I hate to state the obvious, but the media is ignoring Cheney's lies...

[The Night Owl]

Cheney's statement that he has "no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind" is unequivocal. Why is the media not reporting on this egregious lie? Why are Democratic leaders not asking for Cheney's resignation? For that matter, why are Republican leaders not asking for Cheney's resignation?

I think the reason that the media and the public is ignoring this latest Cheney lie is that both the media and the public are severely scandal fatigued right now. The Bush administration has so overloaded the media and the public with malfeasance that both the media and the public are numb to even obvious malfeasance in our government. To a certain degree, I think that this scandal overload we are seeing is a deliberate strategy to cause scandal fatigue.

We have all heard of the dumbing down of America. Now, we are seing the numbing down of America.

Sorry to lay so many buzzwords down, but I have no other way to describe what is happening these days.

[Girlfriday]

1. Keith Oberman has mentioned it two nights in a row.

Not much, but better than nothing. :)

[Catherine Vincent]

2. I think the media whores fear that creepy bastard.

I really do.

[gWbush is Mabus]

3. b/c

the Bush people CONTROL the media

[macandcheese]

4. You cant remember 3 years ago?

Good lord. Cheney was the CEO of Haliburton. While Bush was running, the media demmanded he clear all his portfolios of all Haliburton stock. He has no financial ties to Haliburton anymore. As a matter of fact, the media did him a favor - he sold out near the top! Before enron took all the energy companies down with it.

[KFC]

7. Not true

He still has quite a lot of Halliburton options, but can't sell them for a few years. Supposedly, he has committed them to a charity - hence his claim of no financial ties. I'll look for a link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,912426,00.html

[Jacobin]

11. "charity"

As in perhaps, the "Richard Cheney Foundation", with his kids as board members who receive a couple of hundred thousand a year to meet once a year and figure out what RW political group to give the money to?

I've seen that crap before. Its a fricking shell game.

[Beetwasher]

13. Actually, I believe the stock options are in a Charitable Trust

Which isn't quite the same thing as directly donating them to charity(It's worse from a conflict of interest standpoint as Cheney still earns income from the otpions):

What is a Charitable Remainder Trust?

A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is an irrevocable trust that is designed to convert an investor's highly appreciated assets into a lifetime income stream without generating estate and immediate capital gains taxes.

CRTs have become very popular in recent years because they not only represent a valuable tax advantaged investment but also enable your to provide a gift to one or more charities that have special meaning to you.

By establishing a CRT, you can:

Eliminate immediate capital gains taxes on the sale of appreciated assets, such as stocks, bonds, real estate and other taxes;
Reduce estate taxes of up to 50% that your heirs might have to pay upon your death;
Reduce current income taxes;
Increase spendable income throughout your lifetime;
Make a significant future charitable gift;
Receive the benefits of tax-free compounding;
Avoid probate;
Maximize the assets your family will receive after your death.

How Does A CRT Work?

When the trust ends, the remaining assets pass to the qualified charity or charities of your choice. Here's how it works:

You irrevocably transfer cash, securities, or other property you own into a CRT;

As a result of this transfer, you lower the taxable value of your estate and provide significant estate tax savings to your heirs;

You select the type of CRT based on your individual needs.

[Yupster]

14. Options don't earn any interest

You either execute them at a price above your buy proice or they expire worthless. There isn't any income or dividends because you don't own anything. You just have the right to buy sjares of stock in the future at a specific price.

[The Night Owl]

8. Are you joking? Cheney financial ties to Halliburton have been proven...

According to The Washington Post...

A Congressional Research Service report released yesterday concluded that federal ethics laws treat Vice President Cheney's annual deferred compensation checks and unexercised stock options as continuing financial interests in the Halliburton Co.

What part of that do you not understand?

Article here...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2233-2003Sep25.html

[Jacobin]

10. Did Rush Tell you that?

Check a little deeper. He still owns thousands of options in Halliburton and gets $198,000 per year in deferred compensation from them.

Go ahead, check out the links in this thread. :-)

[The Night Owl]

12. Notice that this topic brings Freepers out...

I think even the Freepers, who are able to rationalize just about any lie coming out of Busco, sense that this latest Cheney lie might be the one that forces Cheney's resignation. Cheney truly outdid himself this time.

[Robbien]

15. Hi freeper

I see that all six of your posts so far deal with the evil Clinton's or talking up this administration.

[gratuitous]

16. You might want to check on that

According to a little investigation requested by Sen. Lautenberg, Mr. Cheney still holds substantial quantities of Halliburton stock and has deferred compensation coming to him:

http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/25/news/companies/cheney/

Naturally, since Mr. Cheney just said he had no financial ties to Halliburton on national TV and not under oath, it's okay. Actually, since he's a Republican, he could lie like that under oath, and no one would say boo about it.

Welcome to DU, macandcheese, but we enjoy slightly higher standards here than unsupported assertions. You might consider that the next time you make a post.

[thebigidea]

5. Bigtime is the Man Behind the Curtain.... pay no goddamn attention

[janekat]

6. We've got to keep harping on this... start bugging the media

This is what will bring them DOWN. It stinks to high heaven...

[Brucey]

9. Rumors about Cheney removing himself from the ticket were just

trial balloons to see how people would react. Repugs and the general public (sheeple) yawned. So, Cheney is not news anymore.