It's the Credibility, Stupid

"Under Oprah's questioning, Frey was forced to admit he made up big chunks of his so-called memoir, 'A Million Little Pieces.' When he tried to wriggle out of it, she stopped him as if squashing something slimy (which, come to think of it, she was). 'You mean, you lied,' she said.

"Cut to 'The Daily Show,' and Cheney fairly beaming as CNBC's Lawrence Kudlow lobbed softballs at him. ('Isn't the economy kind of an underrated story?')

"What a waste of Oprah's time exposing the likes of James Frey when there are so many government liars who need exposing. To cite one not-so-trivial example: If we had to pick one person to interview the president, and the choice was between Oprah and the New York Times editor who approved all those stories about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, I'd choose Oprah any day."

Here, from the Crooks and Liars blog, is a video clip from Stewart's show Monday night.

"For people who lie in Oprah's world, there are consequences," Stewart says. "In this world, apparently gift baskets. . . .

"Why does James Frey get tougher treatment than our government? Well, I'll tell you why. He misled us into a book we had no business getting into."

Greg Mitchell wrote a column Wednesday in Editor and Publisher, imagining Bush in the Frey role.

Cheney the Bold

Bush at least has been going through the motions lately of subjecting himself to the press's scrutiny. Vice President Cheney? Not so much.

The closest he's come to taking tough questions lately was an interview Wednesday with Rush Limbaugh.

Here's the transcript of the telephone interview.

A sample exchange, about the State of the Union address:

"Q Would you call that speech cautious? It's been said -- the last word I would associate with it. I thought it was bold. I thought the statement of American values, the statement of American future was just -- I loved it. I don't see where people -- people in the media today called him -- he's cautious -- modest.