Cheney's Whitewash In Virtual Journalism

Used to be, you asked God to forgive you. You confessed, and you were all clean again.

Now, apparently, the worst sins of this world can be washed away by corporate media.

Offending puff pieces fall into two categories. 1. Those that talk about his heart, and what a loveable old bear he is. 2. Those that Disneyfy the Dickmeister by referring to his "dark" public image without ever actually looking at the specifics.

The second tactic of BigMediaCorp schlebs is the naked attempt to get themselves around the issue of behaving like actual journalists.

The journalism of the virtual.

Here's one of the former variety. "Cheney Reaches a Truce" What utter vomit, ending with a quip from former Secretary of State James Baker, agreeing to go hunting with Cheney after donning some "good body armor".

Okay? We all know this story: Cheney shot a man in the face in 2006. Tea Party republicans, who as former Rep. Alan Grayson said "show a strong resilience to the suffering of others" love this story. They love it! But, I want you to think of the pain of getting shot in the face from one or two paces with bird shot!

No? Nothing? Whatever, moving on.

I have nattered on about the man's misdeeds enough. See former posts for greater detail. Let's look more closely at the vomit and excrement from corporate fawning and blithely indifferent to actual news media, as they tout Cheney emergence from his lair while he shows off the scars from his SHT, Strategic Heart Trouble.

Here's Brian Williams going over what everyone already knows about Dick Cheney. He has heart trouble. Watch innocent young Brian thoughtfully tell you with his girlish straight face, all about these medical facts, as though relating news of an impending air strike.

How do you sleep, Brian?

Brian is a former journalist. He has joined the pantheon of former journalists who don't actually do anything. They don't actually uncover the news, nor even review newsworthy issues. His face, his voice, give credibility to soft gibberish. It gives you the sense you are being informed, that tough issues are being looked into, without actually providing any information.

And the media gods pay handsomely for it. Others of course, in this pantheon include, Wolf Blitzer. Wolf was doing well in this interview, really getting to the nut of the matters with regard to the war in Iraq, when, mid-stream, he went on a personal attack. Undoubtedly urged there by his corporate masters, better to discredit himself and the previous honest questions a journalist might ask.

Since then, Blitzer has been working hard to rebuild his credibility.

Here's the NBC piece of fawnorama of course.

Olbermann of MSNBC needs some credit here for bringing up the Nigerian bribery case, but of course, he muddies the issue by satirizing the country of Nigeria, from whence come many internet scams, then morphing into one of his network's pet, hotbutton issues,waterboarding.

Oh, but here Olbermann wraps up his take on Cheney and the Nigeria connection - moving on, now people! - with a nice send up on "Not Really Worst Person in the World." Cheney's Halliburton's pay off to the Nigerian government was sandwiched between a blooper made headline and a comedy routine that was mistaken for news.

In an earlier time, the story would have graced the front page of every newspaper in the country "Former VP's Halliburton Pays Off Nigeria to Kill Bribery Charge". Now, such news is trivialized. And we then permit the center of the story to rehabilitate his image via corporate fluff pieces with all the bite of the comfy chair.

Since Cheney's resurrection, Olbermann has been silent on Cheney as an entire subject matter. Of course there is no reason whatsoever to suspect coercion from his corporate masters.

Totally forgotten is Cheney's alleged 100 day meeting with oil executives in the White House. Also forgotten are the allegations that Cheney himself put the rubber stamps all over the gelded Minerals Management Service, turning that regulatory agency into a romper room of position selling and free for all, leading up the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.

If you can stomach Cheney's new debut as kindly old Yoda archetype who really is just a cuddly, misunderstand man, then watch them. Watch them, read them with an eye toward what they DON'T ask, and how hard they stretch NOT to ask it.

Then come talk to me about how we still have a free press in this country. If such talk keeps you up at night, it should.