More Questions Raised About Delay in Reporting Cheney Misfire
More Questions Raised About Delay in Reporting Cheney Misfire
It’s not much of a surprise that people are wondering about the delay in the news, and finding a conspiracy in every line. I first heard the “breaking news” on the radio while driving back from the lake house on Sunday with my daughter. We actually laughed first, at how the “breaking news” was breaking about every 30 seconds–and the story was inevitably told each time to first lead you to believe Cheney was the one shot.
After that, we heard that the “breaking news” was 24 hours old, and yet the news station continued with the frequent updates. Go figure.
I was actually pleased that it was such a slow news day.
Now, on to the bit at hand-the delay in reporting the story. Sure–the Cheney office, and the White House, didn’t immediately hold a press conference. Does that surprise anyone? When one does something that is somewhat embarrassing, do you usually rush out and tell everyone? I would think not. “Hey, you won’t believe the really stupid thing *I* did today!” (okay, so SOMETIMES we tell the story–but usually not if it involves shooting someone!) It would be different if they had told a different story, or if they had at first denied it, or employed any number of other obfuscation techniques.
They didn’t. They just said “yup.”
It’s funny but I never once was mislead into thinking that it was Cheney shot. I always understood it was Cheney doing the shooting and the hiding. I also found it interesting that given the fact there was alcohol involved, he wasn’t tested despite the fact it is apparently customary to do so in any accidental shooting. Plus, the secret service was able to keep police at bay for a ridiculous amount of time. In addition, subsequent reports apparently indicate that the person shot said he was shot Friday, not Saturday. Of course, maybe the Texas lawyer made a mistake.
Personally, I thought the media made a big deal about this as well at first. (I’m sure you saw the blog) But, it looks like the real story is not that he shot the poor guy, it’s that there may have been a bit of manuevering anticipating the issues they are facing now and in typical Bush adminsitration fashipn, they screwed it up worse by covering it up than by choosing to be transparent about something as simple as a mistake.
Well, when I said they led the listener, the tag went something like “Vice President Cheney involved in a shooting today.” And you are correct, if he was shot, they would have said that up front, but they left it intentionally vague.
It’s not unlike our local channels, when they give us tags like “Can your microwave kill you?” or “does eating spinach put your family at risk?” Come on–the answer ALMOST always is “no.” But just in case it’s yes, we continue to listen, or watch. I realize it’s all about keeping the listener/viewer through the advertising, but come on….
I STILL don’t know what the answer was about the microwave, I had to get outta my car!
Well, I am probably one of the strange people who watch CNN, Fox and CSPAN throughout the night just to get all sides of a story, knowing I still won’t get it. I laugh at the angles each side gives and this story was no different. It’s a shame some people get excited when it’s much ado about nothing. An even bigger shame this administration can’t even be honest about honest mistakes. I suppose there is a price to pay for secrecy.