Smearing Dick Cheney
Lawrence O’Donnell, taking a break from his usual crowing that he broke the Karl Rove connection to the disappointing Fitzmas saga, makes a remarkable smear on the reputation of Dick Cheney with not even an approximation of a shred of evidence:
The L.A. Times is edging closer to the most likely reason for the 18 hour delay in reporting that the Vice President of the United States shot someone:
“This was a hunting accident,” said Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy of the Kenedy County Sheriff’s Office. “There was no alcohol or misconduct.”
How do we know there was no alcohol? Cheney refused to talk to local authorities until the next day. No point in giving him a breathalyzer then. Every lawyer I’ve talked to assumes Cheney was too drunk to talk to the cops after the shooting. The next question for the White House should be: Was Cheney drunk?
I have never gone hunting with ultra-rich Republicans on a Saturday afternoon, but I have seen them tailgating at Ivy League football games, so it’s hard for me to believe that any of their Saturday lunches are alcohol free.
Yes, Lawrence, and how do we know there was no heroin involved? After all, we weren’t there…
The word smear is often misused and applied to stories that have a large basis in fact, such as the allegation that Harry Reid was cozy with Jack Abramoff’s team. This accusation, my friends, is a smear. Were I to say that O’Donnell is a shameless hack and a foul excuse for a human being, however, that would be no smear, as the proof is indisputable…
UPDATE 8:37 a.m.: The Wall Street Journal captures the imbecilic quality of this whole affair perfectly, as does John McIntyre of the RealClearPolitics blog…
UPDATE 2 9:37 a.m.: More attempts to bring in an alcohol conspiracy here, based on the appearance and disappearance of the following from MSNBC’s website:
Armstrong also told NBC News that she does not believe alcohol was involved in the accident. She says she believes no one that day was drinking, although she says there may have been beer available during a picnic lunch that preceded the incident. “There may be a beer or two in there,” she said, “but remember not everyone in the party was shooting.”
So, we have two people on the record saying that alcohol was not involved, and that’s the basis of the belief that alcohol was involved…hmmm…convincing, isn’t it?…
UPDATE 3 12:52 p.m.: RJ Eskow of the loathsome Huffington Post adds to the smear, which he calls Cheney’s Chappaquiddick, not only focusing on the completely unsubstantiated alcohol allegation, but adding that Whittington and Cheney were with two women that weren’t their wives.
Yes…well, one was the Ambassador to Switzerland, and the other was the owner of the property…these weren’t two floozies they picked up at a local bar…
A shameful disgrace…Arianna would be mortified, if she had an ounce of dignity, to acquiesce in peddling this garbage…
Add Alan Dershowitz, well-known apologist for double-murderer O. J. Simpson (and unlike this case, the proof was DEFINITIVE in that one), to the list of the rumor-mongerers…
UPDATE 4 1:14 p.m.: Make no mistake, the Huffington Post has officially passed Kos in terms of inherent loathsomeness…Markos and company have resisted the temptation to front page these disgusting rumors…
UPDATE 5 4:01 p.m.: Jane Hamsher writes a piece so full of hatred, venom, and innuendo, that it could only come from the woman who recently referred to pro-life people as the ‘forced-birth brigade’…
This is the worst of the blogosphere–someone like O’Donnell can make this kind of groundless insinuation without even pretending to have any evidence besides having seen drunk Republicans at a tail-gate party. Shame on him.
And for that matter, how does he know that the Ivy League tailgaters are Republicans? Most folks I know who went to Ivy League schools are Democrats. Does their political affiliation forbid them to tailgate?
Well, because they were wearing their “I’m a Republican” name tags, of course – don’t you always wear yours?…
I don’t think Cheney is an Ivy Leaguer, either –
[...] Does this guy still work for MSNBC? if so he needs to be fired yesterday. What a freakin slimeball. HT/ to Decision08 who has more on this story. [...]
I guess when, through your actions, you have become the symbol of your party’s success and of the failures of your opponent, then any misstep, mishap, or misfortune become fodder for vitriolic attacks from those that oppose you. Thus has become Cheney’s fate: lightning rod for all the hacks and failures that constitute the “angry left”. Present company excluded.
As a man with a heart condition, drinking to excess would be extremely hazardous to Cheney. I wonder if he is allowed to have any alcoholic beverages at all, considering his medical problems the last couple of years.
Cheney was forced to withdraw from Yale in his sophomore year, apparently because his heavy partying interfered with his studies. He eventually graduated from the University of Wyoming.
He is also one of the rare Americans with not one, but two DWI convictions. But I’m sure that’s entirely coincidental to the fact that the Secret Service prevented the Sheriff’s Dept. from interviewing him about the incident until the next morning.
After the stress of having shot someone, I’m sure they simply wanted to avoid endangering Cheney’s weak heart by subjecting him to an interview with the local authorities.
Anyway, Mr. Whittington will be able to clear this whole mess up, as soon as he gets out of the ICU.
Dick Cheney a big partyer? Who knew?
Well, Jacques, I expected more from you…this eagerness to subscribe to a theory that has not one factual leg to stand on (after all, two people are on the record, including a law enforcement agent, that there are no indications that alcohol was involved) is far below your usual comments (perhaps he was engaged in a love tryst with Whittington – after all, he went to school in Wyoming, and Brokeback Mountain was about gay cowboys in Wyoming – isn’t that conclusive?).
When an accusation is brought against the Vice President, regardless of party, I would expect someone to rely on something better than anecdotal hunches…
By the way, Jacques, Cheney’s two DWI convictions are over 40 years old, but I’m sure you didn’t mean to leave that out of your comment, so I’ll helpfully supply it for my readers…
Another Black Eye For The MSM
In the absence of any pressing news these days — other than Iran’s nuclear weapons development crisis, the election of Hamas terrorists in Palestine, ongoing worldwide Muslim riots and killing in reaction to a cartoon, Al Gore’s near sedition while …
Too bad we will never have the chance to ask Mary Jo about any involvement of alcohol; she never made it to the ICU.
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Iraq's WMD: What Would You Have Done?
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This is Cheney’s (or really, the Republicans’ at large) Chappaquiddick? So old Dick must have left Whittington with a serious but field-treatable wound while he cooked up an alibi for the authorities and Whit met his maker thereby. Also, Cheney is in a gay marriage, not to the gentleman dearly departed.
Yeow, I truly hope this is a tack taken by our Democrats and their media slaves. Chappaquiddick and the other multitudinous Kennedy scandals could use a good dusting off. Might even pique some interest in the Barrett report on Cisneros since, as ever, the Dem defense of their offense against the release of any such info is that it is “Old News”, unworthy of the expenditure of our precious, limited supply of electromagnetic spectrum, bandwidth and time. Never, I suppose, will “Daddy, what’s Chappaqiddick?” plague anyone at the dinner table but some must wonder at the strange word and every mother-loving American has Google at his fingertips these days. Could this Mother of All Cover-Ups finally be reaching her end? Well, I don’t think we’ll hear Teddy saying this is Dick’s Chappaquiddick, although the guy does perform feats of stupidity marvelous to behold.
A few quick thoughts on "Cheney's Chappaquiddick"
Earlier today I touched very briefly on the left's growing "Cheney was drunk!" meme -- mostly as a way to distinguish their breathless, relentless, almost swarming interest in what was an unfortunate hunting accident (at a press …
Now that the Vice President himself disclosed that he had been drinking, would you care to retract this particular little bit of stupidity? I certainly understand that facts are not really your strong suit, but still.
“So, we have two people on the record saying that alcohol was not involved, and that’s the basis of the belief that alcohol was involved…hmmm…convincing, isn’t it?…”
Jon, not at all…the Vice President, far from engaging in an alcohol cover-up, freely admitted to drinking a beer….at lunch. The accident occurred about five hours later.
So, now we have three people on the record saying alcohol was not involved…
Sorry, I know facts are not your strong suit – MORON! (I’m sorry – I meant to say – JACKASS!)…
What an interesting planet you must live in where “I drank beer” means “No alcohol was involved.” How enchanting it must be there!
You f***ing moron.
Jon, watch your language – my house, my rules…
Yes, it’s a lovely little planet called Earth – do come by and visit sometime. Here on earth, we have physical laws.
One of these says that 4 hours is plenty of time for a single beer to work through the system of a quite hefty man…or are you as virginal with spirits as you are in other areas?
Now, grownups want to talk, so you go play somewhere else…
Then WHY did Cheney wait 18 hours before talking to anyone? He should know that there would be the perception of impropriety.
Republican fascists are so arrogant,they think that they can gloss over any crime.Even starting a phony war over a LIE.
You people are all alike.The U.S.A. has degenerated into being the new U.S.S.R.thanks to SCUM Republican FILTH.
Mussolini,Stalin,and Hitler are smiling with approval of Bu$h from the gates of hell.
Luther, always great to hear from a fan! Come back anytime (but next time, take your meds!)…
No meds needed.Replace the name ‘John Kerry’ with the name ‘Dick Cheney’ and lets see how forgiving you hipocrites are then.
I’ve been a hunter for over 40 years and never came close to an incident such as this.Cheney can’t see someone in broad daylight wearing a florescent orange jacket????? Please. Keep fooling yourselves.Cheneys friends Jack Daniels,and Jim Beam will remain silent……
Well, considering your calling me scum and filth sight unseen, and knowing nothing about my blog but a single post, forgive me if I hold your opinion in lower esteem than a hamster’s…good luck with that attitude, though, you’re sure to go far…
Just open your friggin’ eyes.
Republican criminals are ruining this country and idiots like you gloss over everything and enable these bastards.
Start listening and reading something other than Fox News,and Rush.You’ve been brainwashed and maybe someday you’ll awake from you coma and realize that you’ve been had by these lying fascists
Hey, thanks again for your reasoned comments…I don’t particularly care for Fox News or Rush, thank you very much…I assure you my eyes are wide open…
Smear? Republicans like Cheney and Bush are THE dirtiest fighters, rarely missing any opportunity to participate in (or orchestrate) a rousing smear campaign. Talk about glass houses!
Nice post, bleedinheart, full of well-documented facts, and short on hyperbole. That’s what I like to see.