The Smell of Desperation
How many moments have spelled out, for the true-blue Bush hater, the end of his ‘imperial presidency’? The Downing Street Memo, Cindy Sheehan, Katrina, Plamegate, the NSA eavesdropping leak – all of these, and many others, have been grasped at eagerly by an audience united in its feeling that George W. Bush’s presidency is not only a failure, but a facist enterprise determined to throw the Constitution out the window and rule the world with an iron fist.
Some of those moments are indeed important – for example, the NSA story hinges on checks and balances and privacy concerns, and it needs a satisfactory resolution. The latest ‘scandal’, however, is such a trivial matter that the only conclusion a rational observer can reach is that the opposition to Bush, having been disappointed so many times before, has lost its sense of proportion and is lunging wildly for any stick to beat the Administration with.
Simply put, there is nothing – nothing – of importance in the Dick Cheney hunting accident. There are no issues of national scope, there are no burning questions, there are no policy implications – Harry Whittington’s family, and the Vice President’s, are the sole parties who have any stake in the outcome (an outcome that appears to be quite satisfactory, as Mr. Whittington has now been released from the hospital).
Indeed, for once, the mainstream news outlets have handled this pretty well (after a feeding frenzy Monday and Tuesday) and have largely moved on (though we are still treated to tripe like this Newsweek cover piece – “Inside Dick Cheney’s dark, secretive mind-set—and the forces that made it that way” – please!). The anti-Bush ‘cult’, though, to borrow the left’s slur of the moment, is having none of it. There must – MUST! – be some hidden narrative here that’s waiting to be uncovered, one that will bring down the whole house of cards.
Exhibit A, the increasingly shrill Jane Hamsher:
Now that we’ve had a bit of a lull in the Cheney cycle (not that I believe for a minute that it is anything more than a lull — this story is not over) it is perhaps appropriate to take stock of what exactly happened this week.
Let me save you some time, Jane: a man was accidentally shot by his hunting companion, and is recovering nicely.
For Exhibit B, take the maniacal ravings of Alec Baldwin (please, take them! Get them out of here!), who apparently envisions a court case straight out of Oliver Stone’s JFK, where the rules of evidence, hearsay, and relevance are just thrown out the window…
Or for that matter, just throw a dart at almost any post at Huff’n'Puff, a site that has become the National Enquirer of the blogging world – no epithet is out of line, no conspiracy theory is too wild, no allegation too unfair for these Hollywood millionaire faux populists.
And the delusions are not confined to the lunatic fringe of the Huff’n'Puffers – from the blog of the Democratic Party itself, we are treated to whisperings of coverup and conspiracy. This is not a party that is confident in its own message. The Bush opponents offer no positive agenda – they are united only in their hatred of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
As a Republican partisan, however, I’m more than happy to let the opposition fritter away their little remaining credibility over a story that is (literally, in this case) yesterday’s news…it’s the Democratic Party that needs to go hunting – for a message, if they care at all about about winning elections…
Simply put. Quite true that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it – the Dems should have learned by now that taking one negative and adding another (and another, and another…) negative does not get you a positive in the world of politics.
“…no epithet is out of line, no conspiracy theory is too wild, no allegation too unfair for these Hollywood millionaire faux populists….”
That’s because, they are surrounded by people who will not disagree with anything they say or do. If everything they do is right, then by definition, nothing they do can be wrong. I’ve a theory that in such circumstances people slowly go insane. Just think of Stalin, Castro or North Korea. Without having to contend with a vigorous opposition you lose all sense of direction.
Rasmussen had a poll out on this issue at:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/National%20Polls/Cheney%20Hunting%20Accident.htm
February 16, 2006–Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Americans believe that the recent hunting accident involving Dick Cheney raises serious questions about his ability to serve as Vice President. Twice as many, 57%, say it was “just one of those very embarrassing things that happens to all of us.”
Much ado over very little by our LSM.
Alan Simpson had a good line on this this morning–he said it was a prefect storm concocted by people who don’t like the Vice President, people who don’t like guns, and people who don’t like people who kill birds and eat them–but that the whole thing had very little to do with the actual incident last Saturday. It’s the ongoing “gotcha” mentality–they’ve got nothing on their own, so they’re just hoping for something, anything from the administration…even a tragic accident to which they can hitch their wagon.
And is it just me, or does this somehow crystalize just what is wrong with this picture?
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/02/milbank-goes-hunting-in-highway.html
It’s not a hunting vest, Dana…
shat does LSM stand for?
sorry, what, not shat
AE-
That’s priceless. The “hunting” vest beautifully illustrates Senator Simpson’s point.
LSM = Lame Stream Media
It’s a play on the MSM or Main Stream Media. If you think the Media is main stream then you are a middle of the road Democrat.
Other ways to refer to the media. CNN = Chicken Noodle News or Communist News Network or even Clinton News Network. MSN = Mostly Slanted News. NPR = National Propaganda Radio
Shat? You’re not violating my no cursing policy, are you, peter?…
thanks —
no cursing, just clumsy fingers –
I was under the impression that MSN meant “Mao Social Networks.”
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