmm, looks like Bush might get to designate his heir apparent after all.
I agree that this is a non story unless Cheney was no longer able to perform his consitutionally directed duties of growling angrily on Meet the Press.
SomeCallMeTim
Not quite up to the “blow job in the Oval Office” standard, eh? Fair enough. I don’t really think anyone on our side of the aisle cares about Cheney, his not-obviously-extant heart, or what he doing with it. I suspect that people are primarily irritated because the President’s health is often a matter for speculation (remember the spate of stories about Clinton’s checkups, which came with a host of questions about VD?), the Vice-President’s health (esp. here) would seem to be similarly relevant, and there is little reporting on the matter.
But I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t trade blanket silence on the matter for a sane Republican Administration.
KC
Christ. Who reads Huffington anyway?
Tim F
If the choice is between a cover-up and graphic pictures of Cheneys colon a la Reagan, I’ll take the cover-up.
If there’s something seriously wrong with Cheney then I might find the strength to care about this. You do sort of wonder who’s in the bullpen in case the inevitable happens.
Mike S
I wouldn’t call it an outrage either but it is telling that they would hide this when, as you say, everyone know’s he’s got a bad heart. Why did they say it was for his knee’s instead of just saying it was a “routine” thing? This administration has a propencity to lie about the stupidest things.
Vail also seems like a strange place to have a “routine” check when your own Dr, and some of the best in the world, are just minutes from your own home in DC.
So on the outrage meter it doesn’t register. It’s just more of the same.
Jeff
“Vail also seems like a strange place to have a “routine” check when your own Dr, and some of the best in the world, are just minutes from your home in DC.”
Well, I’m sure there are fine doctors in Los Angeles too, but Kobe still went to Colorado to see a doctor.
You may have heard about that trip.
Tim F
Mike, I read the story. Apparently he had labored breathing and they took him in for an exam, everything checked out ok.
On the whole it’s a pretty pedestrian story. At over 8000 feet above sea level probably one in three coast-dwellers experience shortness of breath in Vail. It’s the High Altitude Cerebral Edema capitol of the civilized world. Cheney’s circulation not being so good I’d be shocked if he didn’t have some trouble mounting a tall set of stairs.
The false-name thing is cute and sort of pathetic for one of the most powerful men on the planet; Clinton would have just walked in the front door and welcomed the attention. Cheney’s instinct to keep this kerfuffle from becoming a big deal is understandable although his methods proved as hamfisted as ever.
Mike S
Jeff
Vail is a logical place for ortho specialists. You may have heard about their primary attraction. It tends to be rather tough of knee’s.
Tim F
You are right. It is a very pedestrian story. But the fact that they would lie about it when there is no way it would hold up is indicative of what they do. There was absolutly no need for it. The honest story, laid out exactly as you did, would have gotten a normal reaction. “Makes sense. I have a hard time beathing at 8000 feet. I wonder what’s happening in Aruba?”
p.lukasiak
My theory is that Cheney has such a high regard for himself that he thinks anything that suggests he might not be able to keep Shrub from running completely amok would have a major deleterious impact. So, instead of admitting that he showed symptoms of distress, he lied about it.
The worst thing is that Cheney might be right. Cheney may be little more than a murderous thug in a business suit, but at least he’s a Machiavellian murderous thug. Bush, on the other hand, is the kind of man who still likes to pull the legs off of daddy-long-legs for amusement….
Rocky Smith
Cheney is from the wonderful State of Wyoming. He fishes mountain streams when he has time, so I doubt altitude affects him that much. Stress of putting up with the crap that comes his way from liberal hand wringers probably sets his ticker off kilter though. He isn’t the evil man that lefties would have you believe he is.
Jimmy Jazz
–GW Bush
Pudentilla
“If there’s something seriously wrong with Cheney then I might find the strength to care about this.”
How will you ever know a) that it’s important or b) if it’s worth caring about – if every time they are caught in a lie you say, “oh, it’s not that important a lie.” Oh, that’s right, lying’s okay if you’re a Republican: accountability and honor only matter when we’re trying to bring down Democrats – for us, it’s so 20th century to worry about such things. Oh well, at least Republican ennui has spared the nation the millions wasted ala Ken Starr.
Pudentilla
“If there’s something seriously wrong with Cheney then I might find the strength to care about this.”
How will you ever know a) that it’s important or b) if it’s worth caring about – if every time they are caught in a lie you say, “oh, it’s not that important a lie.” Oh, that’s right, lying’s okay if you’re a Republican: accountability and honor only matter when we’re trying to bring down Democrats – for us, it’s so 20th century to worry about such things. Oh well, at least Republican ennui has spared the nation the millions wasted ala Ken Starr.
Tim F
I think Rocky wins the WTF award for this thread.
Anderson
I think the news that Cheney HAS a heart can only be a plus for the White House.
M. Scott Eiland
John, if you think this is an unseemly display, think of how much howling and whining there will be if Cheney does step down in the next year or so, and he is replaced by someone already in the running for the Republican presidential nomination in ’08, or someone else who would get a rather abrupt boost in stature as a result (say, Condi Rice). It won’t be pretty–I’d venture a guess that the DNC has been banking on:
1) A field of more-or-less equal newbies in the Republican field for 2008, and;
2) That Cheney would be available as a convenient bogeyman to help Governor Howie raise funds for the DNC.
It won’t be pretty if it happens.
Sojourner
Condi would have a really tough time explaining her lies and incompetence, and accounting for the thousands of people who died as a result. I doubt she’s up to the challenge.