The media and the outrageous offenses against Richard Cheney

[BurtWorm]

Glenn Greenwald notes how the media takes offense:


http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/greenwald/~3/J-ia9Z9A-Ds/index.html

Over the weekend, Dick Cheney -- at John King's prodding -- accused Barack Obama of, among other things, lying to the public about his proposed domestic policies, taking advantage of the financial crisis to foist enlarged government on unsuspecting citizens, and leaving us all more vulnerable to slaughter by the Terrorists. When asked about those comments, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy, so they trotted out the next most popular member of the Republican cabal. . . . Not taking economic advice from Dick Cheney might be the best possible outcome of yesterday's interview."

Some reporters are horrified that Dick Cheney would be spoken of with such disrespect. CBS' Chip Reid immediately objected (and the video conveys even more than the words how offended he was):

Can I ask you, when you referred to the former Vice President, that was a really hard-hitting, kind of sarcastic response you had. This is a former Vice President of the United States. Is that the attitude -- is that the sanctioned tone toward the former Vice President of the United States from this White House now?

On his Twitter feed, ABC News' Rick Klein was similarly aghast at Gibbs' disrespect:



Dick Cheney is one of the most divisive -- and disliked -- political officials in memory. Maybe Chip Reid and Rick Klein haven't heard, but he just presided over the virtual collapse of the American economy and is directly implicated in severe war crimes and other pervasive criminality. Yet they speak of him -- and demand that everyone else treat him -- as royalty: This is the former Vice President of the United States you're talking about; have you no decency?

Journalists love to depict themselves as hard-nosed, rambunctious, ornery adversaries of establishment orthodoxies and political power. The reality is the opposite: there simply is no class of people more reverent of the political establishment and more devoted to protecting and defending its prerogatives. Of all people, journalists ought to be embarrassed to publicly play the role of decorum enforcers when it comes to how the politically powerful are treated. They should be the last ones -- not the first ones -- demanding that controversial political figures be treated with the type of profound reverence typically reserved for religious leaders and monarchs. Identically, in the most minimally healthy political culture, high political leaders would be the least entitled, not the most entitled, to be shielded from cutting political criticism.

Note, too, that Reid and Klein aren't bothered by Cheney's rather extreme accusations about Obama. Only Gibbs' far more mild reply has offended their establishment-devoted sensibilities. For many of these sycophantic, needy TV journalists, Dick Cheney is still the icon of Serious Protective Republican Authority -- that which, more than anything, merits our deep respect and gratitude. We've become a society that sees the President (and those nearest him) no longer as public servants accountable to anyone, but rather, the ultimate expression of revered authority deserving of glorification and homage. And it's the "watchdog" journalists who, as a class, embrace and enforce that twisted ethos more than anyone else. They are the ultimate and most loyal servants to the political establishment.

It's hardly a mystery why most media stars refrained from criticizing, let alone investigating, the crimes of the Bush era, and it's even less mystifying why they now so vehemently oppose investigations and prosecutions. They are offended merely by insufficiently reverent comments about the "former Vice President of the United States." The idea of actually investigating him and treating him like what he is (an accused criminal) is, for them, beyond the pale of what can be considered in decent society.

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[tularetom]

1. Those eunuchs are scared of the Dick

The American people are way ahead of "journalists". We've already decided that cheney is nothing but a crook and war criminal and as such is unworthy of any deference or respect at all. In fact the entire world knows his. The journalistic establishment is terrified that he may still be able to have them waterboarded or disappeared.