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Cheney’s inexplicable behavior
The 18 hour gap between the shooting accident and the press being told about it is only part of the story. I didn’t realize until reading this column that the accident took place Saturday afternoon, and that Vice President Cheney did not tell the president about it until Monday. Cheney simply made the decision on his own, to let the ranch owner call a local paper. He didn’t seem to feel he had to tell the White House or anybody. The impression you get is either that Cheney was so upset that he wasn’t thinking straight and didn’t see the need of telling anyone, or that he was so arrogant that he felt he didn’t need to tell anyone. Either way, it looks very bad. He looks like a man who is not all there, whose thinking function has broken down. Further, while Cheney told Brit Hume how bothered and haunted he is by the accident, he is adamant in defending his unaccountable behavior after the accident. This is reversing the proper view of things, since, as far as anyone can tell, Cheney’s shooting of Whittington really was the fault of Whittington, who came up behind the other hunters without telling them, while Cheney’s failure to tell the president and the press was highly odd and blameworthy behavior for which Cheney apparently feels no remorse, and no need to explain.
I think what David Gergen said on Charlie Rose Wednesday night is correct, that Cheney’s influence inside the administration will wane as a result of this. Gergen thinks that Secretary Rice’s influence will increase. Email entry |