The Cheney Fallout

" 'You ever done it unilaterally?'

" 'I don't want to get into that. There is an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously focuses first and foremost on the President, but also includes the Vice President.' "

Hmmm.

In the New Republic, T.A. Frank gives Hume a passing grade:

"When it came time to talk to Dick Cheney . . . Brit Hume actually did a decent job. And Cheney, while more plausibly human than usual, did quite badly.

"To be sure, not all of Hume's questions were winners. For example, the query '[A]nd I take it, you missed the bird,' while detail-oriented, didn't get quite to the heart of Americans' concerns about the incident. For the most part, however, Hume squeezed out an account of the accident for which local law enforcement officials will undoubtedly be grateful. Hume was persistent and specific: 'You had pulled the trigger and you saw him?' 'What was he wearing?' 'How far away from you was he?' 'What did you think when you saw the injuries? How serious did they appear to you to be?' 'Did you get up and did you go with him, or did you go to the hospital?' 'His eyes were open when you found him, then, right?' . . .

"But when questions turned to how Cheney had handled disclosure of the incident, the vice president made little sense."

Does Cheney think he has a credibility problem? Kevin Drum explains:

"First, Cheney acknowledged that the White House wanted him to issue a statement Saturday night, but he refused. "That was my call, all the way," he said. Translation: he doesn't take guidance from the White House. They take guidance from him.

"Second, he said that he had held up issuing a statement because he wanted to make sure Harry Whittington was all right before saying anything. I don't even know what to make of this. Is he suggesting that his story would have been different if Whittington's injuries had been more serious? That the White House never issues statements about breaking news until it knows how things are going to turn out? Or what?

"Finally, Hume suggested that since this was obviously a national story, Cheney should have informed the national press and gotten the word out sooner. Cheney's reply: 'It isn't easy to do that. Are they going to take my word for what happened?'

"Seriously? Cheney's story is that his own credibility is so poor that a statement from him would have been worthless? Is he really going to stick to that as his explanation?"