Media Engage In Baseless Speculation About Cheney’s Influence
Media Engage In Baseless Speculation About Cheney’s Influence
The Washington Post writes today “Cheney’s Influence Lessening in Second Term,” arguing that the most powerful vice president in history has been pushed aside. As Cheney left for a one-week diplomatic trip to Asia this week, the Los Angeles Times questioned whether Cheney’s excursion was in fact an “excuse to high-tail it of town,” as “the past few weeks have not been kind to the vice president — or at least to his public image.”
Throughout Bush’s second term, the media has frequently speculated that Cheney, who tends to minimize public appearances, has lost his grip on the White House. Some examples:
Los Angeles Times:
“Events…have prompted speculation that the once-formidable vice president — the most powerful in American history — has become a spent force.” [2/17/07]
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
“[The North Korea nuclear deal] also reflects a changed power balance within the Bush administration with…Vice President Dick Cheney’s influence diminished, at least on this issue and for now.” [2/13/07]
International Herald Tribune:
“Recent events seem a stunning setback for the vice president” [11/20/06]
NewsMax:
“Is Dick Cheney’s Influence Waning?” [11/11/06]
MSNBC:
Craig Crawford: “I still wonder if [Cheney] stays in this administration for the full term here. I really wonder if Rumsfeld’s leaving is just the beginning. [11/27/06]
New York Times:
“Cheney’s Power No Longer Goes Unquestioned.” [9/10/06]
Atlantic Monthly:
“Dick Cheney has become a problem for George W. Bush. Don’t be surprised if Cheney’s influence suffers.” [11/8/05]
The media’s baseless horserace coverage of Dick Cheney may provide useful banter for pundits, but it detracts from the fact that he remains an influential stumbling block to a much-needed course correction in Iraq.
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It’s all a prelude to him resigning.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:44 pmI don’t know TP. This one seemed like a stretch to me.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:45 pmcheney ain’t losing his influence, folks… he may be looking kind of tattered, but cheney plays for keeps… along with karl rove, darth is the darkest of the dark forces prowling the halls of the white house… he is the driver of the bulk of the policy horrors… rove is the driver of most of the information horrors… both of them are neither down nor out, media speculation be damned…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
February 20th, 2007 at 5:46 pmI think this is the “gee Cheney ain’t a bad guy” image thing going on. Never mind the closet of bleached puppy skulls, and goblets of blood.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:49 pmDare I hope this most evil, miserable piece of pond scum is arrested or disappears in a foreign country, never to be heard from again….Yes I hope some country arrests his bloated ass and keep’s him forever..Blessings to us all…..
February 20th, 2007 at 5:50 pmCheney disappeared like Rove disappeared — SSDD, just deeper cover.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:52 pm#2 I’m with U.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:59 pmEven if the press is speculating, which they do to sell, there’s nothing here but opinion…
exactly, zooey… this is just more shaping the message…
they just want people to THINK his influence is lessening…
maybe it is about an impending resignation… i doubt it…
February 20th, 2007 at 6:00 pmEven if the press is speculating, which they do to sell, there’s nothing here but opinion…
Comment by RUCerious
I look at it from a different angle, RUCerious. I see the press engaging in a lot of opinion, and minimizing Cheney’s influence. As if they’re being lulled to sleep again by this admin, or they’re trying to lull us to sleep.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:04 pmCheney has a meeting with Sauron and can’t be disturbed. He is rallying the orcs for a Final Battle.
-GSD
February 20th, 2007 at 6:04 pmMistress Z ~
February 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pmYeah, lots of folks speculating, but I really don’t think that diminishes his clout when it comes to the heavy hitting behind the scenes.
You know, where he tells the chymp to go f*ck himself and makes the real decisions that are screwing us big time.
What katy said!
Sorry katy, I didn’t see your comment. :)
February 20th, 2007 at 6:07 pmNo RUCerious, Cheney’s clout would never be diminished — but the media is taking this angle, so they’re watching him even less than ever, and the sheeple then ignore him totally. Dangerous….
February 20th, 2007 at 6:09 pmHaliburton = Cheney’s retirement plan
He’s just checking on his investments, folks! Heeeee’ll be back to sink his ship with his loose lips soon!
Should be impeached due to the damaging information via testimony of many at Scooter’s trial. After all, doesn’t the buck stop at his desk as to the actions of an underling? Or has this country changed it’s work ethic so radically?
February 20th, 2007 at 6:10 pmCheney will control what happens as long as he feels the dark side is more powerful, uses a red light saber, and shaves the livers of baby seals.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pmWe should be so lucky as to have him step down. If he doesn’t get indicted, we will have to endure his presence for two more years.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:14 pmTorticola Cheney is on his way out, with Miss Piggy Rove. CHIMPya is just as culpable as these two foul pieces of inhuman excrement but without his two shit-for-brains Cheney and Rove putting vile ideas in his empty noggin, CHIMPya is an emasculated eunuch and will fall soon enough. Cheney and Rove must be gotten rid of, in no uncertain terms, just as two malignant cancerous growths must be removed from the body of America if it is to survive! Two more evil miscreants have never existed in the history of the world, and we are speaking about characters like Caligula, Stalin, Mao, Nero, Hitler, Vlad the Impaler, Atilla the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, Himmler, Tojo, et cetera ad nauseum! Cheney and Rove are right up there with them!
February 20th, 2007 at 6:18 pmCheney should take his own advice…
February 20th, 2007 at 6:21 pmcan’t wait to see what they say after the jury begins deliberating. Will they be cloistered? For we know the press will certainly try to influence the jury if they have a chance. there is no secret about the big papers being right wing tools any longer.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:21 pmit is obvious there are sealed indictments pending as well though. some of those may be for the same big papers big, big stars.
Am I correct in recalling that Cheney has made very few trips as VP? I picture him coming back from that ceremony in the snow somewhere where he was the only one in a parka and saying “that’s it for travel, Junior!”
February 20th, 2007 at 6:25 pmCheney left on a “diplomatic mission”? The world is truly coming to an end…but hopefully, he goes first.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:36 pmHedley Lamarr,
Cheney attended a Holocaust Memorial event wearing a parka and knit hat, while everyone else was wearing somber suits and dress coats. So embarrassing.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:38 pm#14 – Got your point! Compared to my head…Exact match!
February 20th, 2007 at 6:44 pm#21 – Put that statue DOWN!~
February 20th, 2007 at 6:45 pmSorry katy, I didn’t see your comment. :)
Comment by Zooey — February 20, 2007 @ 6:07 pm
no need to be sorry zooey…
it probably didn’t show up till after you posted anyway…
we just agree, that’s all… imagine that!
February 20th, 2007 at 6:46 pmCheney left on a “diplomatic mission� Comment by Xenon — February 20, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
You took the words right out of my mouth!
Maybe he’s on a world tour, trying to see on how many continents he can shoot a 78-year old man in the face.
I love the accompanying picture. As Mets announcer Fran Healy would say, “look at the size of that coconut!”
February 20th, 2007 at 6:47 pmWhether or not Scotter Libby is gulty or innocent, that trial proved to the world once and for all that Dick Cheney is a horse’s ass and the Bush White House is corrupt and dysfunctional.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:52 pmThe only “setback” I want to see for Cheney is when the slam the bars shut on his Federal Prison cell.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:54 pmI don’t believe for a second that Cheney is in the doghouse. He’s still hanging around like a vampire. It could be that this kind of “news” is thrown out by the whitehouse through the “press” to take up valuable air time discussing a non-story in order to shut out real news, which is of course war on Iran. In fact, I think they’ve been doing this all along.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:02 pmGot your point! Compared to my head…Exact match!
Comment by RUCerious
Heh. It’s a good place to keep your keys. :)
February 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pmIn the dictionary, when you look up the word evil, it says ’see 5-deferment Dickhead Cheney’.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:11 pmIt would be tough being 10 years old today and being deprived of the real world that existed a few years back. The media has helped “dumb down” society as a whole. America’s is in decline. Corporate will educate the few that are needed. The rest will head to macdonalds or burgerking for a life. The mp3 and cell will not support this society. We rely on the like of communist countries like china and vietnam to make our shit????????????????????
February 20th, 2007 at 7:15 pmGood luck kid!
Talk that Cheney is on the way out is just wishful thinking … unfortunately he’ll be around to the end (unless his next stay at Walter Reed is in one of those drafty, leaking, rat-infested wings … we can hope, can’t we).
Dharma Pup
February 20th, 2007 at 7:26 pm#33….
you nailed it, theswan……….
Had to stay in a hotel room at the hot springs (dang it ;) last weekend, and watched a little television. (I don’t have one at home)
February 20th, 2007 at 7:26 pmI was still shocked at how depraved commercial television has become, I hadn’t thought it could get so much worse…..
About half of the ads were for prescription drugs of one form or another, purple pills, bouncing pills, pills that the ad never actually told you what they were for……
The one that made me laugh hardest warned of the side effect that; if you have an erection for longer than 4 hours, you should see your doctor……
See your doctor indeed… is America sick or what?
Talk of Cheney losing his grip on how the official and informal exercise of power in Washington is wishful thinking.
Such talk is an excuse to avoid examining how he became so powerful, how and through whom he exercises that power, and what we can and should do to dismantle his unconstitutional exercise of authority. Such talk lulls us into thinking those things are already accomplished. They aren’t.
A conviction of Libby may open the door, but we still have to walk thorugh.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:36 pmI wonder who accompanied him on this trip?? Lynne, his wife or Pam Willeford, his “Swiss Miss”??
February 20th, 2007 at 7:38 pm#35 Yeparoo!!! Bush’s BIG PHARMA is ruling the air waves, ad nauseum. When will Americans let the programming execs know how disgusting it all is….pill-poppin’ America! Gross!
February 20th, 2007 at 7:40 pmI saw Cheney acting like a hiker at the somber event. What an ass.
I saw Cheney scowling at people who may have questioned him.
I saw Cheney lie, several times.
Yet he continues on with a humble look on his face.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pmI’m reading a really good book on Cheney called “Vice”. I think it just came out last October (2006). It is sure filling in a lot of holes for me.. This guy is really scary.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:05 pmhttp://www.amazon.com/Vice-Cheney-Hijacking-American-Presidency/dp/1400065763/sr=8-1/qid=1172020310/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1169790-0575240?ie=UTF8&s=books
Cheney emerges as a classic Machiavellian
That’s a nice way to put it.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:15 pmCurious that Dick is out of the country during the final phase of the lil’ Scooters trial…
February 20th, 2007 at 8:26 pmNo trolls to speak of here either…
hmmm…
February 20th, 2007 at 8:37 pmLast I looked the trolls were still trying to tear down Unions, public education, and anything else that would cause the peons to not be under the boot of the ruling class.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:03 pmWhen this story appeared it had the stink of another little rancid lie being dutifully parroted by a compliant and cowardly media.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:09 pmNo trolls to speak of here either….
big papa; it could be they are taking the night off, or in conference with KKK Rove to plot their next switboating action, or maybe there is a full moon out tonight.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:10 pmThat giant, floating Cheney-head in the above pic will give me nightmares.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:11 pmSensing his defeat Cheney travels back to Corsucant for discussions with the Emperor over final plans of the Death Star!
February 20th, 2007 at 9:15 pmor maybe there is a full moon out tonight.
Comment by Uncle Ho #46
Unc,
Y’know lycanthropy…
…is yet another right wing tool in “creating reality”…
….to induce fear in the populace…
…that really works…
…hell “The Wolfman” was the only movie that scared the crap outa me…
…when I was just a l’il papa…
…but this is “eerie”…
…as Raven characterized it on another thread…
February 20th, 2007 at 9:36 pmYeah, it is weird there is nobody posting from the RNC tonight. Was there a mistake at the payroll company, with the holiday and all?
February 20th, 2007 at 9:42 pm#31 ~ Ala Beldar?
February 20th, 2007 at 9:55 pm#50 – Today is celebrated as Presidunce day in rightwingworld.
“Events…have prompted speculation that the once-formidable vice president — the most powerful in American history — has become a spent force.â€
Yes, it is true…once formidable, now a just a used condom.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:53 pmuncle ho – the moon is waxing, having been at new moon phase on saturday 17th… the first quarter is saturday 24th…
…”quarter moon in a ten cent town”…
if it was gardening season, it would be time to plant about ground crops…
that is something to think about… spring… new life… warmth…
‘course, all hell could break loose also… that’s a plan, i hear…
February 20th, 2007 at 11:19 pm…
that is something to think about… spring… new life… warmth…
‘course, all hell could break loose also… that’s a plan, i hear…
…
Comment by katy #53
katy,
I’m going to do a dangerous thing and make an assumption…
…feeling your vibe across these threads…
…I’m going to assume that you’re a very “positive”, “sunny” type person…
…please don’t let this criminal Bushite junta’s divisiveness…
…TREASON, corruption and incompetence…
…and the (battle) on these threads…
…make you too cynical or pessimistic..
…they’re really not worth it…
February 20th, 2007 at 11:28 pmCome on trolls, come to the defense of Darth. Not even your own like him. Bring it.
February 20th, 2007 at 11:39 pmCheney is actually a Sith Lord, but other than that he just tells Bush baby what to do and when to do it.
February 21st, 2007 at 12:06 amoh, big papa, that is a really nice thing to say… just wish it were so…
never thought of myself as “sunny” or “positive” … sorry…
actually, the way i explain it is, i lean towards pessimistic, but that’s such a downer, even to me, so i call it realistic, leaning to the negative…
that way, when something good happens, i get a nice surprise… :-)
i understand – and especially appreciate – your warning about not letting all this make me “cynical or pessimistic”… i admit it all gets to me -
HOW COULD IT NOT? – but i know when to take a break and keep from getting too down and deep…
i am optimistic enough to hope that someday i won’t have to worry so much and these first years of the new century will be a bad memory and, AND, a lesson learned, a lesson to remind future generations what NOT to do…
but really, i am at least NEAR tears most everyday…
February 21st, 2007 at 12:17 am.
The Shooter has got to be impeached first, because if the chimp is impeached first, we get dickless. Uh-unh!
February 21st, 2007 at 12:35 amWe’re about to be ‘graced’ by the presence Of Cheney in Sydney in a few hours time. He will be greeted warmly by only a few of John Howard’s cronies and media lackeys. And a few thousand protestors, naturally.
We’ll be covering the first protests Thursday evening (Sydney time) on this blog :
http://www.theorstrahyun.blogspot.com
Cheney is expected to ask John Howard for more troops into Iraq. This is not going to go down well with the majority of Australians. They’re ready for the troops to come home.
Cheney is also going to Tasmania to do some fishing. Not with a shotgun, or so we’re told.
There’s a lot of jokes passing around down under that Cheney is actually going to Tasmania to find a new home, so he can escape Washington and the US before everything comes down around his head.
Hope you can join us at ‘The Osrtahyun’, we’ll be sure to post some photos of Thursday’s marches and events.
And no, we’re not going to keep him, so don’t ask.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:21 amDickhead didn’t want to be in town for “the verdict”. I’m sure that “distance” will lessen the impact of “guilty”. The msm won’t case h is ass to Australia where Mr. Howard is covering his ass.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:48 am