Media Matters
Firestorm and Media Brimstoning
Symptoms of a collective nervous breakdown — and David Gregory was one of the saner haters.
The mainstream media’s petulance peaked this week after they disapproved of Vice President Dick Cheney’s notification method about his hunting accident in Texas. Once again the White House press corps reminded us that it’s not about the story, or the victim, but about them.
The usual journalism suspects who always exhibit “objective” criticism of the Bush administration displayed especially feral cattiness, and I’m not even talking about the demonstrative David Gregory of NBC News. No, the think-strained wretches of print did themselves proud as well.
Stories in the national newspapers linked the alleged disclosure delay about the unfortunate shooting of his friend, Harry Whittington, to the following Cheney behavioral peculiarities:
-His “penchant for secrecy”
-His fight against releasing the “names of oil and gas company executives who met with the energy task force he headed”
-His failure to hold news conferences or to tell reporters of his whereabouts
-Cheney’s “habit of living in his own world in the Bush White House”
-His “freedom that only a political figure who knows he is in his last job…can get away with”
-His suspected “fear of leaks”
-His “power center of his own”
-Cheney’s “unparalleled autonomy”
-His heavy influence over Iraq policy after the 9/11/01 terror attacks
About the Author
Paul Chesser is executive director for the American Tradition Institute and a senior fellow for the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives. The views he expresses do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations.
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