February 15, 2006

2/15: Cheneyquiddick

In our last edition, we pushed the story about VP Cheney's accidental shooting down a bit, as there didn't seem to be much new and there were other stories we needed to cover. Today it's the opposite -- there are several stories that almost certainly would have captured the blogosphere's attention, were it not for the Cheney story. One is the release of more horrifying photos from Abu Ghraib, and the U.S. media's non-coverage (so far). Another is the growing possibility that Congress will not investigate the NSA wiretap program, in part because of the WH's efforts to persuade lawmakers that one isn't necessary.

But the Cheney story looms as large as ever, and not without reason -- Harry Whittington's heart attack and the decision for Cheney to meet with authorities the morning after the incident has brought increased scrutiny to the case.

For many bloggers, this is as much a media story as it is about the WH. In the long-ago days before newspapers went online, reporters could do their work, send a story to their editors, add updates as they came in, publish and repeat the process the next day. With the advent of online news in the past decade, wire reports are constantly updated on the web, exposing the raw news collection process -- including their mistakes. For example, if one knows how to manipulate the URLs correctly at Yahoo! News, one can flip through multiple versions of the same news story. With the advent of blogs, there are a lot of people out there doing just that. In a couple examples below, bloggers have seized upon incorrect or incomplete reports that may never have seen the light of day in earlier news eras.

CHENEY I: Open Season

CAP's Think Progress is among those focusing on the fact that WH spokesperson Scott McClellan knew of the heart attack before the speech; however, it seems there isn't much more than general outrage about it from the left, and few if any mentions from the right. More popular is a video from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, which broke the story on 2/12. They had a gun expert reproduce the incident, with the birdshot hitting a sheet of paper. Think Progress again is one of a growing number of blogs linking to it. One is MO Dem consultant Roy Temple, who hints: "This experienced trap and skeet shooter got 200 pellets into the face and torso of a stationary target at 30 yards, but he did so by taking careful aim, not by missing a quail and shooting a human target instead. Hmmmmmmm."

Philadelphia Daily News' Will Bunch reports at his Attytood blog that "Armstrong became a lobbyist just three short years ago. She had no prior experience in lobbying, nor does she have a law degree. Her recent governmental experience consists of her recent stint as chair of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission." And while she "insists that she never lobbied Bush or Cheney directly," Bunch has seen documents that show a TX ranch paid her $10K to lobby the WH and Ag Dept., as did a pharmeceutical firm Prionics. He also quotes Bush from 8/05 explaining that he couldn't meet with Cindy Sheehan because he was having lunch with Armstrong.

Others wonder if Whittington is worse off than we know. Bad Attitudes: "Could Mr. Whittington be in deeper trouble than they're admitting? The Post reported today that he's had a minor heart attack due to a piece of birdshot lodging in his heart. IANA doctor, but prima facie that doesn't sound like a positive thing, especially for a patient who's 78." Andrew Sullivan wonders what happens if Whittington dies: "He's 78. He got hit in the face and body by a spray of tiny pellets. He's back in intensive care. It's not inconceivable that the vice president may have accidentally killed someone. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I don't know Texas law; and I'm not a lawyer. But wouldn't this be a case of something like negligent homicide?" Philly-based All-Spin Zone asks, "how does birdshot 'lodged in his skin' enter a blood vessel and proceed to rattle around in his heart? More than likely his neck is a pulpy mess and the shot entered a wrecked vein. But hey, compared to the other lies that this administration has told, this is a fairly small one, and involves only one life."

At one point, Gary Farber understood the hunting license rules to mean that Cheney had been hunting after legal shooting hours and without the proper hunting permit -- just $7. He updates later to note that available reports make it seem likely the shooting took place within a half-hour of "civil twilight." Unable to dig further, he writes, "it would be darned interesting to be able to pin down the precise time of the shooting for certain, wouldn't it?" Los Angeles Times has since verified Farber's suspicion about the $7 permit.

Noting an AP report, AMERICAblog is put off by some of the joke-making going on: "I expect Jon Stewart and Jay Leno to make jokes about this incident. That's their job. But, for Scott McClellan and Jeb Bush to make fun of the whole thing is just creepy and incredibly unseemly."

Stone Court recalls an '03 case where a hunter accidentally shot an illegal/undocumented immigrant and was shot; both shooter and shot were Hispanic, manslaughter charges were brought but ultimately dropped in favor of a civil suit. Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher summarizes: "This is what the State of Texas thinks of hunting accidents that injure innocent people if your surname happens to be Hispanic." She notes that the ranch owners lost a damage award to the tune of $20M, and speculates maybe this is why Armstrong wanted it known that Cheney was not drinking.

Ian Schwartz at Expose the Left points out that Firedoglake only describes the victim as "Hispanic" and wonders what the fuss is. "There is one problem though, the illegal was shot and killed and the shooter is facing manslaughter charges. Cheney, on the other hand has not killed anyone, yet, and you better believe liberals are [hoping] that Whittington dies."

Of course, there is no shortage of speculation about whether Cheney was in fact drinking. Lawrence O'Donnell leads the way, writing at the Huffington Post: "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?"

And some conservatives want to know why Cheney hasn't talked to the press. Troy Univ. prof Steven Taylor: "Quite honestly, I am a bit surprised that the Veep hasn't held a press conference to face the media music, if anything just to get it over with. If anything, that seems the wiser course of action." Pundit Guy agrees with an NRO editorial calling for Cheney to step forward and address the situation: "It's time to end this, and the Veep is the only one who can."

A new entrant to Huffington Post's Contagious Media Festival (see 2/10 Blogometer) is a "game" called "Dick Cheney Quail Hunt." One "plays" as Cheney, and far as we can tell, each game ends with shooting either a nearby Secret Service agent or a fellow hunter (but apparently not the little girl). Already the quail hunt has shot to #1, displacing previous leader Awwwstrich. Based on the current totals, the Cheney game is now the prohibitive favorite for the top prize.

CHENEY II: Hey, Look Over There!

Last a.m., Josh Marshall found an ABC News story that described Cheney's 28-gauge shotgun as a "pellet gun": "Like when bad guys whack people with a sawed-off pellet gun? Please." By the time we checked the story early this a.m. the description had been changed to "shotgun loaded with birdshot."

The Green Knight is fed up that the media is "retelling conflicting accounts of the event without comment or notice" and declares: "I swear, if Bush and Cheney killed and ate a baby on live TV, the major pundits would swarm all over CNN to tell us we shouldn't judge them too harshly."

Center-right law prof Ann Althouse links: "The Cheney shooting story is the biggest distraction in the political discourse I've seen in a long time. It's interesting and, of course, we had to crack as many jokes as possible, but as a component in the political debate ... it's utterly meaningless." She links to a New York Times editorial criticizing the WH's delay, and later updates to ask why the editorial avoids comparison to Chappaquiddick.

Just as conservative bloggers called attention to Dana Milbank's bright orange hunting gear on 2/13, now they're noticing that Dem activist-pundit/CNN contributor Paul Begala did the same on 2/14. California Conservative slightly modifies Begala's outfit in Photoshop. John Hinderaker notes Begala's stunt, adding: "But then, Begala is a notoriously vicious Democratic Party hit-man, whereas Dana Milbank is ..." According to a reader of his, ombudsman Deborah Howell will address the Milbank incident this coming Sun. Wonkette: "At least Begala's hunting outfit, in contrast to Dana Milbank's lame imitation of one, seems authentic." At Huffington Post, Steven Kaus (brother of Mickey) hits the conservative bloggers as disingenuous: "The orange attire is not what offends them. It is that Milbank and Olbermann have been pointing out the idiocy of the administration on a nightly basis. ... Apparently no true Swiftboat fodder was available, so this had to do."

Just as bloggers are questioning why Cheney didn't speak to authorities until the morning after the incident, some are questioning why the media hasn't pressed the question harder. An early CBSNews.com report contained the line that disappeared from subsequent versions: "CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports Texas authorities are complaining that the Secret Service barred them from speaking to Cheney after the incident." Some readers wondered if the report was incorrect or e-mailed CBS "nonbudsman" Vaughn Ververs at Public Eye for an explanation. Ververs contacted Maer, who wrote back that the info was thought right at the time, but soon they learned that such a meeting had been arranged: "We reported it as it developed. I obviously resent any notion that the White House or GOP could 'gag' our reporting on this or any other story."

ABU GHRAIB: They're Heeeeeeere!

More photos from Abu Ghraib have leaked, and the Sydney Morning Herald is among a couple Australian outlets to publish them. Some are similar to those released in '04, while others are much worse; Kevin Drum notes from the news reports that these were "among those that were shown privately to members of Congress shortly after the original Abu Ghraib story broke."

It seems that for the most part, U.S. blogs are currently occupied by the Cheney story. That said, it already has been picked up by a diarist at the #1-ranked political blog, Daily Kos, and the Technorati #1-ranked blog overall, Boing Boing. We expect to find much more commentary on this tomorrow.

Edward Champion: "Disgusting. Definitely NSFW. I'm ashamed to be American. And I think I'm going to roll into a ball. Because if these photos don't get America horrified, I don't know what will. NPR, of course, is silent about these images this morning. I'm looking at CNN's website and there's a tiny link to the right when this should be the top story. Nothing at the Washington Post or the New York Times. Or even my hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle." For the strong-stomached, Obsidian Wings posts a few of the more graphic photos under the ironic headline "A City On A Hill."

EAVESDROPPING: House Afire

Washington Post reports, an "all-out" WH campaign has Congress reconsidering whether to launch a probe into the NSA wiretaps. Among the sens. now reluctant to open an investigation is moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

Captain's Quarters: "Another reason for the ebbing of outrage by Congress ... has to be the reaction of the American people. Having been informed that the administration authorized warrantless surveillance on international communications between people with ties to al-Qaeda and people in the US, the American electorate ... yawned." Sister Toldjah: "It should be noted that the more moderate Senators like Snowe generally stick to their middle-of-the-road guns and don't give in to WH pressure, so this is a pretty significant change in attitude on the part of Snowe." Lefty Billmon notes that Cheney was involved in the lobbying effort, and snarks: "He must have threatened to take them 'hunting.'"

OHIO: Valentine's Day Massacre

Yesterday we detailed developments in the OH SEN and GOV Dem primaries. At first, most of the focus was on Iraq vet/'05 OH-02 special candidate Paul Hackett's (D) unhappy exit from the SEN race, apparently at the hands of nat'l Dem leadership. Today, questions are raised about how the state party may have worked to force state Sen./'04 SEN nominee Eric Fingerhut (D) to quit the GOV race.

Jill Miller Zimon posted about a conversation she had with OH Dem chair Chris Redfern. Zimon had previously written to Redfern about claims that the ODP wouldn't accomodate Fingerhut, an Orthodox a Conservative Jew, and his request to postpone an interview scheduled for the Sabbath. First, she was contacted by ODP comm. dir. Brian Rothenberg, who noted that Fingerhut was offered the opportunity to speak at a time when, two weeks earlier, he had scheduled a campaign event. Rothenberg, who notes he's also Jewish, wrote: "I am not aware in my upbringing of an exception for different events -- you are either conservative or orthodox and strictly observe or you are flexible in your observance. It is highly doubtful you change such a belief pattern in a span of two weeks!"

Zimon, on her conversation with Redfern: "Redfern spoke for several minutes about the importance to him that Fingerhut be afforded opportunities that respected Fingerhut's religious observances. ... Fingerhut's campaign says that a person speaking for the ODP said that 'it is impossible' for the interview to be re-scheduled in a way that would satisfy Fingerhut. Chris Redfern says that no one from the ODP has said that and that the ODP representatives were ordered to and carried out that order to offer Fingerhut accommodations which, the ODP believed, had been adequate in the past." Zimon concludes: "shouldn't these two camps be talking to one another? Is it reasonable to think that I should have written that in my email to Redfern, and perhaps to Fingerhut's campaign as well? I mean, that just sounds kooky to me, but things are getting kookier all the time these days."

A post at High & Broad about Fingerhut, titled, "Is There a Rabbi in the House?" offended many. It was removed, but recovered and posted on Buckeye Senate Blog. Brewed Fresh Daily claims the rabbi entry was posted by a paid ODP staffer and ex-journalist. Conservative Michael Meckler comments on the accusations of anti-Semitism flowing back and forth, and concludes on the whole issue: "Regardless of when the ODP screening committee meeting was going to be scheduled, Fingerhut's campaign was already in serious trouble. ... Whatever the true story of the scheduling dispute may have been, it would have had no effect on the outcome of the endorsement."

Back to the SEN race, Ohio 2nd responds to Markos Moulitsas claim that Hackett "didn't stand a chance" in the primary. "I don't mind people promoting their guy, but don't try to rewrite history and give people credit for other people's work. Kos wasn't there. He doesn't know crap about the 2nd race." Kos later posts some more thoughts. Responding to claims that the establishment pushed Hackett out, he points to seemingly analogous situations elsewhere, and also the case of now-IL Sen. Barack Obama (D). "He didn't quit when the odds were stacked up against him. So it can be done, and it has been done. The party is not all powerful." On the idea that primaries are bad: "Now, insurgent candidates don't have a god-given right to respect or support. But if they want to run, then the party should stay the frack out of it. There is no legitimate justification for the price the party pays in meddling in such affairs."

A sampling elsewhere from the left and right: Paul Rieckhoff: "The loss of Paul Hackett's voice in the national dialogue is a loss for our military, for the Troops in harms' way, and for the nation as a whole. Yet again, the Washington political machine has shown its inability to handle fresh perspective and bold challenges to the status quo." Mark Noonan at Blogs For Bush: "I do believe that they are imploding over there on the left side of the aisle." Sirotablog: "Beyond who you liked in this potential Democratic primary, one thing is a truism: successful candidates -- whoever they are -- have to have the tenacity in order to be elected. I'm sure Paul Hackett has tenacity in parts of his life -- hell, he went off to combat in Iraq. But its clear he doesn't have political tenacity."

GORE: Just Misunderstood?

On 2/14 we pointed out that we couldn't find any liberal bloggers mentioning Al Gore's speech on U.S. mistreatment of Arabs in the U.S. One who has is Anonymous Liberal, who argues that conservatives have it exactly backward: "Far from fanning the flames of anti-Americanism, Gore was actually doing damage control. He was trying to de-fuse a source of strong anti-American sentiment by making it clear to his audience that the actions at issue were not condoned by most Americans. It's hard to understate just how important it is to make it clear to the Muslim world that American policy almost never represents the views of all Americans. ... Compare that to Ann Coulter's crude slurring of every Muslim in the world at [CPAC], a remark which apparently prompted a 'boisterous ovation' from the Republican crowd. It's hard to imagine a single remark with more potential to engender hatred of America."

REPUBLICANS: I Want MyGOP

This past weekend, RedState co-founder Mike Krempasky admonished the RNC for letting the DNC beat them to the creation of individual fundraising accounts along the same lines as ActBlue (see 2/13 Blogometer).

In the comments, ex-RNC eCampaign dir. Mike Turk writes, "that sort of functionality causes a slew of legal problems that the FEC (and clearly the Democrats) have not considered. We looked at developing an ActRed site, but the legal restrictions prevent a national committee from doing so. It could be done by a third party, and I undertand several are working on the concept."

He also noted that the RNC did work on such a project last year, as well as a MySpace-like site on GOP.com for activists to create profiles. He explains how that project died: "When we were forced to pull a Social Security Testimonials tool off the site because someone dared to use the word "private" instead of the more acceptable "personal" accounts, it became apparent that our internal tolerance for self-expression would not allow that sort of openness. Arguments that restrictions of that nature are ridiculous and hamper our ability to be effective online were met with stony silence. In the end, MyGOP went nowhere."

He concludes: "For anyone who is casting aspersions on [current eCampaign dir.] Patrick Ruffini, I would caution against that. Patrick is pretty much the only friend we have in that building. ... Unfortunately, Patrick has an enormous task ahead of him. He has to convince a generation of political professionals to see the net as a community, rather than an audience." In the comments following, Krempasky and Turk agree to start working on this project as a PAC.

Turk's account of internal RNC operations puzzled some GOPers. Republicans familiar with the RNC's e-campaign operation at the time say that Ruffini was hired to implement many of the ideas that were generated by Turk and others. And the RNC believes that its relationship with bloggers have improved in recent months. The committee hosted a private conference with senior officials, including Karl Rove; Mehlman has hosted at least a half dozen conference calls to respond to bloggers; questions. Comments to official RNC blog posts are edited only for obscenity and spam, not generally for content, even comments critical of Bush are allowed. One Republican: "the notion that you can somehow control the blogosphere is just unrealistic" and "of course" RNC "recognizes that." (Hotline reporting, 2/15)

DEMOCRATS: Ten Campaigns From Normal

Mickey Kaus argues that the Dems' best strategy for '06 and '08 is to emphasize a "return to normalcy" theme without downplaying the war on terrorism: "We can routinize the anti-terror struggle the way we routinized the Cold War, when just as much was at stake." More: "It not only changes the focus from foreign policy (on which Dems tend to lose) to domestic policy (where Dems are poised to win) -- it does this a) without minimizing the importance of the anti-terror effort but also b) without requiring the public to decide that Democrats are actually better equipped to fight Al Qaeda. All they have to decide is that the Dems are right to say, 'We can handle it.'"

MIDTERMS: Like The Word "Smurf," Some Will Just Plug The Word "Blog" In When They're Not Sure What To Write

Ex-IA Dem chair Gordon Fischer wrote at his blog: "Speculation began this weekend when" IA Ag. Sec Patty Judge "was a no show at a Story County Dems event. It's now reached fever pitch. Apparently, Secretary Culver is doing a tour tomorrow, including a press conference at the Capitol, and is ending the tour in Albia. Hmmm." On 2/14, the Cedar Rapids Gazette followed up, noting -- in the reporter's awkward phrasing -- that "Fischer posted a blog on his Internet web page" about the rumor.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Map Quest

Boot Burns, a blog run by the campaign of MT SEN candidate John Morrison (D), calls attention to a map his team has assembled detailing the Bush admin's "land grab" -- i.e. the Ag Dept. is selling off Nat'l Forest areas around MT. Morrison's camp thus becomes the 1st campaign that we know of to make use of the mapping technologies available via Google Maps and Map Builder.

LEST WE FORGET: Some Things Are Just Sacred

Referring to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon controversy, Iowahawk posts an imaginary news story that answers the quest: What would it take to turn the Midwestern Street into a seething rage?: "Green Bay, WI -- Like a pot of bratwurst left unattended at a Lambeau Field pregame party, simmering tensions in the strife-torn Midwest boiled over once again today as rioting mobs of green-and-gold clad youth and plump farm wives rampaged through Wisconsin Denny's and IHOPs, burning Texas toast and demanding apologies and extra half-and-half. The spark igniting the latest tailgate hibachi of unrest: a Texas newsletter's publication of caricatures of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi..." Heritage's Mark Tapscott has the DC angle on the "riots." [Updated]

Posted by at February 15, 2006 12:55 PM