Time Magazine: Cheney had 'thousand yard stare' after shooting BULLSH*T!

[symbolman]

"It was perhaps the most eloquent, emotionally unguarded moment from the notoriously buttoned-up Vice President. He seemed stunned, uncertain for once. And the haunted look in his eyes reminded me of what soldiers in Vietnam used to call the thousand-yard stare--the paralytic..."


THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE INSULT TO ALL THOSE THAT WENT TO VIETNAM - and as a Vietnam Era Veteran I find this to be one of the SLIMIEST Spin doctoring I've yet to see, to compare Cheney's inability to tell the difference between an 8 inch BIRD and a 6 foot tall HUMAN BEING, to REAL MEN who FOUGHT, DIED and were scared SHITLESS most of the time, laying around in jungles, rats the size of cats gnawing on them, trenchboot rotting off their feet, no sleep, a sniper behind every LEAF for months or YEARS, NEVER SLEEPING is a goddam insult of the HIGHEST ORDER.

HOW DARE they say something like this!? HOW DARE THEY? Son of a bitch Chickenhawk who got FIVE deferments because he had "other options" or whatever the hell excuse he made..

ALL of my friends who went to Nam came back so jumpy that if a car backfired they'd take the SKIN OFF THEIR CHEST, MANY of them never really "slept" again, not ONE good Night's SLEEP - if they didn't sleep with ONE EYE OPEN ALL NIGHT, they'd sleep with TWO eyese open - a few of them looked like they were actually DEAD laying there napping with both eyes open..

My own brother came back from Nam and punched my 11 year old sister in the FACE when she just walked into the room..

I ask ALL Vets that read this to write to this mag or these writers and DEMAND some kind of RETRACTION or Explanation, or APOLOGY..

The gloves are OFF, bad enough they downplay the whole shooting but to compare this PUTZ to WARTIME, COMBAT Veterans is an ABOMINATION..

Sorry, but this put me over the edge.


http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1161254,00.html

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. How can he possibly know what that means?

What an asshole.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Unbelievable.

[TomInTib]

3. Thank you, symbolman. That pissed me off when I read it......

because I was there.

That was totally bullshit on the part of TIME.

Ironically, I got a "You won't believe this deal" subscription offer from those asshats in my mailbox Saturday.

I now know what I am going to do with it.

Bastards.

[Upfront]

4. I am with you sir,

And I am doing what you ask.

[Mandate My Ass]

5. Joe Klein is always writing this ass-kissing bullshit

but that is beyond the pale.

Cheney went back to the ranch, poured himself a few cocktails and started planning the cover-up, including not mentioning it to the WH when he called. :eyes:

[slor]

6. More like a "thousand yard scare"...

that was the minimum distance cheney would put between himself, and the recruitment officers, during the Vietnam years.

[bleedingheart]

7. my dad fought in the jungles of Luzon and Guadalcanal and

he was still having nightmares about it in 1979...

I am with you....the spin is outrageous

[A-Possum]

8. Oh please (agreement)

I've been lurking for ages (used to post more but I keep forgetting my log-in when I go offline for awhile) but this finally pushed me over the edge. My husband is a Vietnam vet--he still can't stand loud noises. One night shortly after we were married, he rolled over, grabbed me and yelled in his sleep--when I woke him from his nightmare, he was sweating, thinking he had a rifle in his back. It was my elbow. We went through much worse than this but I won't go into it because I have promised him I won't.

I'll email Time. This is an insult, and probably a new Republican talking point.

Thank you.

[Redstone]

9. For years, my first wife had to wake me up by throwing something at me

(like a rolled-up sock), because I nailed her once when she bent over me and shook my arm. Only time I've ever hit a woman, and I wish I hadn't but it was a reflex.

Redstone

[berni_mccoy]

10. Righteous Rant my friend... rant on!

:kick: and recommended.

Klein should have his ass thoroughly canned over this bullshit.

[arcane1]

11. those "other priorities" can really traumatize a man

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. One more example...

Of the disdain this pack of vermin have for combat veterans, people who earn their "thousand yard stare", for better or worse.

Bastards. Friggin' utter bastard pricks. The very eyes of what was meant by the acronym "REMF".

[blm]

27. And when they see a REAL 1000yd stare the mediawhores label it as "aloof"

.

[symbolman]

51. Bush has a 2 inch stare

and he's considered TOUGH, but it works well with the 3 second attention span :)

If his eyes were any closer together he'd be a Cyclops..

They need to split the difference between him and Delay in surgery, if Delay's eye were any farther apart they'd be on the other side of his head, reminds me of a flounder :)

[Supply Side Jesus]

63. I was thinking 'Indifferent'

with a touch of irritation.

[Lisa]

13. what is this, the gold medal entry in the Inappropriate Metaphor Olympics?

Joe Klein definitely needs a refresher course in the meaning of "irony".

I'm very sorry that there are living veterans who will be seeing that article, who each night re-live the horrors of conflicts from WWI to present-day Iraq -- while Cheney himself does not seem to know or care that HIS decisions have condemned another generation to that trauma.

[Mythsaje]

14. I had to wake my Dad up in the morning

by standing at the very end of his bed (as close to the door as I could get) and kicking the footboard.

He didn't wake up gently. He woke up swinging.

He's mellowed a lot, I understand, but this was true some 20 years after he'd returned.

[symbolman]

15. Exactly

Comparing a "Post Traumatic Syndrome" HELL, that these men go through for the rest of their lives to this pasty faced, fat, alcoholic POS - Crossed eyes from being DRUNK off your ass is no comparison..

My wife called it "Beer Goggles".

Please send this information to ALL the Veteran's groups you can so that hundreds of Vets can clog up TIME's mailbox, and I'll do the same.. this needs to be on Olbermann...

This needs to be a big STINK.

Anyone got Klien's email addy? I want a piece of his ASS.

I worked in a Veteran's Hospital after Nam, and I took care of HUNDREDS of men that had MORE than the "Thousand yard stare", they'd literally been driven CRAZY by war, so this touches a big fat nerve with me..

Sorry to hear of husband's reflexes, I know it's a big problem for wives all over the country, no one talks about it, most men CAN'T..

Bastards.

[Mandate My Ass]

17. I clicked on 'email the columnist link'

and got this: [e-mail]

:eyes: I guess joe doesn't like to read his fan mail.

[ewagner]

16. Didn't they actually mean

STUPOR induced by the "cocktails" he fixed for himself afterwards?

[uberblonde]

18. Read this, it'll cheer you up.

It's Charles Pierce's retort to Klein's article:

http://susiemadrak.com/2006/02/27/12/35/the-kleinster/

There are a number of things wrong with this comparison and the fact that it's plainly nuts is only the most obvious. First of all, no soldier in Vietnam had a covey of flacks to disperse and blame the people he shot for their own deaths. (Well, Bob Kerrey did, but that was years later.) No grunt at An Loc got to shoot someone and then walk over to the opulent ranch house and mix himself a coldie before talking about it. The only time Dick Cheney ever got a "thousand-yard stare" was when there was an oil field 1,000 yards away from where he was standing. And, not to put too fine a point on it, but: NEITHER HARRY WHITTINGTON NOR THE QUAIL WERE SHOOTING BACK! Forget my editors. This wouldn't have gotten past Sister Marie de Paul at St. Peter's School in Worcester, Mass., back in 1965.

Gentlemen, Dick Cheney does not do introspection, OK? In Texas, the birds he was killing were bigger than his conscience is, and they were exercised more often. That he busted a cap in his friend's dome did not change this in the least. His first instinct was to go for the liquor cabinet and his second was to go for the spin. This constant search for good faith and human decency on the part of people who have spent their entire public careers avoiding either one is totally a function of having walked among the Great Men for too long. Bob Kerrey, who wanders through life disheartened that the presidency is not an appointed position, must know that at some vestigial level of his being. Joe Klein and the rest of the cats 'n kittens in the political press corps, are more charming in their delightful naïveté. George Bush is a cowboy! Condi Rice is a genius! Dick Cheney has a soul to search!

Why aren't any of these people ever at my poker table?

It constantly eludes me why what should be the most aggressive, most skeptical, and most irascible press corps in the world seems so ready always to turtle up. There isn't even a practical reason to believe that Dick Cheney looked into the soulful jowls of Brit Hume and found his troubled inner soldier there.

[Redstone]

47. Minor correction: There were VERY few "grunts" at An Loc in 1972.

It was an ARVN show, with buckets of TacAir and SAC (in the form of Arc Light strikes) and Army helicopter gunship support, but almost all of the Americans there were "advisors."

Trust me on this.

And, by the way, for anyone who says the ARVNs wouldn't fight? They fought there. They fought like tigers and died like men. And I'll fight anyone who says they didn't.

Trust me on that one, too.

Redstone

[symbolman]

52. I was in SAC

the old saying used to be, "A Suck for SAC is a Blow for Freedom.." :)

I think SAC is gone now..

81st Combat Support Group was my gig, the Air Force of course did nothing but fly over and drop pretty colors on places then go on home to their maid service in the barracks as some persons would put it..

You need some help, bust that pool cue in half, hand me a half, and put your back up against mine - we'll walk our way out together :)

(I've actually done that btw, works real good, grin..)

[Nostradammit]

60. The only time Dick Cheney ever got a "thousand-yard stare" was when there

"The only time Dick Cheney ever got a "thousand-yard stare" was when there was an oil field 1,000 yards away from where he was standing."


Fucking right. Send Dick over to Iraq with a gun in his hand for a year and then let's compare his gaze.


The mind reels. Such unbelievably insensitive hyperbole.

I've seen first hand what happens to good men who are forced to kill hundreds of innocents for the likes of Dick Fuckhead Cheney. Closest he'll ever come is shooting a friend in the face in a drunken stupor.

Joe Klein can kiss my ass.

[Poiuyt]

19. Cheney didn't go to Viet Nam because he had "better things to do."

Cheney dodged the draft, saying "I had better things to do in the 60s than fight in Vietnam"

http://www.counterpunch.org/cheney.html

Gee, Symbolman, I don't know why you're mad at Cheney. He seems like a shining example to me. A true hero. A man we can all look up to.

[Janice325]

20. Wow!

Thank you for your very powerful post.
Kicked and recommended.

[Dees]

21. You said it all....and I will.

[H2O Man]

22. Nominated.

I agree, 100%.

[RagingInMiami]

23. Symbolman, I'm sure you're not the only vet who feels that way

Why not write a LTTE to Time?

[Botany]

24. My dad is 77 and a combat vet from Korea ......

..... Navy gunnery officer off of N. Korea ..... talked very little about it.

I guess one time they had to shell a train @ night as they were taking fire from the
shore ..... my mom says he still wakes up in a fright.

Cheney's stare was that of a man who shot somebody after drinking (we will
never know how much) and was hit by panic and wanted to cover his ass.

HOW THE FUCK DOES JOE KLEIN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?

[madokie]

25. kinda' like the time I totally freaked my friend out.

We had gone to eat breakfast at the local truckstop on a sunday morning, I took the long way back home for the drive and visit. We pass a little zoo out east of here and when we get down to the little culvert by there. There was a couple three monkey's hanging in the trees, they had escaped, immediately I was in a jeep with my m16, my 38 on my hip. My friend was wearing fatigues the whole works. It took a while to shake it and by the time I did my friend was totally freaked, scared. Not much more was said the rest of the way home. We haven't talked about it much since either but I can still see in his eye's the torment he must have seen in my eyes on that sunday morning years ago. Yep, death will be too kind for the bastard dr deferments

[symbolman]

30. Sorry to hear that my brother

I have flashbacks of a different kind :), but I know what you are saying and it's something that combat troops have to put up with their whole lives. Awful, horrifying, and something as simple as a monkey in a tree can do it, amazing isn't it?

I STILL do not attend High School Reunions as I can't take the attrition rate.. most Reunions have less men as a result of heart disease and other factors killing them off, but for people of my generation we were already missing half of our male classmates. KILLED in NAM. They ain't THERE for the party, just a bunch of women we used to know.. can't take that, won't go..

Thanks for serving too!

[madokie]

35. To say the least, We all came home changed people no matter how

we tried to not be. Thanks for serving with all of us and theres a lot of us here too. I, was hoping I wouldn't have to go to Nam when I joined the navy but ultimately I went by choice. Never regreted it just wished it had never happened in the first place. I'm saddened what these kids will have to go through the rest of their lives.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

26. Joe Klein should be embarrassed and ashamed for even conceiving of

this comparison. Like Chris Matthews should be ashamed for comparing shrub to Atticus Finch, or suggesting that perhaps he deserved to be on Mount Rushmore.

But there seems to be little shame in these people.

[wtmusic]

28. Chimp struts about in a flight suit and Cheney stares into the distance

and these cowards, who pulled every string to get out of serving their country, are made out to be heroes...

I'm with you symbolman. An eloquent moment with Cheney will be the one when he's sentenced for war crimes.

[symbolman]

29. I want to see his two foot stare

while he sits in the Hague in a tiny cell with one window at the top so he realises there's still a world out there, and is on a suicide watch..

Two feet from each WALL, too scared to sleep.

Goddam war criminals.

[0007]

31. I want to see Cheney convicted of war crimes in the worse way.

He is an insult to humanity. And certainly nothing special that would keep him out of the Hague.

[rucky]

32. He went hunting again 2 weeks later.

'nuff said.

[Gabi Hayes]

33. I talked to that fuck oncebucket, on the radio, and asked him

what he thought about when he talked to real journalists, like Joe Conason, or Gene Lyons.

this was around the time The Hunting of the President came out

I said I hoped he felt good lying about writing his little Clinton roman a clef, all the while LYING about his authorship, and that I wondered how proud he felt, playing the role he did, like other Starr stenographers in the impeachment fiasco

[SoCalDem]

34. Um.. I thought that was called an alcohol-induced stare

:grr:

[Disturbed]

36. Time Mag has always been a

RW rag. I wouldn't even read their crap for free.

[lumpy]

41. Time mag is a rag

that panders to monied conservatives. Quit my subscription years ago.

[formercia]

40. or otherwise known as shit-faced

where I come from.

[Alpharetta]

37. I heard Cheney shot him with gravitas.

Awesome job with the gravitas, Cheney. Cuz I just HATE it when my VP shoots a man in the face and acts all silly about it.

[WinkyDink]

38. ITA!!!! It's like Bush at the VA Hospital saying his Fallen Chimp

scratches were "war wounds".

[daleo]

39. It wasn't even the 30 yard stare

More like "the 30 foot glance".

Very poor writing, but probably with a purpose. It is designed to elicit sympathy for Cheney and subtly associate him with real pathos (and the image of the warrior).

[alarcojon]

42. No lie too shameful for Crashcart

just a big bowl of bad.

on edit: my e-mail has been sent to the asswipes at TIME.

[senseandsensibility]

43. Absolutely sickening

This is garbage. I sent him an e-mail.

[Cha]

44. The corporate media in the USA

just makes up shit as they go along. I'm really sorry they stooped so low as to mention dickhead's name in comparison with Viet Nam Vets.

cheney who got "5 deferments" because he was busy on his course to destroy America.

[misternormal]

45. He was formulating the cover-up...

But he always looks that stupid...

[KAZ]

46. Contact Time here.

[e-mail]

[glitch]

48. There are no depths to their whoredom.

Seriously.

[Shizaad]

49. Are you the Symbolman from Take Back the Media?

If so, I really appreciate your tough and eloquent flash-movies. Good job man! This was a good ripping of Time magazine, BTW.

[symbolman]

50. Thanks

Yeah, that's me - glad someone remembers, been so busy with film and website creation that I haven't had time to create any new works lately, but we should have a Takebackthemedia.com Electronic Voting film, complete with animations made just for the subject coming out this year, we haven't been sleeping on the job :)

We Do have a film I created, a 2 DVD set called "Rove's War", the complete chronology of the Plame outing at the site right now as a fund raiser..

Also working on a website with Buzzflash that should be out any day now on Libby, we did three animations for Buzzflash's Last Chance Democracy Cafe, a site they just created, have a look at them at http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com

So many new people here no one really seems to remember all the flashes we did :) so thanks again!

[symbolman]

53. Here's what I wrote to the Editor

Editor,

I am a Vietnam Era Veteran who was drafted in 1971 and who also worked in a Veteran's Hospital after my stint in the US Air Force, and I was DEEPLY Disturbed by Joe Klein's ridiculous comparison between Dick Cheney the Coward draft dodger (who got FIVE Deferments during Vietnam and refused to serve his country, yet proudly kills thousands of my brothers in arms in a faked war), and REAL MEN who suffered,
and still suffer, from the "thousand yard stare" Klein so ludicrously attributes to Cheney, who couldn't tell the difference between an 8 inch bird and a 6 foot HUMAN BEING, who he SHOT in the face while under the influence of Alcohol which he has admitted.

HOW DARE you compare the suffering these Vets of all wars go through after they've been laying in rice paddies in Vietnam, gnawed on by cat sized rats, feet rotting off in their combat boots from "trench boot", with a potential sniper behind every leaf on the dense jungle, and in a state of constant fear, doing what they've been taught by parents, school and the Church to be WRONG, to KILL another human being.

This is an insult to these men who continue to suffer from sleepless nights, some I know STILL have nightmares, punch their wives and children by reflex, and sleep with one or both eyes open in a state of fear to this day, while Cheney does nothing but slaughter helpless, flightless birds, raised in a cage, tossed in front of his gun. A mere hunting accident, and TIME is right there to cover for an obviously senile and power mad creep, who's shown nothing bu bad judgement his whole life, while TRUE PATRIOTS FOUGHT WARS and "earned" that "Thousand Yard Stare".

You've gone too far in your spin and worship of this sick and cowardly administration who are creating a whole new generation of men who will suffer these same "post traumatic" symptoms over a faked war that makes CHENEY RICH at the least, while Bush and his cronies CUT Veteran's funding.

I am forming a boycott of Time magazine, by all Veterans, and have been VERY successful before when my site Takebackthemedia.com boycotted Rush Limbaugh - many corporations dropped their advertising, some in the same afternoon, Amtrack, Radio Shack, See's Candies, Geico, Red Lobster and many more.

WE Veterans DEMAND an apology from Joe Klein IN TIME Magazine for this callous and administration serving spin, a metaphor that is beyond the pale. I'm in the process of organizing as many Vet organizations as needed to make the biggest stink you ever saw over this. HOW DARE YOU compare Patriots to a draft dodger who had a hunting accident?

Here is the offending article and link:

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1161254,00.html

We expect an apology in print, and online at the very least or we will boycott TIME magazine, their advertisers, and any subsideraries.

It is SICKENING and we will NOT stand for this.

NAME, USAF SGT, Strategic Air Command, 81st Combat Support Group

[calmblueocean]

54. yes yes yes

I've read a lot of crap in the last 6 years, but nothing has ever activated the gag reflex in me as strongly as that phrase being applied to Cheney. I literally feel like vomiting. It's such a perversion, it's so disgusting, I can't even finish this post

[Oilwellian]

55. Excellent letter Symbolman

I'll be happy to join your boycott should it come to that. The hubster and I LOVED your DVD "Rove's War" and have watched it twice already. It's chocked full of GREAT information, and the intermingled humor was most appreciated since the issues are enough to make you go insane. Thanks for all you do from an avid fan. :hi:

[LisaLynne]

65. Beautiful letter!!!!

I'm going to point this out to some family members who are vets and hopefully, they will also be inspired to write.

[ThoughtCriminal]

56. The "How am I going to explain this stare"

I'm lucky I never have had to see the "Thousand Yard Stare", but I have seen the "Teenager just wrecked parent's car stare". I'm betting it was more like the latter.

[calmblueocean]

66. lol! (n/t)

[FreedomAngel82]

57. Oh gosh

:( These people have no shame at all! And I'm sorry for what happened to your sister. :(

[Harald Ragnarsson]

58. They must of snapped this pic right after Dick plugged him

:sarcasm:

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

70. I remember exactly the look that the OP is talking about

from my BIL, who was in Vietnam. He also would never go in the woods either when he came to visit.

This picture of the soldier in Iraq is not the same exact look. That guy has the tired look that the GI Joes had in the pictures from WW II. He will probably get this other stare when he comes home. It is a haunted look of horror and probably has to do with the sleeplessness too. It' s horrible having insomnia for long lengths of time. I have had really bad insominia and it was bad enough, but I can't even imagine what it would be like to have it because of what they through in that war.

[TacticalPeek]

59. Just like Joe Anonymous to mistake a Five Deferment Squint

for a Thousand Yard Stare.


:grr:

[jackdunhamsucks]

61. "beer-goggled-squint"

"It was perhaps the most eloquent, emotionally unguarded moment from the notoriously buttoned-up Vice President. He seemed stunned, more than once. And the haunted look in his eyes reminded me of what soldiers on R&R in Bangkok used to call the beer-goggles-the paralytic..."


There, I edited the opening of that story, gave that truthful sheen it was lacking.

[NuttyFluffers]

62. hmm, people still read TIME? fascinating...

i gave up on them ages ago. but after reading gore vidal, and others, and following up with a touch o' research about them, i realized that TIME has been doing this similar bullshit RW MO for generations now. i just laugh when people mention TIME, but i guess it is useful to keep up to date every now and then with what the Playskool Pravda is spoonfeeding to my oblivious fellow citizens. gee, it's disgraceful for them to say that, how cruel to the vets, what blatant disregard, how completely unsurprising... may i encourage you to crusade against TIME subscriptions in your and your relations' homes.
:toast:

[Hubert Flottz]

64. Cheney would have cracked up on KP and fire guard!

He's always had a weak heart and a wimpy ass! Has to shoot 100 tame birdies a day, to make him feel like a real man. How long do you think he'd hold up in Abby Ghraib? He'd shit down both legs in about 10 seconds, or less, if they turned the guard dog loose on his candy ass.

[Julius Civitatus]

67. Proper term: "Cheney was drunk like a sailor"

That would have been more accurate and definitely less insultin gto Vietnam veterans. Yes, this is the same Cheney with 5 draft deferments, 2 DUI arrests, and 1 expulsion off Yale for public intoxication.

[symbolman]

68. Hadn't heard about the Yale drunk

Makes you wonder how much you DON'T KNOW about these guys.. I bet Cheney already killed a man, "just to watch him die", ala Johnny Cash..

Love to see Old Yellow Stain in a combat situation - be best to either get ahead of him or hand him a "pineapple" and make him stand over THERE with it..

But some day he'll drop dead just like that, and for all the evil he'd done he won't have a cent on him when it only costs a penny to get into heaven :)

[myrna minx]

69. This is unbelievable.

:puke: It really does dismiss the true service our troops have performed for our country.

[Festivito]

71. The loss of innocence compared to the loss of a drunken coward's high.

Perhaps is part why they fought so hard for that implication of ONE beer.

But, who fights for this?
Was Joe Klien there?
Who speaks this comparison?
It's not in quotations.
The author?
A journalist, was there, saw Cheney, and DID NOT REPORT the incident .. then?

Who speaks?
Who compares?
Who takes a cowardly hidden accident of a vacationing highly-paid long ago draft dodger's fun in his paradise and compares him full throttle on front page with the bravely open accident of those who did not dodge, being paid little in Hellish terrain giving their innocence?

Who?

And, who prints it?

[Daphne08]

72. It isn't just Vietnam Vets who carry a haunted look...

My father (a Marine who saw some of the worst fighting in the Pacific in WWII) had that look every day of his life after he returned. :cry:

I do understand your anger, symbolman.

[lebkuchen]

73. Cheney is a Vet-wanna be, like the Chimpster in Chief

He probably yells, "Hooah!" after "laying down" every wingless quail and pheasant that crosses his line of fire. Cheney is the ultimate craven corporate exec.

I wrote to Time :)