Cheney's missteps turned accident into p.r. disaster, experts say

[seafan]

Cheney's missteps turned accident into p.r. disaster, experts say

BY STEVEN THOMMA
Knight Ridder Newspapers

February 14, 2006

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney turned a tragic hunting accident into a public relations disaster by maintaining his business-as-usual approach to his life: that it's nobody's business.

His refusal to announce his involvement in the shooting irritated an already suspicious press corps and even prompted some Republicans to complain. And his failure to make a more public show of his regret over his friend's injury might have enhanced his image among many as an aloof and remote man, according to experts in political public relations and corporate crisis management.

snip

"I am appalled by the whole handling of this," Marlin Fitzwater, who served the elder President Bush as White House press secretary, told Editor and Publisher magazine Tuesday.
He recalled that when the elder Bush once collapsed at the Camp David presidential retreat, "the statement was on the wires before the helicopter had left to take him to the hospital. I can't believe they didn't have a similar plan here. It is all Cheney; he is the key that has to start this."

Cheney is secretive to the point of defiance about his public and private life. He refused to say, for example, which energy industry representatives he met with when drafting the administration's proposed energy policy. He often doesn't release his schedule. His trip to Texas for the hunting trip wasn't announced.

"Their bunker mentality hurts them at a time like this," said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic public relations consultant. "Cheney should go out publicly and take responsibility. He should say, `There was no wrongdoing, but I made a mistake and I will do everything I can to help Whittington.' I haven't seen any expression directly from the vice president."
Cheney hasn't appeared publicly since the shooting. His office issued a statement Tuesday that didn't quote Cheney directly but said, "The vice president said that his thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Whittington and his family."

snip

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13871957.htm

[greiner3]

1. I've thought for a while that cheney is a sociopath;

Or the new term, antisocial personality disorder.

Antisocial personality disorder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Sociopath)

A common misconception is that many of the individuals diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder can be found in prisons. It should be noted that criminal activity does not automatically warrant a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, nor does a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder imply that a person is a criminal. It is hypothesized that many high achievers exhibit antisocial personality disorder characteristics. This, however, brings much criticism upon the diagnostic criteria specified for those exhibiting antisocial personality disorder and the PCL-R. Both of these tests depend upon the person in question being a criminal or having participated in criminal activities.

Research has shown that individuals with antisocial personality disorder are indifferent to the possibility of physical pain or many punishments, and show no indications that they experience fear when so threatened; this may explain their apparent disregard for the consequences of their actions, and their lack of empathy to the suffering of others.

Central to understanding individuals diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder is that they do not appear to experience true human emotions, or at least, they do not appear to experience a full range of human emotions. This can explain the lack of empathy for the suffering of others, since they cannot experience emotion associated with either empathy or suffering. Risk-seeking behavior and substance abuse may be attempts to escape feeling empty or emotionally void. The rage exhibited by psychopaths and the anxiety associated with certain types of antisocial personality disorder may represent the limit of emotion experienced, or there may be physiological responses without analogy to emotion experienced by others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociopath

[Skittles]

8. he is a sick SOB

I'm sure he feels no more emotion for his "friend" than he does when he steps on a bug

[C_U_L8R]

2. OMG It's Marlin Fitzwater !!!

My favorite muppet !!

Yeah if Marlin sez Cheney screwed up... you know he screwed up BIG TIME

[seafan]

3. Another damning article from Yahoo

Vice President Dick Cheney, center, accompanied by White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, leaves Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)


Analysis: Cheney Forced Onto Center Stage

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
February 14, 2006

WASHINGTON - At the start of the Bush presidency,
Dick Cheney was viewed as the grown-up, the seasoned hand to guide an inexperienced president. Now, he's the center of controversy.

snip

The shooting presents a new problem for the White House as it seeks to repair damaged credibility in a midterm election year in which continued GOP control of Congress hangs in the balance.
Cheney, 65, whose "favorable" rating was just 24 percent in a recent CBS-New York Times poll, has found himself in other storms swirling around the Bush presidency.

His strong insistence that
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction helped build the case for the U.S. invasion of
Iraq. He also has played the role of point man in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program in the war on terror.
And, more recently, his indicted former chief of staff — I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby — testified to a grand jury about being authorized to disclose classified information to the press in the
CIA leak case "by his superiors," according to court documents. Democrats have demanded to know whether Cheney was one of those superiors.

"These things become symptoms of a broader disquiet with Cheney," said Paul C. Light, professor of public service at New York University.
Among moderate and liberal Americans, "there is such an anger toward Cheney," Light said. "There are people who believed he pulled the trigger figuratively on a lot of things. Vice presidents can get away with hitting people with golf balls, but they can't get away with shooting people with shotguns."

snip

"But if somehow the president considers Cheney gets to be a liability, I think that getting rid of him or encouraging him to step down would cause problems for the Republicans with their base," said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist.
"And Cheney is like a member of the Bush family. The president would no sooner push Cheney overboard than he would Jeb," Baker said, referring to Bush brother Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_analysis;_ylt=A86.I1odg_JDozQBiAv9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

[WarningWillRobinson]

4. Sometimes an accident is just an accident.

I think we look a little silly trying to make so much of this. Let's get back to politics.

This is just a makework :puffpiece:

[thebigidea]

5. get back to politics? Like the fact that the fucking VP shot a man?

Or wait, is that "playing politics?"

So we should stop playing politics, but go back to politics. Uh huh.

This little fuckup is a big PR present wrapped up with a bowtie, a metaphor for the Bushies incompetence in all things.

UNSAFE on the environment.

UNSAFE on security issues.

UNSAFE with a fucking gun.

Hell yeah, we'll be getting back to politics.

[CJCRANE]

6. Yes, it's an accident

but the aftermath shows just how Cheney operates both personally and politically.

And this time he can't rail against his critics for being "unpatriotic" or "partisan" or somehow bring 9/11 into the argument.

[Betty]

7. Cheney, like bush, thinks he's above the law.

I heard on a report on the radio that local police tried to interview the fucker after the incident and were prevented from doing so by the secret service. He was not interviewed till the next morning. Long enough, in my opinion, for the alcohol to leave his system. Any normal private citizen would not have gotten away with that. If this guy dies, and I hope he makes a full recovery, but if he does die, the fact that there is no way now to check cheney's blood alcohol at the time of the shooting means he would get away with a serious crime. Which would just be added to the long list of crimes he's already getting away with.