Wednesday,
October 6 2004
GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CHENEY-EDWARDS MEETING:
So Cheney and Edwards have
met before. Now we have two possible interpretations
of Cheney's statement last night. The first is that Cheney
honestly didn't remember his brief encounters with John
Edwards at the Annual Prayer breakfast 42 months ago or
the alleged handshake in the Meet the Press greenroom and
that he was thinking specficially about having met Edwards
at work in the Senate. The second interpretation is that
Cheney flat out lied about never having met Edwards before
to do the most possible damage to him in last night's debate.
I know
many on the left are inclined to believe the latter scenario
because it fits nicely with their partisan image of Dick
Cheney as an evil, manipulative person and a compulsive
liar.
But
if, like the vast majority of the country, you don't believe
Dick Cheney is a compulsive liar, then the first interpretation
is the only one that makes any sense.
Consider
first that Cheney didn't need the remark at all. He was
already beating up on Edwards pretty good at that point
in the debate and he certainly didn't HAVE to say it. Furthermore
Cheney's point about Edwards' attendance in the Senate would
have been more than effective enough without it. The most
reasonable explanation is that Cheney said it because he
thought it was true.
Second,
Cheney would have had to have been suicidal to knowingly
assert a falsehood in such a widely televised event that
was so easily verified. It took the Kerry campaign all of
about six hours to dig up video of Cheney and Edwards shaking
hands.
Again,
believing Cheney was acting with malice and deceit only
makes sense if you already think he is either a brazen,
compulsive liar or a complete moron. Otherwise, it is logical
to assume that what we saw Cheney do last night was to make
an honest mistake.
All
of that being said, it was a remarkably bad gaffe with potentially
serious consequences. The Vice President needs to step up
immediately and defuse the situation.
Obviously,
credibility is one of the fundamental cornerstones of any
candidate's electability. It is certainly critical to the
reelection of the current administration.
For
over a year now the Democrats have been doing everything
withing their power to paint President Bush and Dick Cheney
as purposefully misleading the country with respect to a
whole host of issues, but most importantly Iraq.
Cheney's
gaffe last night, though made over a seemingly trivial issue,
gave the Democrats ammunition for their case and a chance
to exploit it for maximum possible gain - which they've
already done quite effectively with
this ad.
John
Edwards spent the better part of 90 minutes last night trying
to convince the country that Dick Cheney hasn't "been
straight with the American people." In my opinion it
wasn't a very convincing argument, but it certainly doesn't
help things that today we're discussing a misstatement by
the Vice President that's been flatly contradicted.
Cheney
needs to get out if front of this now, admit he honestly
didn't recall meeting John Edwards and/or clarify that he
was speaking specifically about meeting Edwards at work
in the Senate chamber. The quicker Cheney does this, the
quicker the whole thing will go away. - T. Bevan
2:29 pm Link
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