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You are here: Home / Politics / The Final Cheney Wrap-Up

The Final Cheney Wrap-Up

by John Cole|  February 20, 200611:22 am| 81 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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For those of you who can never have too much of the Cheney shooting (can you believe this just happened a week ago? It feels like this happened last year, there has been so much BS printed and said about this little event already), here is one last post-mortem on this now dead story:

Mary Matalin, Vice President Dick Cheney’s longtime troubleshooter, was sleeping in last Sunday when the phone jangled her awake at 8 a.m. She groggily picked it up to hear, ‘The vice president shot somebody, and he’s O.K.’ ”

“And I said,” Ms. Matalin recounted, ” ‘Can I get a cup of coffee?’ ”

In the time it took her to make a pot, more calls had come in from the Armstrong Ranch in Texas, all with conflicting information about the condition of Harry A. Whittington, the 78-year-old lawyer injured by Mr. Cheney in a hunting accident. “I heard everything from ‘it’s a surface wound’ to ‘he still can see,’ ” Ms. Matalin said in a telephone interview on Friday.

Onward to the next ‘scandal.’

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Reader Interactions

81Comments

  1. 1.

    capelza

    February 20, 2006 at 11:32 am

    I’m just glad Mr. Whittington will recover. Now anytime the subject is anywhere near coming up I can make fun of the old bastard (Cheney) and his gun without guilt.

    I just wish he’d come to our little burg..it would be great fun to don the hunting orange…

  2. 2.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 11:51 am

    this now dead story

    I suppose imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but enough with your imitations of me.

  3. 3.

    zzyzx

    February 20, 2006 at 11:52 am

    What happened to the inevitability of the left overplaying their hand here?

  4. 4.

    Mr Furious

    February 20, 2006 at 11:54 am

    What happened to the inevitability of the left overplaying their hand here?

    Heh.

  5. 5.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 11:59 am

    Honestly, I’m pretty sure John has taken to extended snarking on certain issues. There’s no way he can really believe what he wrote here.

  6. 6.

    Mr Furious

    February 20, 2006 at 12:00 pm

    Examples of overplaying their hand, in regard to Matalin:

    [links can be found at HuffPo, where I snipped this. link ]

    Update: Mary Matalin’s performance was universally panned in the blogosphere. Check out:

    firedoglake: Crazy Mary Does Timmeh
    “Quite the bravura performance, complete with wacky foil flower badge and everything.”

    The Left Coaster: Matalin Trots Out The J-Word All Too Easily
    “If you watched Meet the Press this morning, you got to see a prime example of how this administration’s defenders manage to equate criticism and dissent with terrorism.”

    Think Progress: Cheney Advisor Won’t Say If “A Beer” Is “Literally One Beer”
    “What’s puzzling is that Matalin insists its a ‘literal fact’ that Cheney doesn’t ‘drink and hunt’ even though he has admitted to drinking before hunting.”

    AMERICAblog: Matalin is crankier and nastier than usual on MTP
    “Matalin had to spin extra hard today trying to defend Cheney.”

    Sirotablog: After DUIs, Should We Really “Presume” Cheney “Doesn’t Drink?”
    “Cheney advisor Mary Matalin claimed that the public should be ‘presuming what we all know, that [Cheney] doesn’t drink.’ I don’t think we should presume that about anyone who has already admitted to drinking before the hunting accident in question.”

    Hullabaloo: The Beltway’s Madwoman of Chaillot*
    “You really have to wonder who is ever going to be dumb enough to ever hire Mary Matalin again? This shooting mess was clearly her deal and she couldn’t have fucked it up worse than she did.”

    Talking Points Memo: On Meet the…
    “Matalin claimed that Vice President Cheney never sent surrogates out to blame Harry Whittington for last weekend’s hunting accident… How can she be serious when she was one of the lead surrogates sent out to do just that?”

    Eschaton: Liars
    “When people lie to you that obviously and blatantly you stop having them on. Matalin doesn’t even have an official position in the Bush administration so there’s literally no excuse.”

    Oliver Willis: Meet The Press? Nah, Just Matalin
    “Man, they just let Mary Matalin – an official flack for the Bushies – yammer on unopposed forever today, didn’t they? Must be that liberal media I keep hearing about.”

  7. 7.

    Mac Buckets

    February 20, 2006 at 12:16 pm

    Onward to the next ‘scandal.’

    Won’t have to wait long, John. I’m just now getting a report that Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has just bumped into a person on the street. The bumpee, an elderly woman, clearly took Norton’s elbow squarely in her biceps, and was seen rubbing her left arm with a pained expression on her face. Norton stopped to apologize and asked if the bumpee was OK, but then walked away without calling an ambulance or even the police, leading Ariana Huffington to speculate that Norton must have been high on a combination of crack and fish paralyzers.

    This bumping incident will surely define the Bush Administration.

  8. 8.

    D. Mason

    February 20, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    What happened to the inevitability of the left overplaying their hand here?

    Wow… What, exactly, is your definition of “overplaying”? I mean, compare the coverage of this minor but incredibly sensational story to the coverage of the outsourcing of major port security to the United Arab Emirates, a country with known ties to the 9/11 hijackers. The disparity is laughable. The right wing talking heads dared the left wing talking heads to overplay this story and the left wingers delivered big. If you think this story got reasonable coverage I have to question your priorities. Unless of course you mean that a story this sensational cannot possibly be overplayed, then I would have to congratulate you on what must be a very sucessful career somewhere in the mainstream media.

  9. 9.

    Harley

    February 20, 2006 at 12:19 pm

    This little story? Okay. But this little story — shoutout to the Carter Rabbit!! — has weakened Cheney to a significant extent, reducing his effectiveness in the admin., and of course, as an added bonus, making him a nationwide figure of ridicule. (Not sure if it will impact his 29 percent favorable number. Hey. You never know.) And all this while offering yet another example of the admin.’s deranged approach to crisis management.

    On the plus side, the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight finally shot something. So there’s that.

  10. 10.

    dedgeorge

    February 20, 2006 at 12:20 pm

    John Cole said:
    Onward to the next ‘scandal.’

    Since the shrubettes can only tolerate their existence by reading fairytales —

    In the style of Willie Wonka:

    “So few scandals — so MUCH time to cover them up!!!

    No – Wait!!! — Reverse that”

  11. 11.

    zzyzx

    February 20, 2006 at 12:28 pm

    What, exactly, is your definition of “overplaying”?

    The definition that was used was not overcovering it (which always happens to stories like this) but that the Democrats would put forth overblown claims along the lines of Cheney being falling down drunk or that he intentionally shot Whittington or that he should be put on trial or something.

  12. 12.

    The Other Steve

    February 20, 2006 at 12:30 pm

    This little story? Okay. But this little story—shoutout to the Carter Rabbit!!—has weakened Cheney to a significant extent, reducing his effectiveness in the admin., and of course, as an added bonus, making him a nationwide figure of ridicule. (Not sure if it will impact his 29 percent favorable number. Hey. You never know.) And all this while offering yet another example of the admin.’s deranged approach to crisis management.

    Yup, you nailed it.

    The right is running around screaming like little girls in fear of this thing. The left may be trying to pin some bigger thing on Cheney.

    But the reality is, Cheney has come out looking like a fool, an object of ridicule, and the Bushies didn’t win any love over this.

    Now pardon me, but I gotta go out to Gander Mountain and buy me an orange vest.

  13. 13.

    Paul L.

    February 20, 2006 at 12:35 pm

    Mr Furious Says:

    Examples of overplaying their hand, in regard to Matalin:

    [links can be found at HuffPo, where I snipped this. link ]

    Update: Mary Matalin’s performance was universally panned in the blogosphere. Check out:

    Talk about overplaying your hand.
    Mr Furious declares “Mary Matalin’s performance was universally panned” with links to the leftwing nutjob side of the blogosphere which I believe is all that he looks at. Of course to him, the left side is objective and the right side is just hate speach that should be banned.

    Here are some links for you Mr Furious of some sites not panning Mary Matalin’s performance.
    Mary Matalin: “You [The Press] Went on a Jihad” (VIDEO)
    Don’t Mess With Mary
    Mary Matalin Takes on David Gregory and Maureen Dowd on “Meet the Press”
    Of course, Mary and her Husband James Carville are two sides of same coin – My side is always right and your side is always wrong.

  14. 14.

    The Other Steve

    February 20, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    No Cheney bounce, it appears…

    http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2006/50StateBushApproval060216Net.htm

    So much for claiming this is hurting the left and helping Bush.

  15. 15.

    Skip

    February 20, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    Yeah, there is no story here. If Kerry had shot a guy and vanished for a day no one would have noticed.

  16. 16.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    Rule One: The blahsphere is not the real world.

    This, and only this, is what Matalin got right yesterday.

    What she doesn’t want to see, though, is that the effect of this story isn’t on Mr. and Mrs. America. It’s on the press. The press is getting a spine with these lying sonsabitches that are running this country. This story was part of that process.

    The press realizes that only in a situation where the press has become flaccid and the government has decided that it is above every process, above the law, above the people themselves … does a goverment get away with the kind of crap these people pull on a regular basis. This story, while relatively minor as viewed from here, rubs their nose it this truth. And the biggest truth their noses are rubbed in is that they, the press, have failed to hold these crapheads to account, for the last five years, and counting. Finally, they see how completely the have rolled over to these assholes, and they are pushing back.

    That is good news for all of us, and bad news for the sad figure of Mary Matalin, who looked yesterday on MTP for all the world like somebody was behind her chair and shoving a rake handle up her ass the entire broadcast.

    Rule Two: The people still have the ultimate power in this country, and in order to exercise that power, they must have an aggressive and pugnacious press representing them out there on the front lines, every day.

    So far, the blogobamboozlesphere has done a completely shitty job of holding up its end of that bargain. A good reporter with an attitude is still the best thing standing between the people and the tyranny of shitheads.

  17. 17.

    Pb

    February 20, 2006 at 12:41 pm

    Ugh. That’s not a post-mortem. It’s a Mary Matalin love-fest. Gross. Perhaps you were looking for this article instead, which incidentally contains some new additions to the party–Pamela’s husband George Willeford (a gastroenterologist and Bush supporter who is also currently a member of the Private Lands Advisory Board of Texas Parks and Wildlife, and an appointee to the National Park System Advisory Board), Sarita Hixon’s husband Bob, Ben Love (Texas rancher and Ms. Armstrong’s “beau”), and Nancy Brown Negley, “an art philanthropist whose family once controlled Brown & Root, now a part of Halliburton”.

    Yeah, this story is so dead that the *real* post-mortem has some new details. Go figure.

  18. 18.

    Davebo

    February 20, 2006 at 12:46 pm

    I mean, compare the coverage of this minor but incredibly sensational story to the coverage of the outsourcing of major port security to the United Arab Emirates, a country with known ties to the 9/11 hijackers.

    Wow! Known ties to 9/11 hijackers? We’d better not let them handle the job. Let’s let a US company do it.

    Wait, the US has known ties to the masterminds of the Oklahoma City Bombing. That won’t work.

    Guess we should just force the Brits to keep managing our port security eh?

    Seriously though…

    We can debate the wisdom of letting the sale of a British owned company to a UAE owned company go forward. But let’s not get silly with the “ties to highjackers” rant.

  19. 19.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 12:47 pm

    You know, I guess it is possible that if you don’t know anything about hunting you might think this story isn’t a big deal. But I grew up in a big hunting area and when someone gets shot, it is a big, big deal. Yes, accidents happen but they’re not very common. There were only 30 hunting accidents reported in Texas last year. I suspect it’s even fewer in places like the rural northeast, because when you get hit with bullets meant to take deer down, you’re in bad shape.

    I haven’t heard a single hunter (aside from Cheney’s close friends) claim that these kinds of accidents are no big deal or that they are ever anyone’s fault other than the shooter.

  20. 20.

    VidaLoca

    February 20, 2006 at 12:48 pm

    ppGaz —

    Agree with pretty much everything you said, except this last:

    So far, the blogobamboozlesphere has done a completely shitty job of holding up its end of that bargain. A good reporter with an attitude is still the best thing standing between the people and the tyranny of shitheads.

    Now I may be making the mistake of confusing the blogosphere with the real world — but that said, it seemed to me that a lot of the pressure on the media to get a spine on this story came from the blogosphere. What spine they’ve got, they sure didn’t get by magic.
    How do you see a shitty job being done here by the blogs?

  21. 21.

    Davebo

    February 20, 2006 at 12:50 pm

    It is interesting however that some have decided to take port security seriously now, over four years after 9/11.

    I guess Mike “Savage” Weiner serves a purpose after all.

  22. 22.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 12:52 pm

    What spine they’ve got, they sure didn’t get by magic.
    How do you see a shitty job being done here by the blogs?

    Hmm, interesting question. I confess I don’t know the answer, I can only guess.

    My guess is that the blogorama might have aided or accelerated the process some. But the traditional media still looks way, way down its nose at the grass roots.

    This is something that the press has in common with the government, which is a disdain for the people. This government has no respect for the people at all, none. I want to think the press still has a little, but until quite recently, I wasn’t sure.

    Does the blogodome have respect for the people? It says it does, but I am like the old “I’m from Missouri” type of guy: Show me.

  23. 23.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 12:55 pm

    I think the blogs are doing a great job, personally. And there’s plenty of reporters doing a great job too. Ideally, the blogs help to give good reporting a bigger megaphone, one which isn’t drowned out by the incoherent mumblings of Russert, Matthews, Noonan, Begala, Brooks, etc.

  24. 24.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 1:07 pm

    Color me uber-skeptical.

    Most of the blogowhirl that I see is in the noise machine business, or the “Pay attention to me” business (Sully, for example). BJ is in the “It’s fun to blog” business, which is fine for me because I am here to have some of that fun. DKos is in the “build a new Dem party” business, which is fine, but I don’t totally trust that process even though I know it’s essential to try it.

    I urge you to consider the extent to which the government and the press are in a struggle with each other and neither of them gives a shit about the people until they have to pretend they do.

    Now, knowing how power corrupts, what prevents the blogoscape from turning into another version of them?

    Just food for thought.

    Mmmm, foooood. Never mind …….

  25. 25.

    jg

    February 20, 2006 at 1:16 pm

    So the last guy gets impeached because maybe he was trying to hide that fact that he was getting blowjobs from someone other than his wife. The current vp hides that he shot a man in the face while drinking and its not a story. Damn liberal media. I’ve wanted proof of this liberal media thing and now I’ve got it.

  26. 26.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 1:16 pm

    I’m skeptical too, don’t get me wrong, but now that I get most of my news from blogs (which admittedly get most of theirs from the newspaper), I am able to stay informed in a way that was simply not possible for me before. That doesn’t mean that blogs are perfect, but it does mean that they make it possible for an interested person to stay informed of what is actually going on in the world, as opposed to what is going at Ben Bradlee’s cocktail parties or within the fevered recesses of Chris Matthews’ mind. And to me, that’s a big improvement.

    You’re right, though, they could turn into “them”.

  27. 27.

    VidaLoca

    February 20, 2006 at 1:18 pm

    Does the blogodome have respect for the people?

    Heh, I don’t know what kind of a metric to use to get an answer to that question, much less what the answer should be.
    I’d have to think it’s pretty unsafe to generalize.

    The way I look at the current situation is, the accident itself was unfortunate but minor (unless your name happens to be Whittington). The interesting question became the mechanism of the coverup, and the related question of what facts were being covered.

    A few lefty blogs did what they could to flog some life into the story while a few righty blogs did what the could to assist Cheney and Bush with spin and damage control — nothing unexpected going on in those behaviors (by either team), and they show about the level of respect for the people that you’d expect, once you decide how you’re measuring.

    The coverup was all pasted together so ad hoc, with so many people involved, that it’s not likely to hold up under serious investigation. If “real” reporters — by which I mean the old-fashioned kind, the ones who actually get “paid” and used to have it as part of their jobs to go out and search out information because they have the quaint idea that it’s in the public’s interest to be informed of this stuff — push on the thing, it’ll be interesting to see what pops out.

    I’m not completely convinced that there are any such species of reporters left any more, but it’s too early to call this one dead yet. By the end of the week, maybe so, but not yet.

  28. 28.

    Harley

    February 20, 2006 at 1:18 pm

    No Matalin love-fest is complete without some explanation for the Body Snatchers Flower of Doom broach.

  29. 29.

    Steve

    February 20, 2006 at 1:25 pm

    The only sense in which this story was “overplayed” was in the heads of people who sit in their ivory towers, deciding what the public “should” care about.

    All last week, I heard nothing at the office except cracks about Dick Cheney. People who never, ever talk politics were talking about this. The vice-president shooting someone in the face doesn’t happen every day, and yeah, people find it worth talking about.

    I compare this with legitimately overplayed stories like, say, that missing girl in Aruba. CNN may have run stories on that every night for months at a time, but I have never heard a single comment about it at the water cooler. Someone must be tuning in, I guess, but people in general just aren’t that interested.

    Cheney was always unpopular but nonpolitical people really didn’t care that much about him. What this incident has done is make him a national joke, except of course to the hardcore wingnuts who think he is the best vice-president of all time. It doesn’t matter in the sense that he never has to run again, but it just means the White House has to bury him even deeper in the bunker than before. There will be no new developments in this story, and thus no need to keep covering it, but the impact is lasting.

  30. 30.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 1:30 pm

    Just to cite one example here of how the blogs were good for this story: Matalin and others have been flogging this “hunting accidents happen all the time” meme (which is completely untrue) and the only people to call BS on it were the blogs. The talking head jack asses nodded right along with it.

  31. 31.

    chopper

    February 20, 2006 at 1:43 pm

    This bumping incident will surely define the Bush Administration.

    now the story has officially jumped the shark, when some nut is comparing shooting someone in the face to bumping into someone on the street.

    stick a fork in ‘er, she’s done.

  32. 32.

    Otto Man

    February 20, 2006 at 1:47 pm

    I’m not entirely convinced this story’s going away — both Time and Newsweek have it as their cover story this week, which is generally a sign of Big News — but I’d be glad if it did.

    The sooner the press gets done with Deadeye Dick, the sooner they can focus on another scandal that conservatives have been insisting would go away.

  33. 33.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 1:50 pm

    But I think we are missing an essential point here.

    (As you know, that means “my” point, but let’s not quibble :-))

    When we speak in the language of “overplaying” a story, we are talking as if we are watching teams move about on a field of play. The first down marker is on the 20. The Dems are playing defense, and the Republicans are on the offense with the ball on the Dems’ 40.

    So who’s the press? The press is the refs. The press is not IN THE GAME, they don’t have a play. They are supposed to be regulating the game … for us. Not for themselves. They can’t overplay a situation, they are not playing.

    But you see, the current topsy-turvy environment, which is much loved by the assholes in power, wants you to think that the press is another player on the field. They don’t want the press to be what it must be … a referee, demanding accountability from the players and the teams.

    When the press allows itself to be cowed into being treated like a “player” who can “overplay” a story, then we have all lost the game. The press needs to blow whistles and throw flags, all day and all night, all the damned time, rain or shine. Dem or Rep. Popular or unpopular.

    Otherwise, we are hosed.

    David Gregory is standing up for the rightful role of the press. He’s the only hero in this story right now.

  34. 34.

    Pooh

    February 20, 2006 at 1:51 pm

    What happened to the inevitability of the left overplaying their hand here?

    PoTM for Feb. I’m calling it now.

    John “not quite as wrong as a neocon” Cole has declared the story fin, what more do we need? Move along…

  35. 35.

    kelsey

    February 20, 2006 at 1:53 pm

    The only sense that this story was being overplayed was in the late-night comedy world. People who care about politics may not think this scandal is as big as the NSA wiretap story or the Jack Abrhamoff story, but let’s face it, most people do not care about politics. More people watch reruns of Law and Order than cable news. But Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face, even if an accident, is sensational enough to get people who don’t care about politics to follow this particular scandal. At the end of his vice presidency, more people are going to remember Dick Cheney for shooting someone in the face than any of the more horrible shit he has done. This is why you see Mary Matalin trying to look angry (well as angry as one can look with a shitload of botox in her face) on Meet the Press, because she knows her fuck buddy Dick Cheney was seen by the majority of Americans as the true coward he is.

  36. 36.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 2:09 pm

    Move along…

    Heh.

    Heh heh.

    Heh heh heh.

    Heh heh heh heh.

    {how do you turn this thing off??}

  37. 37.

    GOP4Me

    February 20, 2006 at 2:27 pm

    I’m just glad this non-story is officially dead, and that now moonbats will stop talking about it. A tragic accident, everyone’s okay now, and that’s pretty much that. Moving right along…

    Did anyone else notice how things have begun to go better for our troops in Iraq?

  38. 38.

    Pooh

    February 20, 2006 at 2:37 pm

    GOP, the Cheney story is the good news about Iraq. They now know we’re crazy, and are (now) in their last throes. Hail Oswald CobblePresident

  39. 39.

    GOP4Me

    February 20, 2006 at 2:50 pm

    ???

  40. 40.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 2:51 pm

    Did anyone else notice how things have begun to go better for our troops in Iraq?

    How’s that? Have we switched to lowfat milk in the commissary?

  41. 41.

    Krista

    February 20, 2006 at 2:55 pm

    ppGaz – they’re getting more bran in their diets…

  42. 42.

    VidaLoca

    February 20, 2006 at 2:56 pm

    Pooh,

    They now know we’re crazy, and are (now) in their our last throes.

    Looked like a typo there. Don’t worry, it’s fixed now.

  43. 43.

    Steve

    February 20, 2006 at 2:58 pm

    We’ve turned a corner! You heard it first here on Balloon Juice, folks.

  44. 44.

    Krista

    February 20, 2006 at 3:07 pm

    It’s Operation Icosahedron..

  45. 45.

    Pb

    February 20, 2006 at 3:22 pm

    Or perhaps Operation Möbius strip… Groundhog Day, anyone?

  46. 46.

    GOP4Me

    February 20, 2006 at 3:28 pm

    How’s that? Have we switched to lowfat milk in the commissary?

    We’ve finalized an occupation plan and we’ve been working a lot more with local leaders and whatnot. I read an article about it in the NY Times magazine that a coworker brought in yesterday.

    This is nothing to be cynical about.

  47. 47.

    GOP4Me

    February 20, 2006 at 3:33 pm

    Or perhaps Operation Möbius strip… Groundhog Day, anyone?

    Remember, in Groundhog Day he made some mistakes but he got it all sorted out in the end. It’s just like Iraq, we made some mistakes in the beginning but it’s all getting better now.

  48. 48.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 3:41 pm

    Operation Rubber Biscuit?

  49. 49.

    Pb

    February 20, 2006 at 3:44 pm

    GOP4Me,

    We’ve finalized an occupation plan and we’ve been working a lot more with local leaders and whatnot. I read an article about it in the NY Times magazine that a coworker brought in yesterday.
    This is nothing to be cynical about.
    […]
    Remember, in Groundhog Day he made some mistakes but he got it all sorted out in the end. It’s just like Iraq, we made some mistakes in the beginning but it’s all getting better now.

    So what you’re saying is, I’m going to wake up tomorrow, and it’s going to be May 2, 2003, only 140 US troops will have died so far, and we’ll use our newly finalized occupation plan to occupy Iraq the *right* way, and all that extra strife and terror, IEDs, the thousands of dead American troops, tens of thousands of dead Iraqis and wounded American troops, Al Qaeda in Iraq, high gas prices, destabilized Middle East, etc., will all have been a bad dream?

    Wait. While we’re at it, how about if I wake up tomorrow and it’s November 8, 2000, after a smooth election where the candidate with the most votes in Florida and the United States at large wins with no evidence of voting irregularities, and everything after that will all have been a bad dream…

  50. 50.

    VidaLoca

    February 20, 2006 at 3:49 pm

    Well, reading this just made my day.

    We’ve finalized an occupation plan and we’ve been working a lot more with local leaders and whatnot.

    After what, three years? — we’ve finally finalized an occupation plan! Well, let the reconstruction begin! Oh wait… we were working on that too?

    In other breaking news, I read we’ve just rocketed the #2 man in AlQuaida. Again.

  51. 51.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 3:56 pm

    David Gregory is standing up for the rightful role of the press. He’s the only hero in this story right now.

    What ppgaz said.

  52. 52.

    GOP4Me

    February 20, 2006 at 4:11 pm

    So what you’re saying is, I’m going to wake up tomorrow, and it’s going to be May 2, 2003, only 140 US troops will have died so far, and we’ll use our newly finalized occupation plan to occupy Iraq the right way, and all that extra strife and terror, IEDs, the thousands of dead American troops, tens of thousands of dead Iraqis and wounded American troops, Al Qaeda in Iraq, high gas prices, destabilized Middle East, etc., will all have been a bad dream?

    No, but that would certainly be nice. At least we won’t have many more setbacks, and we won’t leave a dangerous theocracy when we get out of there.

    Wait. While we’re at it, how about if I wake up tomorrow and it’s November 8, 2000, after a smooth election where the candidate with the most votes in Florida and the United States at large wins with no evidence of voting irregularities, and everything after that will all have been a bad dream…

    I think you’ve just created a bad dream for me…

    After what, three years?—we’ve finally finalized an occupation plan! Well, let the reconstruction begin! Oh wait… we were working on that too?

    I’m not saying no mistakes were made. Aren’t you glad we’ve finally corrected them, or are you too happy watching us lose in Iraq to care?

    In other breaking news, I read we’ve just rocketed the #2 man in AlQuaida. Again.

    Well, if you kill one, of course they’re going to appoint another one. What do you expect?

  53. 53.

    VidaLoca

    February 20, 2006 at 4:19 pm

    Remember, in Groundhog Day he made some mistakes but he got it all sorted out in the end. It’s just like Iraq, we made some mistakes in the beginning but it’s all getting better now.

    DougJ, you’d better keep an eye on this guy. He is definitely a contender….

    This is nothing to be cynical about.

    Actually, you’re right about that. It’s not. It’s just that cynicism is about all that remains.

  54. 54.

    Kyle

    February 20, 2006 at 4:19 pm

    her fuck buddy Dick Cheney

    Man, that’s just ill.

  55. 55.

    GOP4Me

    February 20, 2006 at 4:35 pm

    DougJ, you’d better keep an eye on this guy. He is definitely a contender….

    What is that supposed to mean?

    Actually, you’re right about that. It’s not. It’s just that cynicism is about all that remains.

    Well, that and about 160,000 troops winning battles, doing public works projects, and winning hearts and minds.

  56. 56.

    Pb

    February 20, 2006 at 5:01 pm

    GOP4Me,

    How I wish you were a parody, how I fear you are a blissfully earnest youth.

    As for the ‘hearts and minds‘, we lost that battle a long time ago. FYI.

  57. 57.

    VidaLoca

    February 20, 2006 at 6:00 pm

    GOP,

    What is that supposed to mean?

    The implication was that you couldn’t really believe “we made some mistakes in the beginning but it’s all getting better now” and still be serious.

  58. 58.

    tzs

    February 20, 2006 at 7:06 pm

    How old is GOP4Me? 14?

  59. 59.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 8:01 pm

    Maybe he is scs’ older brother?

  60. 60.

    Stormy70

    February 20, 2006 at 8:44 pm

    Didn’t David Gregory have to apologize for his little hissy fit? The press look like whiners and they know it. Reliable Sources had some chastened reporters on it this week, and Candy Crowley even mentioned that people thought the press were whiners. All David Gregory was missing was his binky. Idiots.

  61. 61.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 8:57 pm

    Like I said, folks, it’s not about what Mrs. Big Hair American thinks about this.

    It’s what the press thinks about it that counts. It’s whether we are going to have a press that is basically a house organ for the sping and noise pumped out by the government fuckstains, or a press that gets in their faces and pesters them every day and every night, 365 days and nights a year.

    Unless the press is willing and able to do that, democracy doesn’t stand a chance. The current administration is what happens when they don’t do their jobs.

    Gregory was just being gracious, as a contrast to the bowel-emptying writhing of his seatmate, Ms. Matalin. And it was quite a contrast. Gregory looked cool and sure of himself, and Matalin looked like she was going to the bathroom for half an hour.

  62. 62.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 8:58 pm

    sping = spin.

    Or, sping, if you are from Texas.

  63. 63.

    Mac Buckets

    February 20, 2006 at 9:17 pm

    Gregory looked cool and sure of himself, and Matalin looked like she was going to the bathroom for half an hour.

    Hmmm, I did not get that. Maybe I need to order the Ppgaz Lefty-vision Goggles to watch MTP with…maybe while sipping a little Bill Maher-brand Kool-Aid.

  64. 64.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 9:21 pm

    Psh. The show is probably still watchable on MSNBC streaming video. Anyone can watch and judge for himself.

    Matalin actually looked like she was going to pop a vein the entire time. It was disturbing, really.

  65. 65.

    DougJ

    February 20, 2006 at 10:05 pm

    Mac, seriously check it out, you won’t believe how bad Matalin is. It’s like Carville brain washed her. Check out that flower thing.

  66. 66.

    MAX HATS

    February 20, 2006 at 10:43 pm

    Are there gop loyalists out there who don’t sound 14? Anyone?

    Blond buzz cut? Check.

    High body fat index? Check.

    Bad shirt with “edgy” slogan on it, purchased at Sears? Check.

    Internet connection? Oh, you better believe it.

  67. 67.

    Mac Buckets

    February 20, 2006 at 10:47 pm

    Mac, seriously check it out, you won’t believe how bad Matalin is. It’s like Carville brain washed her. Check out that flower thing.

    I saw it live, and that was Mary being the same old Mary — as I said, you guys see it through a different lens than I do, obviously. Compared to her husband, it was like she was on ritalin. I just don’t get what you thought was so horrific. Except for the flower.

    I especially thought her catch on Hillary’s blatant hypocrisy was spot-on, needed to be said, and would never be mentioned in a billion years by those hard-hitting “impartial” reporters like David Gregory.

  68. 68.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 10:51 pm

    I saw it live, and that was Mary being the same old Mary—as I said, you guys see it through a different lens than I do, obviously. Compared to her husband, it was like she was on ritalin. I just don’t get what you thought was so horrific. Except for the flower.

    Fuck, man, give it up. I’ve seen people going though the DT’s who looked better.

  69. 69.

    Mac Buckets

    February 20, 2006 at 11:08 pm

    One more thing just to sum up my only point about this incident. Russert asked all of the panelists at the end what they learned this week through the Cheney story. So this was the big chance for them to sell the net impact of this story — Dick Cheney violated the law, or Cheney should be impeached, or the GOP is more vulnerable, or whatever.

    Not surprisingly, the two conservatives said that the press needs to distinguish between news and personal accidents that don’t affect anyone.

    Dowd said Dick Cheney can’t be “humanized.” That’s the sum total of what she got out of this story. Seriously.

    Gregory said that there’s “tension” between the White House and the Press Corp. Gosh, no kidding — I’ve used stronger language than “tension” for over five years.

    So to sum up, the White House skipped over the Press Corp, so they’re still as pissed off at each other as they’ve been for the last few years, and ultralefty Cheney-haters have another excuse to hate Cheney. That’s the best they could come up with, which seems to back up the points made by Gigot and Matelin. Not one American changed one vote on anything because of Cheney’s accident this week, and neither Cheney nor the Administration lost anything.

    The only lasting effects — comedians will have a field day for awhile.

  70. 70.

    ppGaz

    February 20, 2006 at 11:17 pm

    As I said upthread, the lasting effect is that the press is getting a spine here.

    Why they’ve rolled over to these cruds for five years, I’m not sure. But it’s time to stop doing that.

    The story itself is not that important. It’s the balance of power in that WH press room that matters. The turds have to know that they are going to get grilled and that their patented dodges are not going to work any more.

    The thing that made this story work in this regard is exactly the fact that there is nothing terribly important about it. Nothing to hide behind. No “national security” or “ongoing investigaton” dodges available. Despite the clean and simple nature of the story, if the Matalin version is to be believed, these idiots went to lengths to be obstinate and opaque … for no reason. Suddenly the press corps saw them for what they are … secretive, nasty assholes who will do anything to avoid being straight with the people. Remember, they have no respect for the people at all. None.

    Cheney could just as well have shot a Pontiac. The net effect is that he made himself look like an asshole when he could easily have done the opposite.

    Need proof? Watch the appearance of Whittington after his release from the hospital. Gracious, polite, a real gentleman. A real man. Not a spinning, whining, grumpy horse’s ass …. a real man. And HE was the victim, not “poor Dick, who had the worst day of his life.”

    I think maybe Whittington is the one who had the worst day, not fucking Cheney, the lying cocksucker.

    The right is wrong about this, this story does one and only one permanent thing: It strips the veil of bullshit from the WH communications noise machine. Mom and Pop Stormy Wineglass America may not get this, but David Gregory definitely gets it.

  71. 71.

    DougJ

    February 21, 2006 at 12:51 am

    I especially thought her catch on Hillary’s blatant hypocrisy was spot-on, needed to be said,

    I hope that’s snark. You’re starting to scare me.

    Look, I hate all of these people — Matalin, Carville, Begala, Brooks, Roberts. I hate the liberal ones more than I hate the conservative ones. Not one of them has ever said anything “spot-on”.

  72. 72.

    Pb

    February 21, 2006 at 2:54 am

    Mac Buckets,

    Russert asked all of the panelists at the end what they learned this week through the Cheney story.

    Ooo, ooo, me!

    What I learned this week through the Cheney story, thanks to Mac Buckets and friends:

    If the Vice President of the United States shoots someone in the face, it isn’t news, dammit!

    Also, the guy he shot in the face had damned well better apologize for inconveniencing the Vice President of the United States!

    Who cares what they were really doing at that ranch anyway? Whether it’s influence peddling, warmongering, getting sloshed, or just killiing stuff, it’s just the Vice President out having a good time with his cronies!

  73. 73.

    Paddy O'Shea

    February 21, 2006 at 8:15 am

    So much for Cheney shooting some old lawyer. This week’s excitement seems to be the Bushies selling off some of our major ports to the United Arab Emirates.

    I wonder how this one will be explained away? Bush had a beer, but not two?

  74. 74.

    ppGaz

    February 21, 2006 at 9:14 am

    Bush had a beer,

    But only “at lunch.” Not while actually signing the deal.

  75. 75.

    skip

    February 21, 2006 at 10:01 am

    It is inly a hypothetical question, but what would Cheney have to do to have the scales fall from the eyes of his peeps?

  76. 76.

    ppGaz

    February 21, 2006 at 11:05 am

    what would Cheney have to do to have the scales fall from the eyes of his peeps

    Testify against them?

  77. 77.

    Mac Buckets

    February 21, 2006 at 12:11 pm

    It is inly a hypothetical question, but what would Cheney have to do to have the scales fall from the eyes of his peeps?

    Do you know Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian?

  78. 78.

    Mac Buckets

    February 21, 2006 at 12:20 pm

    If the Vice President of the United States shoots someone in the face, it isn’t news, dammit!

    Again, for the hard-of-thinking: If he did it on purpose, it would be front-page stuff until he was convicted. Since it was not on purpose, but an accident (and I know the oh-so-nuanced Bush-haters have such a hard time with that gigantic distinction that they never seem to mention, because it doesn’t sound nefarious enough for their Shot-Him-In-The-Face® talking points), it’s news, sure, but only as an accident. It’s not a reason for 24-7 coverage for a week, because there’s no lasting effect on anyone.

  79. 79.

    Mac Buckets

    February 21, 2006 at 12:22 pm

    I hope that’s snark. You’re starting to scare me.

    I had hoped Hillary’s statement was snark, but it wasn’t. It was just bowling-ball-cajones hypocrisy (which she can do because Big Media will never call her on it).

  80. 80.

    Mac Buckets

    February 21, 2006 at 12:27 pm

    As I said upthread, the lasting effect is that the press is getting a spine here.

    Good, I hope you guys really think that, so at least we’ll stop hearing the nonsensical whining from the left that the press is a Bush house organ. I mean, if you didn’t get it from the CBS memo forgeries or the ABC election memo, you’ll just never get it, dude…

  81. 81.

    Pb

    February 21, 2006 at 2:36 pm

    Mac Buckets,

    It’s not a reason for 24-7 coverage for a week, because there’s no lasting effect on anyone.

    You must be new to this 24 hour news cycle thing…

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