Select comments and quotes from Fox's interview w/ Cheney
From T.A. Frank of The New Republic (which is subscription only... e-mail me if you'd like a copy of the whole article)...
Thank goodness for Fox, because if any other station had interviewed the vice president there wouldn't have been narrative like this: "Hospital officials meanwhile say the man that Vice President Cheney shot is doing fine after his minor heart attack and that he wonders what all the hoopla is about." Or you might have missed Fred Barnes's analysis: "Look, it might have been more important if, one, the victim had died, and, two, Cheney were running for president, but ... even then it would have been just a shooting accident." Right--if all of us had to put off our careers every time we accidentally shot somebody, nothing would ever get done.
...
And Cheney even seemed to take responsibility for the problem: "Well, ultimately, I'm the man who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry." (I fired the round, which hit the man, who saved the quail, who'd managed to fly. I don't know why it happened to fly. That's my reply.) Still, he didn't take too much responsibility: "[Y]ou can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but ... it was not Harry's fault." Translation: You can talk about the talking points my henchmen have been putting forward--"[T]he other gentleman made a serious error by not indicating that he was there" (ex-senator and Cheney buddy Alan Simpson, exhumed for the occasion); or "[Cheney] didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do" (Cheney advisor Mary Matalin, presumably endorsing the shooting); or "[Whittington] didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself" (ranch owner Katharine Armstrong, fresh from a talk with Karl Rove)--but far be it from me to blame Harry in any way.
But when questions turned to how Cheney had handled disclosure of the incident, the vice president made little sense. Hume questioned the overnight delay: "[T]he one thing that we've all kind of learned over the last several decades is that if something like this happens, as a rule sooner is better." Cheney's response: "Well, if it's accurate. If it's accurate. And this is a complicated story." Hume seemed unsatisfied: "But there were some things you knew. I mean, you knew a man had been shot, you knew he was injured, you knew he was in the hospital, and you knew you'd shot him." Well, yeah, Cheney conceded, but no reason to get all hasty: "[I]t was also important, I thought, to get the story out as accurately as possible." But if Cheney wanted the story to be as authoritative as possible, why didn't he put out a statement himself, instead of elevating a ranch owner to the position of impromptu vice presidential spokeswoman? "[S]he was the most credible one to do it," Cheney said, "because she was a witness." And why wouldn't he go directly to the national media rather than relying on the Corpus Christi Caller-Times? Cheney's response: "[A]s the media outlets have proliferated, speed has become sort of a driving force, lots of times at the expense of accuracy. And I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible."
Yes, that all makes sense. I think. Why do I feel a sudden urge to drill for oil?
....
Thank goodness for Fox, because if any other station had interviewed the vice president there wouldn't have been narrative like this: "Hospital officials meanwhile say the man that Vice President Cheney shot is doing fine after his minor heart attack and that he wonders what all the hoopla is about." Or you might have missed Fred Barnes's analysis: "Look, it might have been more important if, one, the victim had died, and, two, Cheney were running for president, but ... even then it would have been just a shooting accident." Right--if all of us had to put off our careers every time we accidentally shot somebody, nothing would ever get done.
...
And Cheney even seemed to take responsibility for the problem: "Well, ultimately, I'm the man who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry." (I fired the round, which hit the man, who saved the quail, who'd managed to fly. I don't know why it happened to fly. That's my reply.) Still, he didn't take too much responsibility: "[Y]ou can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but ... it was not Harry's fault." Translation: You can talk about the talking points my henchmen have been putting forward--"[T]he other gentleman made a serious error by not indicating that he was there" (ex-senator and Cheney buddy Alan Simpson, exhumed for the occasion); or "[Cheney] didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do" (Cheney advisor Mary Matalin, presumably endorsing the shooting); or "[Whittington] didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself" (ranch owner Katharine Armstrong, fresh from a talk with Karl Rove)--but far be it from me to blame Harry in any way.
But when questions turned to how Cheney had handled disclosure of the incident, the vice president made little sense. Hume questioned the overnight delay: "[T]he one thing that we've all kind of learned over the last several decades is that if something like this happens, as a rule sooner is better." Cheney's response: "Well, if it's accurate. If it's accurate. And this is a complicated story." Hume seemed unsatisfied: "But there were some things you knew. I mean, you knew a man had been shot, you knew he was injured, you knew he was in the hospital, and you knew you'd shot him." Well, yeah, Cheney conceded, but no reason to get all hasty: "[I]t was also important, I thought, to get the story out as accurately as possible." But if Cheney wanted the story to be as authoritative as possible, why didn't he put out a statement himself, instead of elevating a ranch owner to the position of impromptu vice presidential spokeswoman? "[S]he was the most credible one to do it," Cheney said, "because she was a witness." And why wouldn't he go directly to the national media rather than relying on the Corpus Christi Caller-Times? Cheney's response: "[A]s the media outlets have proliferated, speed has become sort of a driving force, lots of times at the expense of accuracy. And I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible."
Yes, that all makes sense. I think. Why do I feel a sudden urge to drill for oil?
....
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