Politico editor John Harris responds to Greg Sargent about the fact that the Politico now serves primarily as an unquestioning conduit for Dick Cheney’s crazed ramblings:
1. I thought the Cheney comments were newsworthy, which is why they drew such notice by other news organizations and columnists. In fact, it seemed to me that the people who found Cheney’s comments most objectionable were the ones who found them most newsworthy.
2. If you look at the other stories we ran at the same time as the Cheney quote there was a Josh Gerstein piece leading the site comparing Obama’s response to Bush’s after the 2001 shoe bomber and debunking the notion that Obama’s response was more sluggish. We also had a piece looking at GOP politicization of national security.
3. Trying to get newsworthy people to say interesting things is part of what we do. Also in December we had a long Q and A with the other prominent former vice president Al Gore. That story might also have looked to some like providing an uncritical platform if you viewed it only isolation.
Sargent says:
It’s simply a fact that it does good big picture stories that change the conversation, and that it breaks news useful to both sides. But it’s unclear why Cheney’s continuing attacks on Obama as weak should continue to be deemed news, or why scrutiny of GOP strategy in other cases (or the Gore interview) should make it okay that Cheney is constantly given a free pass. My bet is even some at Politico see the constant elevation of Cheney as too cozy by half.
Here’s what I would like to know: was Spiro Agnew given this much airtime to blast the Ford and Carter administrations? I realize Agnew was actually forced to resign while Cheney wasn’t, but they are fairly similar figures in many ways.
Update. Maybe Agnew’s not the best comparison, given that that was too close to Watergate. Maybe Aaron Burr?
ricky
Was there much airtime to give after Spiro was run out of Dodge? How much of that little airtime was usurped by The Trials and Troublations of Tricky?
Bad analogy.
ricky
I am not sure what a troublation is, but I am sure if one had been removed from Mr. Limbaugh’s tender entrails he would have gladly served. My edit button is missing.
Paul in KY
I think Agnew was getting ready to head off to jail (for stuff done when he was governor) after he resigned.
Plus, Agnew wasn’t the tail that wagged the dog in that administration. He was the ‘Mouth of Sauron’ to the actual Sauron.
dmsilev
Objection. When Aaron Burr shot a man, it was deliberate rather than an accident during a live-bird skeet shoot.
-dms
Comrade Jake
Translation: if it gets lots of page hits, then it is by definition newsworthy.
You know, just like porn.
Keith G
I feel you, but hell no. Chaney is…….Chaney and he is evil as can be, but Agnew was a whole different level of small minded incompetent silliness as well having an actual, uh, criminal record.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio
Okay, so the bottom line is that Dick Cheney is more clickworthy and citeworthy than Al Gore. (In English, he has a bigger mouth).
Therefore, also. Too.
Got it.
Notorious P.A.T.
He is definitely comparing things that are newsworthy (Obama’s response to the bomber, an interview with Al Gore) to something that isn’t. So what if Cheney is launching yet more anti-Obama broadsides from an undisclosed location? Big deal. At least Gore has something to say about things that matter. And when Cheney says ridiculous things and you simply pass them along without any critical examination you are not acting as a journalist.
boomshanka
Is the title a nod to Sonic Youth or Buddy Miles?
jimBOB
The interesting thing about Agnew was that Nixon appointed him to push out the “liberal media” meme (with speechwriting help from William Safire), probably one of the first high-profile Republicans to undertake the mau-mauing that pays them such dividends to this day.
If we ever elect a partisan liberal president, (s)he really ought to take a page out of Nixon’s book and have a VP who can go postal on right wing media. That, and bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
DougJ
Is the title a nod to Sonic Youth or Buddy Miles?
Sonic Youth.
Chaz
I think of Burr sort of fading into obscurity. I tried, but I can’t think of a single interview he did on a big-name cable news outfit after his time in office.
Comrade Kevin
@DougJ:
Are you turning into Spencer Ackerman or something?
Napoleon
Burr made sure he killed his target when he hit him, so in that respect he is not at all like Cheney.
(rats, someone basically beat me to this one)
Keith G
Additionally, I am thinking that comparing Evil Dick to any other VP is a mug’s game for more reasons than I can even fathom.
And that may be why he gets face time. He’s like an operatic villain. Hated by most, but sure to draw a crowd.
freelancer
OT – but Michael Steele is the greatest ratfucking performance artist ever.
The guy opens his mouth and it’s the inane poetry of the Office’s Michael Scott, only moreso.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
There really aren’t any historical precedents in the modern era of the WH for what Cheney is doing. Even former Presidents are supposed to keep their mouths shut during the first couple of years of a new administration, and former VPs are a long way down the ladder from there. This is yet another instance of Cheney doing something that just isn’t done, and getting away with it.
One of the things I learned from the Bush/Cheney years is that the US system of govt. has an informal unwritten constitution, much like say the UK, in addition to our formal written document. It consists of the traditions and customs that have accumulated over the years and which most political actors have learned to respect, in a small-c conservative way. But great power can be seized and wielded by somebody who is bold enough to trample on those traditions, because not being formally codified they are very hard to defend against someone who is determined to get their way and who has no respect for either the health of our political system or anyone else in it. That has been the secret to Cheney’s power. Even more so than the formal, written Constitution, he is willing and eager to shred the informal, customary constitution.
The Republic of Stupidity
And the other guy was allowed to shoot back too…
It is my understanding that NONE of the quail are ever allowed to arm themselves first…
The Republic of Stupidity
@Keith G:
Well… that is a cardinal rule of scriptwriting… your hero is only as good as the villain is bad…
Napoleon
@The Republic of Stupidity:
Ah, good point, and I think it goes to the larger point that Burr at least lived by a code of honor where as Dick does not.
Rick Taylor
I don’t think you need to limit it to malefactors. Has any former Vice President ever made an occupation of blasting the sitting President?
Did Ford get on tv to blast Carter? Did Mondale get on tv each week ro tear apart Reagan? Did Dan Quayle make it a habit to roast Clinton (that would have been fun)? Did Gore get on tv every week to eviscerate Bush the younger?
This is unheard of, and it’s a reflection on the truly radical nature of the Obama administration that a staid politician like Cheney would feel obligated to do such a thing. /spoof
gbear
@DougJ:
Jeez, I am a dinosaur. I thought it was a reference to the Soul Survivors.
1. I thought the Cheney comments were
newsworthyoutrageous, provocative bullshit, which is why they drew such notice by other news organizations and columnists.Tom
He really doesn’t know why? The previous VP criticizing a sitting president right after an attempted terrorist attack? I don’t see how any can think that’s NOT news.
Cat
@Napoleon:
If you over look the fact he fled prosecution, as Dueling was illegal.
Ash Can
@Comrade Jake:
This. Harris either doesn’t know or is ignoring the fact that “draws attention” is not the definition of “newsworthy.” He’s just another corporate media huckster.
Pococurante
Oh gawd Sully is at the “heads must roll” / “Obama is worse than Bush” / “slap in the face” tripe again. He really has slipped the last few months.
Must be related to his announcement that their page hits are dropping. I’m not sure though the solution is to channel the one good neuron left in Orly Taitz’ brain.
cleek
all hail the mighty SY
4tehlulz
If there was 26/9 news coverage on 84 different cable news outlets, then I have no doubt that Spiro would have found a niche somewhere, most likely to talk about law and order issues.
Jim
I think if anything, the Agnew comparison understates the case. Cheney did far more damage to this country, not just on foreign policy and civil liberties, but on more banal issues like gov’t spending (“Reagan showed us deficits don’t matter”). It’s a measure of how far the Establishment media, and the Republican party have degenerated that Agnew was, rightly, relegated to pariah status, while Cheney is treated as a Serious (waves to Joe Klein) voice in our national discourse. Cheney’s remarks should be newsworthy only in the sense that his gall is outrageous.
Butch
Well, we had Quayle criticizing Murphy Brown as an unwed mother; I don’t remember much else of his post-VEEPdom. Gore certainly critized Bush but it was nothing along the lines of the ranting that comes from Cheney. Bush the senior was VP under Reagan, but he couldn’t very well criticize the following administration ‘cuz he was it. I hate to say I’ve gone blank on Carter’s VP.
Violet
@Rick Taylor:
You are right. Cheney really is an outlier in the former-VP-commenting-on-next-administration comparison. There must be more to the story than just “former VP says…” He’s got to have something on someone. Or on a lot of people. People are scared and keep doing what he wants, treating him like his opinion matters.
ajr22
@Tom: I agree. As much as I hate Cheyney’s evil robot heart, this is still news worthy. If politico wants to allow Cheney space to print an op-ed that’s fine. My problem is with Jon Martin taking a statement and reporting it as news. If Cheyney is gonna go on the record with a Journalist he should have to face questions, and defend his position.
Stooleo
“Spiro would have found a niche somewhere”
Spiro had vinyl.
sparky
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: good analysis, and probably accurate. Cheney has the political infighting skills and the necessary ruthlessness, but as he lacks the charisma of a leader he could only approach power through the back door. the world was quite fortunate that nothing happened to Bush while he was in office.
Howlin Wolfe
@Ash Can:
Bingo!
Ash Can
@Butch:
Probably because Walter Mondale was way too nice a guy to lip off about Reagan.
Waynski
@Butch — I think the Murphy Brown stuff came during the 1992 campaign, not after Quayle left office.
aimai
The proper comparison is, of course Gore, who was roundly criticized for daring to say anything quite late in Bush’s presidency. And the right way to treat “cheney bitches about Obama” as news is to headline it, as they did when Gore opposed the Iraq war “shocking news: former VP attacks sitting president at a time of war. Politics no longer stops at the water’s edge says traitor former vp.” Now *that*s news.
aimai
Mudge
I think invoking Aaron Burr is a corollary to Godwins’ Law about invoking Hitler..it stops all rational conversation.
jwb
@Pococurante: Sully just does this too often for me these days, and I refuse to enable him any longer. So I just don’t visit. The place also falls to pieces whenever he takes a break and leaves the kids in charge.
SB Jules
Dan Quayle became invisable when he left office.
Or so it seems in me. Of course I might have faulty recall.
ReNewMan
Noteworthy???
Like outing a CIA agent, have your old companies be one of the biggest war profiteers of all time and develop an energy policy based on what Exxon wanted noteworthy???
Why isnt any of this put into context, like:
The former vice president, who many think was fortunate to escape jail time and at least impeachment because of the many questionably unAmerican activities that occurred under what we later learned was his presidency and not Bush”s, said some more things about how Obama is running the country. It was a surprise to the entire journalistic staff that he came out of his undisclosed location where foreign agents from numerous countries may have arrested him to go on trial for the countless war crimes which have been attributed to him.
His first quote, ” blah blah blah” could be easily rebutted because blah blah blah. His second quote, less honest than his first was ” blah blah blah”. It is interesting the former VP would bring up such a topic considering 9/11, Guantanamo, and the Iraq wars all happened on his watch.
Cheney could not be reached to respond to the rebuttals.
———
something like that…is it because they are afraid he wont say more if they write like journalists? If he wont talk, then maybe he doesnt have anything to say…
Zuzu's Petals
Well to be fair, Gore did give a critical speech on Iraq 20 months into GWB’s presidency.
One difference being that it was a well-thought-out foreign policy statement and not the ravings of an unhinged, vindictive jerk. I also don’t remember Gore having his own private press corps.
Aside from the fact that Gore evidently bought the WMD argument, he makes arguments that still stand up after all these years. What a loss to the country that he was not the one sworn in in 2001.
Edit: I see aimai had the same idea.
TR
@aimai:
Bingo.
Whatever the case, it’s nice to see someone work the refs from the other side.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@aimai:
Yup. Funny how the actual news is staring them in the face and they refuse to see it. Instead we get the equivalent of “Dec 8th, 1941: Disturbance reported from Clark Air Field in the Philippines, possible foreign involvement is under investigation.“
Ailuridae
It is noteworthy that Cheney is attacking the sitting President. Politico continuing to report on that is fine by me. But where it ceases to be reporting and falls into the category of stenography is when Politico refuses to note that the attacks on the President are either demonstrably false or without factual backing. Now its obvious why Politico doesn’t do the reporting here: they are trying to sell papers and drudge links and pointing out that Cheney is dissembling discourages him from using them to vent his reactions in the future. And there is Sargent’s point about the whole thing being “too cute by half”. Politico knows its abandoning its journalistic responsibility but wants the revenue from future attacks by Cheney so is outright lying to pretend that they are doing the requisite reporting to continue the revenue stream.
Now, its unclear where Cheney would go with this information if not Politco but someone would take it whether it were Jake Tapper or Jay Newton-Small. Leaking it directly to Big Government or somewhere is problematic because the power of what he is doing is getting a mainstream ostensibly non-partisan news source to uncritically stenograph his attacks on the President.
licensed to kill time
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Politico reports “Japanese say ‘we’re just here on vacation’. “
Notorious P.A.T.
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
@licensed to kill time:
Haha )
oh really
That was then; this is now. I wouldn’t be at all surprised, if Agnew were on the scene today (even if he were in the slammer), to have the MSM hanging on his every word. It’s pretty clear that doing time for committing felonies would make Agnew the go-to guy for the MSM on issues related to the law. Hell, Fox News would probably hire him to be their Linda Greenhouse/Nina Totenberg.
Things (media related) have changed a lot since the 70s, and very few of the changes having to do with the MSM have been improvements. (Offhand, I don’t know if I can think of any.)
Notorious P.A.T.
Naked news?
Ailuridae
@Zuzu’s Petals:
I wrote this in another thread but just to reiterate: the mainstream press focused on the following from Gore’s prescient speech on Iraq:
1. Al Gore is fat
2. Al Gore has a beard. There were Grizzly Adams comparisons
3. Al Gore is mentally unbalanced and “off his meds”
4. Al Gore is bitter he lost to George Bush
What is similar is that neither time did the press deign to report on the facts of what either man was saying. If they had, maybe the road to war would have been slowed or prevented. If they would now, maybe they would have to write that Dick Cheney is a liar.
But the tone that Al Gore is a big shrill meanie but Dick Cheney is your cranky but lovable uncle who just has the best interests of the country in mind is really beyond the fucking pale.
Paul in KY
We all know how much of an evil, murdering, crook Cheney is. To me, though, the politicians on our side don’t treat him that way.
They ought to be saying things like Aimai said up above, or worse, anytime his name comes up…and it would be the truth! Because our politicians still give him deference, etc. he is not treated like the pariah he should be (at least to Democratic politicians & the current administration).
Zuzu's Petals
@Ailuridae:
Agreed.
And I’m sure Gore doesn’t take much pleasure in knowing that history has proven him right.
Five Deferment Dick
Everybody seems to be forgetting that Dick’s memoir comes out in the spring of 2011. In anticipation of his book tour, he just has to slither out from under his undisclosed location, have his mortician do a bit of touch up work and get a little face time on faux nooz.
jenniebee
What gets me most about it is that what Cheney thinks isn’t news in any sense of the word, because we all already know what Cheney thinks of any foreign policy decision Obama makes even before Obama makes it. Cheney is going to be against it and he’s going to say that it makes America more vulnerable and that lives are at risk. He doesn’t really have to write a press release, the guys at politico could probably fill out a Cheney Mad Libs sheet as well as Cheney could himself.
So the only way that this could be news is from a “how low will he go?” perspective. When Obama proposes discount bus fares for war widows and Dick Cheney snarls in Wyoming about how that only encourages the terrorists, then that would be news about how Cheney has clearly gone round enough bends to have completed the Indy 500. Until then, these insights into Cheney’s fragile psyche shouldn’t evoke any more thoughtful response than “well, duh.”
Waynski
@Zuzu’s Petals
This. In stark contrast to the orgasmic pleasure Dick will take if there’s another successful terrorist attack on the US.
Nellcote
shorter Harris:
1. got Drudge link
2. didn’t get Drudge link
3. getting Drudge link is our whole business plan
Steeplejack
@gbear:
Guilty here as well.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mudge:
It especially stops all rational conversation about Aaron Burr.
Anyone still repeating the received wisdom about him should definitely read this book:
To at least know that there’s another version of the story. Also it’s a terrific book.
The Populist
More evidence of Nazi-ism. Matt Drudge. The right love the Nazis. They may try to pawn off the negatives on the left, but there should be little doubt that the modern day GOP is the true representation of Hitler’s Nazi party.
Propaganda machines on the net, in newspapers and on TV – Check
Rallies that become scary for the intensity of the hate being spewed – check
Strange demands on the party in power that were never honored when the minority Nazis had full control (i.e. – unnecessary filibusters, demands to have the WH become more “accountable) – check
Selling the villagers on the concept that government is too big and must be stopped at all costs (irony, huh righties) – check
Spinning furiously to repackage the status quo AND gain more control in the process and therefore disabling the opposition party even more (Dems) – check
Yep, if it smells like Nazi tactics, it must be. The people who follow these asshats need to wake up fast.
Ron Paul Rides Again
Ron Paul ain’t afraid of no Darth Cheney, ’cause if Dick don’t shut up he’ll bomb the $hit out of his undisclosed location from the Ron Paul blimp. P.S. Dick, when a Republican from Texas is telling you to STFU you have a serious image problem. Sucks being you. Keep it up and some day even Faux Nooz won’t return your calls
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/05/ron-paul-cheney/
Pangloss
“A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.” — Spiro T. Agnew
Malcontent
Cheney’s opinions now are about as relevant as Ross Perot’s in 1997.
licensed to kill time
@Pangloss:
And nattering nabobs of negativism.
keestadoll
@Zuzu’s Petals: apropos of nothing, your handle is awesome and I have to ask if it’s your way of stating that you are the correct reality as the petals signaled George Bailey? cool!
Joseph Nobles
At what point does “Cheney says Obama’s screwing things up” become “dog bites man”? Why hasn’t it yet?
Molly
What Cheney is putting out into the discourse is propaganda, nothing more. Politico is simply passing on propaganda and treating it as news. You know who else did that?
Yeah, I went there, like others of us did. Flat out, there are too many parallels to ignore.
Plus, I just read “The Family,” and I’m in a REALLY pissed-off mood.
As soon as a real journalist, not a propaganda arm like Fox, has Cheney on and is willing to actually challenge him, it’s not “news.” Personally, I’ve had enough of that crap from the Cheney Regency to last me for the rest of my life, thank you.
gelfling545
Perhaps VP Richard Nixon might be a comparison, but I’m sure Fox -or at least talk radio- would give him a program.
gelfling545
Perhaps former VP Richard Nixon might be a comparison, but it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t get a program on Fox – or at least talk radio.
Zuzu's Petals
@keestadoll:
Well, more the happy-to-be-alive significance of the petals in George’s pocket.
keestadoll
@Zuzu’s Petals: awesome!