WP Editorial: Conduct Unbecoming (Cheney)

[kskiska]

"I LOOK FORWARD to working with you, Governor, to change the tone in Washington, to restore a spirit of civility and respect and cooperation." So said Dick Cheney on the day he was chosen to be George W. Bush's running mate. "The days of the war room and the permanent campaign are over. . . . We take seriously the responsibility to be honest and civil." So said Mr. Cheney in February 2001, in his first major speech as vice president.

In his confrontation with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) during a picture-taking session on the Senate floor Thursday, the vice president's vulgar suggestion of what Mr. Leahy should do to himself did not live up to those high-toned statements. The remark, in that setting, was disappointing, not so much for the profanity (we've been around long enough to have suspected that even politicians use such words sometimes) but for the partisan hostility and distrust that seemed to underlie it. Mr. Cheney was angry about Democrats' recent assaults on the administration and Halliburton, the oil services firm that Mr. Cheney used to head. Mr. Leahy responded by citing attacks, not disavowed by the White House, on Senate Democrats for being anti-Catholic in their opposition to some judicial nominees.

(snip)

…It's also true, though, as Mr. Cheney said in 2001, that there's been less and less willingness in recent years to assume good faith on the other side, a trend that makes governing more difficult. Mr. Cheney indicated yesterday on Fox News that he has no regrets ("I felt better after I said it"), which in itself is another sad milep


more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6953-2004Jun25.html

[Manix]

1. ...a despicable hypocrite of the worst kind

[struggle4progress]

2. And WP considers itself Washington's newspaper of record!

They don't do this easily ...