Little bit of reconsidering
Initially, I thought it was no big deal the vice president's office waited more than 24 hours to disclose the information that Vice President Dick Cheney, you know, shot a man in the face. Understandably, that's an embarrassing incident which will provide plenty of late-night fodder and dominate the news cycle - rightly or wrongly - for a good number of days. And I'm quite sure Cheney was very concerned for the health and well-being of his good friend and is sincerely troubled by what has happened.
But, after pondering it for a bit, I am more than a bit bothered such a secretive tone was undertaken (though I'm not surprised). And, to be clear, this has nothing to do with the actual White House, that is the office of the president. This is solely on how the vice president's office handled this situation.
There was no thought to notify the media over what was, admittedly, a pretty big deal. It isn't everyday the VP, you know, shoots someone in the face. What's troubling is the owner of the ranch, Katherine Armstrong, spoke with Cheney's office the morning after the shooting - knowing the police were in the process of investigating the incident and preparing their report - and she decided, on her own, to call the local newspaper and let them know. A couple of hours later, the national media gets wind of it and is, understandably, very upset with having this information withheld for so long.
Because the implication is that without Armstrong calling Cheney and letting him know she was going to go public, the VP was perfectly content in letting absolutely no one find out, you know, that he shot someone in the face. Such secrecy isn't really that much of a shock coming from the VP - or the Bush administration for that matter - but at least the president understands the need to get his version of the story out as fast as possible and build off that (in 1994, while running for governor of Texas, Bush accidently killed a killdeer on a hunting trip, which is illegal ... within the next hour, he personally called each member of his press corps to let them know).
It's just hard to rationalize waiting 24 hours to inform the public - and then not even having your office do it, but rather rely on the woman who merely owns the ranch you were visiting and felt a twinge of her conscience telling her to let people know. It's particularly hard to justify not notifying the public that, you know, you shot a man in the face when you have no real problem with, you know, leaking the names of undercover agents to the media.
But, after pondering it for a bit, I am more than a bit bothered such a secretive tone was undertaken (though I'm not surprised). And, to be clear, this has nothing to do with the actual White House, that is the office of the president. This is solely on how the vice president's office handled this situation.
There was no thought to notify the media over what was, admittedly, a pretty big deal. It isn't everyday the VP, you know, shoots someone in the face. What's troubling is the owner of the ranch, Katherine Armstrong, spoke with Cheney's office the morning after the shooting - knowing the police were in the process of investigating the incident and preparing their report - and she decided, on her own, to call the local newspaper and let them know. A couple of hours later, the national media gets wind of it and is, understandably, very upset with having this information withheld for so long.
Because the implication is that without Armstrong calling Cheney and letting him know she was going to go public, the VP was perfectly content in letting absolutely no one find out, you know, that he shot someone in the face. Such secrecy isn't really that much of a shock coming from the VP - or the Bush administration for that matter - but at least the president understands the need to get his version of the story out as fast as possible and build off that (in 1994, while running for governor of Texas, Bush accidently killed a killdeer on a hunting trip, which is illegal ... within the next hour, he personally called each member of his press corps to let them know).
It's just hard to rationalize waiting 24 hours to inform the public - and then not even having your office do it, but rather rely on the woman who merely owns the ranch you were visiting and felt a twinge of her conscience telling her to let people know. It's particularly hard to justify not notifying the public that, you know, you shot a man in the face when you have no real problem with, you know, leaking the names of undercover agents to the media.
posted by Jmac at 7:13 AM
3 Comments:
Hardy-har.
Ole Ted sorta dropped the ball when it came to fulfilling the Kennedy legacy. Granted, filling John and Bobby's shoes is a tough challenge, but leaving the scene of a poor girl drowning isn't a good thing to do.
Wait. Huh? Ted Kennedy _not_ god among men? Dawg Corleone _not_ characterizing views of all Democrats correctly? SHockah!
So....the VP had "a beer." Two shiny quarters say that "a" really means six...kinda like when your girlfriend says she's only slept with two guys before you, and she really means seven. Or when you tell her three, and you really mean none....
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