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Look, despite his well-known, well-earned reputation for belligerence, we know Dick didn't shoot the guy on purpose. Accidents do happen (especially in the disgustingly brutish pasttime of killing innocent animals for "sport"), blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda...
But, Washington image consultant Holly Horning puts it quite well:
"What [Cheney] should have done to diminish the bad press was to visually show people that he actually is a very caring and concerned man. It would have been nice if they had gotten some footage of Cheney going to the hospital to visit this man. Unfortunately he's done the total opposite. He's gone into hiding, basically."
And, shockingly, a few Republicans actually spoke out:
"I am appalled by the whole handling of this," said Marlin Fitzwater, former press secretary to Ronald Reagan and the first Bush.
Ari Fleischer, Bush's press secretary in his first term, noted, "It would have been better if the vice president and/or his staff had come out last Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning and announced it."
At least the White House has stopped joking about it now that the poor man has suffered a mild heart attack. Of course, that hasn't stopped Letterman, Leno, et al.
One interesting take on the incident comes from Michael Goodwin in today's NY Daily News. An excerpt:
"That Cheney is now being ridiculed reflects how far he has fallen. When he signed on as Bush's running mate in 2000, he was regarded as the intelligent adult on the ticket. But asset turned to liability as Iraq proved messy and Cheney's band of neocons seemed better at infighting than managing world affairs. The fact that his old company, Halliburton, profits from the war only adds to his baggage."
I've always considered Cheney far more destructive a force to this country than his "boss." Dubya can actually be likable. There are times I actually feel a bit sorry for the man-child surrounded by mean, unsmiling grown-ups; the man who seems to have been thrown into shoes way too big for his feet. But Cheney has given off an unmistakable air of utter malevolence since his first days in politics. Let's just hope we never see how fierce or damaging it can really get.
You and I have always disagreed on the President -- I don't think you give him enough credit for his own, unflagging attachment to an idealistic, redemptionist world view. He is not surrounded by militant utopianists by accident.
Cheney did have the opportunity to come out as more likable, but not the motivation. Being likable is not an end to itself for him. He is powerful and has no future office to aspire to. He does what he wants to do.
Posted by: Adam at February 16, 2006 06:17 AM