Newsweek: The Shot Heard Round the World(Cover Story)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436302/site/newsweek/

Feb. 27, 2006 issue - Dick Cheney has never been your normal politician. He has never seemed as eager to please, as needy for votes and approval and headlines as, say, Bill Clinton. Cheney can seem taciturn, self-contained, a little gloomy; in recent years, his manner has been not just unwelcoming but stand-offish. This is not to say, however, that he is entirely modest and self-effacing, or that he does not crave power as much as or more than any office-seeker. This, after all, is a man who, in conducting a search for George W. Bush's vice president, picked himself. Indeed, since 9/11, Cheney has struck a pose more familiar to readers of Greek tragedies than the daily Hotline. At times, he appears to be the lonely leader, brooding in his tent, knowing that doom may be inevitable, but that the battle must be fought, and that glory can be eternal.

If, as he ponders the Threat Matrix at his daily intelligence briefing, Cheney really sees himself as a modern Achilles or Hector on the plains at Troy, he is not just being grandiose. A few weeks after 9/11, NEWSWEEK has learned, Cheney worried that he and his family and his staff might have been exposed in an anthrax attack. According to knowledgeable former officials, a mysterious letter turned up at the vice president's mansion. (A former senior law-enforcement official recalled that sensors went off.) The alarm turned out to be false. Still, to be safe, Cheney and his entourage began taking Cipro, the powerful antibiotic. The story was hushed up. (Cheney's office referred NEWSWEEK to the Secret Service, which declined to comment.) Cheney prefers to be a quiet warrior, severe perhaps, but not bleak—just resolute.

Stoicism can be a great attribute in a leader. "I have no feelings," the statesman Gen. George C. Marshall once said, "except for those I reserve for Mrs. Marshall." And there can be no doubt that, privately, Cheney was badly upset by shooting another man, 78-year-old Tex-as lawyer Harry Whittington, in a hunting accident. That night Cheney sat alone on the porch of his guesthouse, saying very little as others came and went. "He was shaken, crushed, miserable," his host, Katharine Armstrong, told NEWSWEEK. "I could have gotten up and wrapped my arms around the vice president." But she didn't; no one did. (Lynne Cheney had not accompanied her husband on the trip.)

In human terms, it is perfectly understandable why Cheney was in no mood to talk to reporters then or for several days thereafter. It is a little odd, however, that he did not speak to President George W. Bush until Monday morning, 36 hours after the shooting, and just as peculiar that Bush did not call him. The talking heads immediately speculated that Bush had somehow cooled on the vice president for his handling of the shooting incident, for pushing the invasion of Iraq, for becoming a lightning rod for administration critics.

[Missy M]

1. Notice how this writer had to bring Bill Clinton into the....

equation when it has nothing to do with what was being written. Cheney craves power more than anything and has spent his whole career seeking it. What a bunch of flowery crap this article is.

[Appalachian_American]

2. And maybe the reason he was feeling so sad and crushed

had more to do with the fallout of his actions than his quiet and sensitive soul.

[Missy M]

4. Absolutely true. His actions immediately after the shooting...

prove that.

[leftchick]

3. give me a fucking break

does anyone actually think cheney was brooding about anyone but himself? And who can believe one fucking word out of Armstrong's mouth? We know she is a LIAR. Why didn't they get an unbiased interview with some of the servants at the ranch? :puke:

[aquart]

5. So, another news cycle. Well, hey. Whoa! Lookee here:

Why on earth use Marshall's quote about marital fidelity in this passage??????????

"Stoicism can be a great attribute in a leader. "I have no feelings," the statesman Gen. George C. Marshall once said, "except for those I reserve for Mrs. Marshall." And there can be no doubt that, privately, Cheney was badly upset by shooting another man, 78-year-old Tex-as lawyer Harry Whittington, in a hunting accident. That night Cheney sat alone on the porch of his guesthouse, saying very little as others came and went. "He was shaken, crushed, miserable," his host, Katharine Armstrong, told NEWSWEEK. "I could have gotten up and wrapped my arms around the vice president." But she didn't; no one did. (Lynne Cheney had not accompanied her husband on the trip.)"

"But she didn't; no one did. (Lynne Cheney had not accompanied her husband on the trip.)"

HOW WEIRDLY, BIZARRELY WRITTEN. It's like they want to scream he's fooling around and they're biting their tongues off.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

6. Him? Worried about an anthrax attack?

HA!

Pardon me while I :puke:

[RC]

7. Cheney wouldn't have to worry about Anthrax except for the fact

that he is such a paranoid sociopath.