Comments on: Cheney Speaks: Less Filling, More Speculation

[centralcal-2009]

I have to agree with janefinch. I remember watching Lawrence O'Donnell have a couple of truly disturbing episodes on TV during the last election cycle, where his mental stability looked quite fragile. Isn't he the one prominently pushing the Cheney was "drunk" accusation? Why are you helping to nurture his accusation along Vaughn?

[memekiller]

I'm not sure this speculation is anywhere on the order of Roswell. This SHOULD have been a story that blew over in a day, but people are understandably trying to figure out some explanation for Cheney's bizarre behavior. Cheney's certainly acting like he has something to hide, but we have no idea what. The fact that they've had to backpeddle on this point of alcohol is a little more evidence pointing in that direction. First they say there's none, now it's a few beers. Okay, why did the story change? A journalist should try to resolve these inconsistencies and ever-evolving explanations of what happened. That's different from proclaiming Cheney guilty of drinking. It's about wanting an explanation for why he failed to come clean, and apparently still hasn't come clean about what the public probably would have dismissed as an unfortunate accident.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

Jane - with a last name like finch I can see why you would say that.

[pjh_az]

"Why do I get the feeling though that the questions and speculation will continue to persist?" Perhaps because reporters are not doing their jobs because they are too busy spinning the stories? If Joe Blow struck someone with a car and sent them to the hospital with serious injuries, there'd be no argument as to whether the police should be notified immediately, nor of whether a breathalizer test should be applied, nor that delays at reporting the event might be evidence of an effort to avoid alcohol testing, nor that of these are topics involving the V Ice President of the United States are newsworthy and worth reporting. Unfortunately, we have media "reporters" trying to do damage control on behalf of the Whitehouse by attempting to frame the events in the context of UFOs and Kennedy Assassination type rumor mills. This is quite brazen after recent criticism of a report that proved conservative media bias.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

Having just checked the CBS timeline, one thing jumped out that doesn't add up and might explain everything. Chaney did not go with Whittington in the ambulance, which is understandable, but more importantly, he never showed up at the hospital until the next day. Anyone who accidentally shoots a friend while hunting goes to the hospital right away, unless, of course, he can't go, perhaps because he is intoxicated or under the influence (remember Bush couldn't get his fight physical for the same reason). That would explain why the local police were turned away the first night and the interview was scheduled for the next day. Chaney was kept under wraps, and the others lied about the drinking to cover for Chaney. Case solved!

[janefinch]

Having a beer at lunch (or two or three) and saying "no one was drinking" when referring to an incident several hours later are consistent statements in my opinion.