Other newsworthy events took place yesterday: Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan and Iran began enriching uranium in its deadly game of nuclear brinkmanship, but the press corps here was interested in only one story — why it took almost 24 hours for the world to find out that U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney had accidentally shot a man in the face during a weekend Texas hunting trip.At the gym yesterday, I happened to see a CNN headline saying Scottie was "grilled" about the shooting. I was thinking, oh yeah, I can imagine the grilling, what'd they do, ask one follow-up question? But apparently the White House press corps rented a spine for the day.
After five years of largely accepting the Bush administration's version of events on everything from Iraq's illusory weapons of mass destruction to the bungled response to hurricane Katrina, the White House press corps suddenly turned aggressive yesterday, refusing to accept spokesman Scott McClellan's explanations of why the public had been left in the dark about Mr. Cheney's hunting mishap.
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2.14.2006
some sheep make some noise
Here's something I love about Canada. The media says things like this:
I heard the guy that Cheney shot is a big shot lawyer.
ReplyDeleteAw David, you can do better than that!
ReplyDeleteGood thing Dick "Other Priorities" Cheney got those five Vietnam deferrments -- who knows how many US soldiers he would have shot over there?
ReplyDeleteHaven't had my coffee yet :).
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the press. They are very ferocious about this all of a sudden
The WH press transcript. It's funny that everyone has to play along that Bush should be told immediately. Like he's in some way actually important in the White House. Please.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Show clip is here -- I can't get it to play, but the pull quotes are pretty weak.
I am just now catching up on some of this. I think the guy he shot has some connection to a case involving illegal activity by cemetary owners.
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing the expression "funeralgate".
Did you try You Tube for the Daily Show clip?
ReplyDeleteIt's mildly amusing.
You can see the best of many Daily Show episodes here.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the whole incident is somewhat comical, it is truly depressing and bewildering to see how superficial the US press has become. There are more pressing issues that actual affect people than Cheney's bad aim.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think of the months and months of media coverage the Lewinski affair got, while the whole Iraq WMD issue or the Katrina debacle seem like non-events or footnotes in US and world history. Truly bizarre priorities.
At least dickhead has the balls to shoot people in person now, rather than by proxy.
ReplyDeleteit is truly depressing and bewildering to see how superficial the US press has become. ... Truly bizarre priorities.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. So very true, and so very sad.
That's what happens when giant media conglomerates who are only concerned with profit - and not journalism - take over the business of news. Meanwhile, it serves the ends of this administration very well, keeping people entertained, and ignorant.
A kind commentor left a great link to a Radio Blogger file of the White House Press Corps going after Scotty on my blog today. Hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteOh no. He's tasted human blood. We're thought it was bad before, now we're screwed.
ReplyDeletenice blog here. visit us at Canadian Haiku, eh?
ReplyDeletealso, Cheney related haiku at grousers