Not since he flew into a drunken rage and attempted to murder a septigenerian Texan lawyer with birdshot has a scandal of this magnitude been broken about a sitting US Vice President.
Documented evidence here.
A microwave, 4-6 bottles of bottled water and Fox News – sounds like one of my hotel rooms.
Further evidence of the existence of a professional vacuum we once knew as “journalism”.
That’s nothing, I hear he demands that the restaurants he frequents have a fork, knife AND spoon at his setting.
No kidding. Talk about a non-story. Decaf? Is it scandalous that a Vice President requests decaf in his hotel room, or a room that’s not too hot? Is that the best Democrats can come up with?
This all reminds me of something some British comedian – I think it was Alexi Sayles — said, to the effect that Margaret Thatcher was a boon to bad comedians, because they just had to go on stage and say, “Hey, what about the Margaret Thatcher, eh?” and everyone would roar their approval.
Last night on “The Daily Show” the smarmy Jon Stewart was treating Dick Cheney’s unremarkable requests as if they were evidence of an out-of-control and decadent administration. Each of Cheney’s requests were noted, followed by childish insults directed at Cheney that were met with roars of approval from the audience.
The room temperature request was described as being due to the fact that “reptiles” function best at that temperature. The audience practically screamed their approval.
What the hell’s wrong with Democrats? Holy Moly.
That bastard… what’s wrong with caffine … ?
What about Juan Diego and his many many many children who pick those beans everyday to keep the worker bees in the USA wide awake and hard at it?
What an insult to the hard working families of South America and to Starbucks. You’d think the guy had a heart condition or something to be avoiding the buzz that cafine can get you.
And we thought Mariah Carey had some demanding requests!
I hate the press. I hate them so very, very much.
I’m betting 90% of them have greater demands, and probably weird ones too.
I would guess he brings his own defibrillator.
With Milosevic dead, there’s room at the Hague for another war criminal.
Just for comparison, some tour demands of:
Christina Aguilera
“No less than six (6) bottles of water (NOT EVIAN)”
“One (1) small bottle of Flintstones Vitamins with Extra Vitamin C”
Bruce Springsteen’s band
“To be boxed and placed in dressing room at 9:45 PM: One (1) whole fresh roasted chicken”
The mint on the pillow – you forgot the mint on the pillow!
Well it was posted in the HOTELs section!
But as far as MSM circulation of the non-story……what do you expect?
Actual reporting on actual news?
Perrier? What is he, a French-booster now?
for a man that looks almost as old as Keith Richards why not a fifth of Jack Daniels?
doesnt insist on clean sheets like Clinton?
It’s a light feature in the “hotels” section, not in the least bit critical. What on earth are you raving about now?
Gee, I wonder what Clinton or Kerry request for their hotel rooms?
From what I understand Kerry has a single request
“that bitch of a wife not be allowed in”
Clinton’s, I am told, has more to do with the availability of female housekeeping staff of various ethnicities. Age, weight and attractiveness are not considerations, but quantity is. Plus knee pads and bleach.
I have no problems with jokes at politico’s expense and I am in the small minority that loves Cheney.
This is such a scandal! I’m..well, …I’m scandalized!
Back in the 60’s and 70’s Vancouver newspaper columnists used to delight in listing the many demands by rock groups the promoters were required to fulfill. Sometimes the list was fifty items long, including 30 or 40 different food items. No one ever suggested this was anything but their due for being temporarily famous.
This “story” tells us much more about the US’s SOCIETY than it’s POLITICS.
Cynicism is at a fever pitch….I quit watching Leno,Stewart and the rest of this ilk for a few distinct reasons:
Do not find gratuitist ridiculing of others particularly funny.
I especially do not find it funny when they do this with an obnoxious,self-rightious attitude.
They do not hesitate to perpetuate myths,stereotypes,and rumors to their audiences.Remember this is where many get their education on what is happening in the world at the end of their busy day.Scary,when you think about it.
And,to be fair,at least they ridiculed the shit out of Clinton too!
“Further evidence of the existence of a professional vacuum we once knew as “journalism”.”
I could see that comment making sense if you were criticizing the NYT or USA Today, but The Smoking Gun? C’mon… This is a site that likes to dig up a wide variety of documents. Some are groundbreaking, some are less so. However they’re definitely not mainstream journalism. As far as journalism goes, TSG is somewhere between tongue-in-cheek and middle-finger-extended. 🙂
68F ?
Girly man.
Fred: 68F!!
Or as Arnold Schwarzenegger would have it:
“Economic girly man.”
My wife demands 72F or she needs her sweater.
Her moniker is the “Thermonator”.
This story doesn’t deserve the ink it took to write it. I had to read it twice to make sure I wasn’t missing something. These press people are sick. If you think Dick’s list of requests is absurd, you should see what some of this countries second rate performers request to be in their hotel rooms. some of them could be considered bizzare.
Me…. well, I request a bed along on one side of the room; a TV on the opposite wall and the can in the corner. Oh, am I being overly pushy if I request that there be hot and cold running water and sheets (preferably clean) on the bed?
Give me a F’N break!!!!
At 68F there might some hard nipples in that room. Especially if you use the bottled water to wet down the Tshirt.
Oh wait, that’s a Clinton thing.
I just this minute heard this great breaking news item on CKNW Vancouver. They reported it as a serious news item.
The Media is completely whacked.
Fox News is the only place to get your information in the MSM.
Cheny knows that.
Duke, you need to have a warning line, I just about choked.
3 words:
Slow news day.
dmorris:…if you wish to see a newer list of ‘contract riders’ go to: thesmokinggun.com…backstage…and select your favourite…
I didn’t find it on the Smoking Gun. It has been in the news cycle of Rawlco Radio since yesterday – they’re playing audio from ABC news, I believe.
hi Kate:…nothing re: Cheney there…only responding to dmorris’s “rock group rider” comments that are listed when you click “backstage”…didn’t mean to go O/T…
To ease the burden for CBC, CTV, G&M etc.
I hope the following template can be useful:
Note: replace US with Canada, Bush with Harper, Iraq with Afghanistan, GOP with CPC, and Cindy Sheehan with Hedy Fry
NY Times Headlines courtesy of Ann C
Opinions Begin to Shift as Public Weighs Costs of War (3/26/03)
World’s View of U.S. Sours After Iraq War, Poll Finds (6/4/03)
Poll Finds Hostility Hardening Toward U.S. Policies (3/17/04)
Support for War Is Down Sharply, Poll Concludes (4/29/04)
Rising Casualties, One Falling Poll (5/2/04)
Polls Show Bush’s Job-Approval Ratings Sinking (5/14/04)
Bush’s Rating Falls to Its Lowest Point, New Survey Finds (6/29/04)
Immediately after the election, public opinion polls showed Americans turning once again against the war and against George Bush, according to the Times:
Americans Show Clear Concerns on Bush Agenda (11/23/04)
Public Voicing Doubts on Iraq and the Economy, Poll Finds (1/20/05)
Bad Iraq War News Worries Some in GOP on ’06 Vote (8/18/05)
Support for Bush Continues to Drop as More Question His Leadership Skills, Poll Shows (9/15/05)
Iraq’s Costs Worry Americans, Poll Indicates (9/17/05)
Most Americans Find Cindy Sheehan Attractive, Interesting (2/8/06). OK, I made that one up. The rest were made up by the Times.
garryp. Thanks! Those guys were even more self indulgent than I remembered.
Frank Sinatra ordered enough booze to stock a good sized bar.
Cheney ain’t in the same league(to his credit).
It seems frugal to me…
dmorris:…68 F and Perrier…you are correct Sir!…doesn’t count…(can cheney sing and/or carry a tune?)…
Decaf huh? I thought Dick might require some caffiene to help keep the ole’ ticker tickin’.
Cheney said that when he returned to the White House from the hunting trip, Bush told him, “Dick, I’m 38 percent in the polls and you shot the only trial lawyer who supports me.”
In the Cheney shooting cover up, no where was it EVER intoned in headlines that he was in a “rage” or that he attempted “murder”….even the the yellowest MSM didn’t make these outrageous innuendoes….you’d have to go to partisan internet news-gossip sites to see these conjectures.
Factually, the Cheney scandal involved less of the partisan speculative fluff as much as the reality that the “shooting incident” was openly manipulated by federal authorities/agents and due process and proper jurisdictional protocol was circumvented(immediate investigation by the proper jurisdictional authorities). Of course this led to speculation about drinking (particularly after one of Cheney’s guards/hosts confirmed it to the MSM) and careless handling of a firearm ( a federal felony)..thus the 14 hr. delay before a single interview of witnesses/suspects by police would preclude a breath sample being taken to dismiss suspicion of intoxication/carelessness and give time to have all the witnesses “primed” for questioning.
The local Sheriff was turned away at the gates to the ranch Cheney was holed up in. After the 14hr period all they could do is rubber stamp the story given them by the feds….this is a signature of a typical federal agency “containment” operation….so is the varied accounts from different sources and the media’s complete lack of interest in the wild discrepencies in accounts and evidence.
At the very least executive orders were invoked to circumvent jurisdiction and due process of law.
The real story here was the polar swing of speculative chatter or knee jerk apology and defense between partisan internet news sources…. this proved to me that regardless of the medium (MSM or internet) partisan news reporting puts partisan spin out front of the facts…. the fact was Cheney had an official dispensationtion and cover up of a suspicious firearms “accident” that no ordinary citizen could expect in the same circumstance. Had you or I done this we could expect a police investigation to take blood or breath samples from us within minutes of the reporting…even if they had to take it from us unconcious in a hospital bed like they do with car accidents where alcohol is suspected.
It saddens me to see you dismiss this executive gerrymandering of due process of law so lightly Kate. Personally, I think partisan apologies from principled conservatives are wasted on the current US administration full of bureaucric elitist Jacobins….particularly the ones who have federal agencies covering up their personal mistakes.