The Buckshot's Here

Cheney Humor Watch

Via Salon's Video Dog: a Tooned In animation of a remake of Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun."

Daniel Kurtzman is keeping tabs on Cheney jokes at about.com, and finds these from Bill Maher:

"Dick Cheney said he felt terrible about shooting a 78-year-old man, but on the bright side, it did give him a great idea about how to fix Social Security. . . .

"To the vice president's credit, he did own up to it. On FOX News he said the fault was his, he can't blame anybody else. Boy, it's amazing, the only time you get accountability out of this administration is when they are actually holding a smoking gun."

Cheney Torture Watch

Jane Mayer, writing in the New Yorker, tells the astonishing story of Alberto J. Mora, who retired Dec. 31 after more than four years as general counsel of the Navy:

"Well before the exposure of prisoner abuse in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, in April, 2004, Mora warned his superiors at the Pentagon about the consequences of President Bush's decision, in February, 2002, to circumvent the Geneva conventions, which prohibit both torture and 'outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.' He argued that a refusal to outlaw cruelty toward U.S.-held terrorist suspects was an implicit invitation to abuse. Mora also challenged the legal framework that the Bush Administration has constructed to justify an expansion of executive power, in matters ranging from interrogations to wiretapping. He described as 'unlawful,' 'dangerous,' and 'erroneous' novel legal theories granting the President the right to authorize abuse. Mora warned that these precepts could leave U.S. personnel open to criminal prosecution."

What few victories Mora achieved, Mayer writes, "were largely undermined by a small group of lawyers closely aligned with Vice-President Cheney. In the end, Mora was unable to overcome formidable resistance from several of the most powerful figures in the government."

Bush in Tampa

The invitation-only crowd at Bush's Tampa event on Friday didn't lob softball questions -- they were more like puffy confections.

"How do you keep it together?" one guest asked. "What do you really think about when the biggest story this week was Dick Cheney's hunting trip, and not Al Gore blasting our troops and being treasonous in his regard to this war on terror in the Middle East? (Applause.) How do you keep it together?"

In his 528-word response, Bush didn't endorse her charge against Gore, but he sure didn't distance himself from it, either:

"Well, I appreciate that. That's a loaded question. (Laughter.) I keep it in perspective. There's a lot of noise in Washington. There's a lot of flattery, there's a lot of criticism, just a lot of noise. And I keep it in -- I try to keep my life in perspective. I try to -- I don't try to, I do, keep my life in perspective. And I am focused on achieving certain objectives. . . .

"So to answer your question -- and I appreciate that -- first, I'm wise enough not to fall into your trap because -- (laughter) -- there are some keen reporters paying attention to every word I'm saying. (Laughter.) But I really don't let that bother me. I got my perspective, and I got my priorities. My faith is a priority. My family is a priority. And -- (applause.) We got to deal with issues, of course, when they come up. That's part of -- it's part of Washington. It's part of being the President. There's -- issues come, they go, and they -- but I hope that when it's all said and done, people see me as a strategic thinker."