APs Cheney Analysis: We Read His Mind And Decided What He Really Means


The coordinated attack by the media on Cheney is in full swing.

Did you know that former vice president Dick Cheney is speaking out only because he is trying to protect his legacy? Well just in case you wondered about it Steven Hurst for the Associated Press wants to assure that he has read Cheney’s mind and it’s all settled. This is what passes for “analysis” at the AP.

The AP has also decided that Cheney speaking out causes “chagrin” in a GOP trying to “rebuild the tattered party.” Additionally, he AP throws out that much bandied liberal canard that Cheney is dishonoring “protocol” by speaking out because, you see, former chief executives always remain silent about presidents that follow them. Right Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore? Riiiight?

Oh, and one more thing: did you know that Cheney was “unpopular”? Well, just in case you forgot, the AP kindly reminds you. After reading this anti-Cheney attack piece, one wonders if the AP is now just letting White House flacks write its copy for it. It probably saves the AP some time, anyway.

After recounting that the former veep is still actively making the rounds defending the Bush administration’s foreign policy, the AP gives us this favorite liberal shibboleth:

When Obama took office, former President George W. Bush went quietly to his new house in Texas, slipped intentionally into anonymity and honored protocol by staying silent about his successor.

Once again, I say this is nonsense. Yes, some former chief executives have faded off into the night eschewing the spotlight after leaving office. But it is by no means a “protocol” nor even much of a tradition. If there is such a tradition, then why is the Old Media not scolding the hot air of Globaloney guru, Al Gore for his constantly running mouth? Why does the AP ignore the palling around with tyrants and constant anti-American blather of the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia? How does Bill Clinton get a pass for his blatant violations of this so-called protocol? Even former veep Dan Quayle didn’t remain quiet because he tried to run for president on his own after leaving the mansion at the Naval Observatory. Does anyone recall the Old Media attacking Quayle for violating some sort of protocol? Well, besides that of spelling, in any case.

What’s more many presidents of the past were known to excoriate the presidents that followed them. Teddy Roosevelt, for instance, was disgusted by the failure he saw in his own handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, and was never one to keep quiet about it. Even worse he literally despised Democrat Woodrow Wilson, and the Bull Moose Party was born as a result. You can pick any century and find presidents that loudly voiced their opinions about presidents that followed them.

Sure many former veeps remained silent but it wasn’t because they were observing any sort of protocol, it was because no one cared to hear from them in retirement. Lets face it, most vice presidents were inconsequential as vp and even more so in retirement.

So, it is just a plain, liberal lie that there is some sort of protocol that Cheney is so gauche to have violated. It doesn’t exist. It never did.

Also, once again, we get the claim that Cheney is somehow out of control or that he is deep into some Freudian personal breakdown.

“This is not the same level of control and discipline Cheney’s exercised over the last 40 years,” said John Baick, professor of history at Western New England College. “I think it grows out of a deep sense of hurt and betrayal.”

Thank you doctor Brick. What you “think” it grows from is not of any interest to anyone but the AP and its fellow Cheney haters. The simple fact of the matter is that Cheney has not lost control during this post veep debate. He’s remained quite in control and deadly serious. Cheney has not been seen screaming at the top of his lungs that “he betrayed this country” like Al Gore so often has.

There’s more Freudian nonsense from the AP:

Some contend Cheney has gone public because the Obama White House has cast so much blame on the Bush administration for difficulties “inherited” both at home and abroad. That, the theory goes, gave Cheney the right — in his mind — to fight back very publicly.

Or maybe he just is cynically trying to save his legacy…

Others believe Cheney is trying to protect his reputation when the history of the Bush administration is written.

“He sees himself in a position where his legacy is called into question, and he wants to get his story out before history gels,” said Jim Riddlesperger, professor of political science at Texas Christian University.

Thank you AP for the armchair pop psychological pap.

Finally, the clash of words over apostate Republican Colin Powell seems to particularly gall the AP. Citing Cheney’s pick of radio talker Rush Limbaugh over Powell, the AP cites that ubiquitous “expert” that says Cheney is tearing down the GOP’s big tent.

As Republicans seek to broaden their appeal — create the proverbial big tent — after dismal showings in the past two national elections, siding with Limbaugh shows Cheney is “not an institution builder,” Baick said. “He’s not erecting tent poles. He’s knocking them down. In terms of building the party, the remarks about Powell were over the top.”

Uh, does the AP forget that Colin Powell kicked those tent poles down himself when he bolted the party to endorse Barack Obama for president? If anyone is dissing the GOP its Powell.

No, what we have here from the AP is less any salient analysis and more mere Democratic talking points dressed up as analysis. This is hackery at its worst.

(Photo credit: MSNBC.com)


Category: ,

RSS feed

11 Comments Leave a comment

And the Democrats always have came up with insults

oklahomajon Thursday, May 14th at 6:50AM EST (link)

And Democrats have always came up with the insults Carter and Gore are and bitter because they lost I think Carter is espicially bitter George Bush and Dick Cheney have more class then those two ever thought about having and that leavs us with William Jefferson Clinton i think part his probelm i he just the old media to love him and is probaly jealous because the love affair beteewn Obama and the Media seem to have contined

 

And the Democrats always have came up with insults

oklahomajon Thursday, May 14th at 6:50AM EST (link)

And Democrats have always came up with the insults Carter and Gore are and bitter because they lost I think Carter is espicially bitter George Bush and Dick Cheney have more class then those two ever thought about having and that leavs us with William Jefferson Clinton i think part his probelm i he just the old media to love him and is probaly jealous because the love affair beteewn Obama and the Media seem to have contined

 

In fairness though, the AP has gone after Obama and Biden

bk (Diary) Thursday, May 14th at 7:01AM EST (link)

while the rest of the press acts like a group of cheerleaders reprinting WH press releases as hard news.

 

Yes that is true

oklahomajon Thursday, May 14th at 8:32AM EST (link)

Yes that is true that they have post some stories crital of them and I cant watch MSNBC to see what they doing I tuned them in one just after the McCain-Obama debate thought i was going to be sick to my stomach when Keith Olbermann opened his mouth

 

There is a reason they call it APOmama...

Praying (Diary) Thursday, May 14th at 8:48AM EST (link)

n/t

No!!!11!1!!1!1! The Bilderbergers are coming

 

It's not Freudian, it's Syke-ic Hotline

blooch Thursday, May 14th at 9:49AM EST (link)

Summoning the spooky spirits “Some” and “Others”.

“Lieutenant Dike wasn’t a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader because he made no decisions.”

 

The Prince of Darkness emerges

hubman (Diary) Thursday, May 14th at 10:43AM EST (link)

Please keep Dick front and center to remind folks of the last 8 years. He will be especially valuable to the gop Senate candidates in 2010.

The more peopl see Dick, the more we like it!

Wow... 2 whole months of lurking, and you shot your wad on that?

randy streu (Diary) Thursday, May 14th at 10:46AM EST (link)
 

Blam.

Neil Stevens (Diary) Thursday, May 14th at 10:48AM EST (link)

Oh and what Randy said.

RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
Read the RedState Posting Rules

Unlikely Voter: Poll Analysis, Election Projection.

“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder

 
 

My dad used to be unpopular with me, too...

owise1 Thursday, May 14th at 12:41PM EST (link)

…but then I grew up and realized he had been the adult all along, and I had been the irresponsible child.

It may be true, for the present time, that Mr. Cheney is “unpopular.” He certainly is among the far and extreme left, and he certainly is among most of the MSM. On the other hand, I think he remains quite popular among those on the right side of the political spectrum. I have no idea where his popularity stands among “average” Americans who are not political junkies, who go about their lives as best they can, and who continue to get at least their first taste of “news” from the MSM. My guess is that they are in a “wait and see” mode. Hearing the Democrat talking points incessantly hyped by the MSM for the last eight years, they no doubt wonder privately whether there is any fire behind all the smoke. Still, they know what they have seen with their own eyes. They remember 9/11, they remember the images that the MSM no longer wants anyone to see, and they remember their own fear in 2001 that a repeat attack would surely come very soon and that it could be devastating. The idea that we could escape any more attacks for eight years was – at that time – a fantasy indulged only by children. So here the vast majority of American people sit… listening to the hype on the MSM, but observing and remembering what they have seen with their own eyes… and they are quietly and privately making their own judgments about how these disparate points of view can be reconciled.

In the last election, Americans let themselves believe what they heard rather than what they saw with their own eyes. The American people are quietly accepting Democrat rule for the time being, and while their support may be a mile wide, is only an inch deep. The so-called “unpopularity” of Mr. Cheney among these same people is, I think, also a mile wide and an inch deep. The Democrats/MSM would be wise not to demagogue the man or his opinions. The American people are hearing what he’s saying, and they’re remembering what they saw with their own eyes. If they have not yet consciously come to the realization that their own observations match more closely what he is saying than what the Democrats/MSM are saying, they soon will. Though the American people are sometimes fooled, they are not fools. They know intuitively the difference between the bluff and bluster of children and bullies, and thoughtful considered discourse of adults. They know instinctively that what Mr. Cheney is saying is right, although they are hoping against hope that our country’s safety and security will not suffer while the children are in charge.

The Democrats are playing a dangerous game telling the American people that the wolves at the door can be domsticated. If the Administration is lucky, the wolves will be held at bay. For the sake of the safety of my family and my country, I hope they are successful, though I would rather trust in competence than relying on luck. But if luck runs out and we suffer attack or our security is threatened by policy decisions of this Administration, that “mile wide, inch deep” support of the American people will evaporate in a nanosecond.

The Republicans would be well served to follow Mr. Cheney’s lead. Thoughtfully but firmly remind the American people that in spite of all the braying and bullying of the Democrats/MSM, things were pretty danged good for the last eight years. When Democrat policies fail, as I am certain they inevitably will – and disastrously so – the American people will be hunting them down with dogs and they will be eager to put the adults in charge once more. Nothing would please me more than to be able to cast a vote for Dick Cheney for President.

 

Protocol, does Obama know what it means

johnt Thursday, May 14th at 2:47PM EST (link)

Cheney should remain silent but Boy Obama, child wonder of socialists, can whine constantly about Bush. Being basically a child &
unable to take criticism or look inside himself he will hide behind the better man as long as he can.
Cheney, like every other American who disagrees with Obama is expected to stay silent. This is free speech to the left.
The problem is that Obama, Pelosi,and the rest of the gang are making fools of themselves with this torture charade and the media, a collection of obscene knaves, must ride to the rescue doing what they do best, spreading mud and lies against their human and moral betters.

“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville