It must be a slow news day. Vice President Cheney’s outfit wasn’t solemn enough for the recent Auschwitz rememberance ceremony.
“The vice president…was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower,” quipped the sharp-witted Robin Givhan, a “writer” for the Washington Post. (Source)
With a not-so-subtle implication that Cheney, in opting to stay warm in Oswiecim, Poland, must be anti-Semitic because the cold didn’t seem to bother him on Inauguration day, Givhan says, “[His clothes] had the unfortunate effect of suggesting he was more concerned with his own comfort than the reason for braving the cold at all.”
Good grief.
Scott Sala’s blogging about this, too. We’re both bored, I guess.
Unrelated Addendum: Air America has a blog. And somebody posted my link in the comment section.
Good grief.
Speaking of Air America, Power Line’s Hindrocket just finished doing an interview with used-to-be-funny Al Franken.
Update: I’ll always have a warm place in my heart for Mean Dean. He helped me get my first Instalanche. 
They’re complaining about Cheney? What about the Arab leaders who didn’t attend the Auschwitz ceremony? (See newsmax.com for more info.)
Comment by mj — 01.28.05 @ 2:44 pm
La Shawn:
Congratulations on making it to Air America.
It’s required of any good conservative.
I just love the XM Satellite Radio I got in my new Infinity G35 coupe (standard shift, of course). [I haven’t taken payments from XM or infinity or Air America or Fox News].
During the breaks on Fox News, I tune to Air America to get a few laughs. It’s just great.
Comment by Frank Zavisca — 01.28.05 @ 2:58 pm
The remeberence was a somber occasion and Mr. Cheney’s attire was a little inappropriate. I don’t think a parka with an Air Force emblem on it meets the correct protocol. He wore better to his own inauguration.
Comment by John Thompson — 01.28.05 @ 3:01 pm
Bored? Slow day at work… shhhh.
Comment by Scott S — 01.28.05 @ 3:02 pm
You’re bored?? I blogged about Dobson vs. Spongebob, for crying out loud. At least I blogged something, anyway. For a change.
Comment by AWG — 01.28.05 @ 3:05 pm
VP Cheney Blasted by AP
Slant Point reports the media is giving Vice President Cheney is getting a hard time at Auschwitz with his ’stand out’ attire. Matt at Blogs for Bush notes that the cold weather is not good for people with a heart…
Trackback by The Political Teen — 01.28.05 @ 3:13 pm
So what pisses them off more? His concern for his health, or the US Mil symbols?
Comment by SCSIwuzzy — 01.28.05 @ 3:53 pm
The news media, both domestic and foreign, have been taken over by chattering, petty, 6th graders.
Comment by Filly — 01.28.05 @ 3:59 pm
LOL,
Cheney does look silly in that parka. But who the heck cares? This is a tree up which no one has any right to bark. It’s such dull fodder for those with dull brains.
There are certainly more pressing issues than to worry about what Cheney wore to this event.
However, La Shawn, I don’t think anyone would go so far as to infer Cheney is anti-semetic. That would be simply loony. Any liberal that does assert that should be given a one-way ticket to the loony bin.
Comment by Mike M. — 01.28.05 @ 4:21 pm
1. Surely with the wars, genocides, tsunamis, dictatorships, famines, etc., in our world today, we can find something more pressing to report in our media?
2. Cheney should have dressed up for the occasion. The fact that he’s a good guy doesn’t mean that I have to blindly approve everything he does.
3. If Cheney has health conditions that prevent him from dressing appropriately for this event, he should have mentioned that & we could have sent someone else.
Comment by Mayflower — 01.28.05 @ 4:23 pm
John Thompson,
It’s only inappropriate to the eye of the beholder.
The only person who can change the fact that they are offended or find something inappropriate is the person who is offended or finds something appropriate.
He didn’t go out of his way to wear jeans with holes and ragged tennis shoes. He didn’t actively make an effort to try to offend. I’ll leave it at that. Any negative comments about his inappropriateness says MORE about the commenter than Dick Cheney.
I, Baklava (poster name), provide computer consulting services for the state of CA and promise you that the contract for services in no way is making me lie as liberals do every day in thier quest to destroy capitalism, freedom and America as we know it. I am telling you facts and truth in this post despite the fact that I have a contract with the state of CA government.
Comment by Baklava — 01.28.05 @ 4:32 pm
I’ll bet ten dollars to a dime, that Lynne told him he needed to change clothes and being a hard headed man, he didn’t listen.
He knew better than that..he looks like he’s about to go ice fishing..LOL!!!!
Fellas, when we tell you that it is not cute, it’s really NOT CUTE. After all, you do represent us when you go out.
Comment by Tiffany in Minneapolis — 01.28.05 @ 4:34 pm
Eww . . . the Air America blog is as bad as DU. Can’t they make a point without beign profane and disgusting? They even have flame wars with each other.
I’m sorry you were pulled into that one.
Comment by Janette — 01.28.05 @ 4:40 pm
I wonder what the reaction from the surviors was when the US Army showed up 60 years ago, dressed in drab Army green, wearing laced upped combat boots and knit caps under their helmets?
Do you believe they gave a flip? The Post and other elitists need to get a grip.
Comment by Jim Allan — 01.28.05 @ 5:08 pm
It was an extremely quiet newsday.
Dick Cheney attended the ceremony AND dressed appropriately for the weather!
BTW - Top hat and tails are appropriate dress for tsunami disaster survey.
Comment by T_Bushmaker — 01.28.05 @ 5:36 pm
Cheney has a heart condition that makes it very sensible for him to dress warmly in frigid weather.
But I DID hear a really good, if snide, remark that he had killed Kenny and stolen his coat.
Comment by The Anchoress — 01.28.05 @ 5:56 pm
Is this the best they can do nit-pick the way the Vice-President is dressed ?
The Leftist-commies of the democrat party, have a proper protocol of dress when visiting a concentration camp ? What is appropriate dress for Auschwitz,… Jack boots ?
Whenever, I visit washington D.C. I always visit the ‘Wall’ and I have never seen anyone dressed in anything but dungerees with the knees worn out and their butt hanging out the other end.
This coming from the moral leftists, whose motto is still, ‘if it feels good do it’ how they have the nerve to criticize anyone, is beyond me, after all haven’t they created their own holocaust right here in the United States. The most recent count was 43 million dead and counting.
It seems to me they ought to take a long hard look in a mirror and ask themselves, ‘ Do I even have a clue’.
Mark
Comment by Mark — 01.28.05 @ 7:11 pm
Now I know why I so rarely read/watch the MSM. Why would clothes appropriate for the weather be a cause for complaint? I have heart problems and arthritis and dress apropriately for the weather. What I notice is that those who insist on dressing “fashionably,” also insist that services be kept very short so they don’t have to leave early or freeze their toes off.
Comment by Evon Bachaus — 01.28.05 @ 7:13 pm
“If Cheney has health conditions that prevent him from dressing appropriately for this event, he should have mentioned that & we could have sent someone else.”
No. You remember as you can. Remembrance of people who were sick, “unfit to work” = gas chamber. People who didn’t have a toothbrush, a comb, a jacket, or a name. People who stood in the snow for 24 hours at a time for roll-call. You come as you can. It’s the heart that counts. I don’t usually wear this “on my sleeve” so to speak, but it goes deep in my own family history.
Shalom,
Catez
Comment by Catez — 01.28.05 @ 9:24 pm
LaShawn,
Dick Cheney & others were behind vinyl wind and bullet shield. Vinyl or polymer,etc. that may have had heating at feet. Being PC (politically correct) or just knocking Republicans is the MSM main job. I saw Harry Truman in 1949 and no Democrat in the leadership comes close. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry blast about stolen votes in Ohio. Jessie Jackson and Paula Zahn, without mentioning name or race, blasted J. Kenneth Blackwell-R the secretary of state for the state of Ohio. He is black or African American and is the person keeping blacks from voting in Ohio.
Every black from Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice are called names and have cartoons made about them. If not for bloggers and talk radio, John Kerry would be president today. Kerry was Teddy Kennedy’s last chance, I hope. Dr. Rice, and others, were wrong about Iraq because for over thirty years, intelligence has been cut on human side and increased from eyes in the sky. See Thomas Sowell’s article in townhall.com “Fourth estate or fifth column”. Colin Powell’s career was helped because Abrams liked his presentation in Viet Nam. Abrams was commanding general in Viet Nam but was the young tank leader in Battle of the Bulge in WWII that broke the Germans.
JMB
Comment by James M. Barber — 01.28.05 @ 9:57 pm
Oh, oh. If you are now linked to from Air America perhaps it really is time to turn comments off.
Comment by Allan — 01.28.05 @ 9:58 pm
You are right LB, it is a slow day if they are worried about his attire and have the nerve to make negative comments.
But hey, we are talking about people who like flashy clothes and a $1G haircut over substance (I am having flashbacks of Kerry /Edwards).
Reminds me of the folks who would criticize others who showed up to church in something not new. And the criticizers would be the first ones you would see at the corner bar after the service.
Go figure.
Comment by Renee — 01.28.05 @ 10:16 pm
Proves once again …
“Never Send a Fashion Queen to do the Work of a Weatherman”
(http://www.blogs4god.com/linker/article.php?a=001868)
Comment by Mean Dean — 01.28.05 @ 10:32 pm
COMMENT MODERATION IS IN EFFECT
Comments will be approved in the morning. Sweet dreams…
Comment by La Shawn — 01.28.05 @ 11:08 pm
Practical trumps fashion every time. Or should.
Comment by Steel Turman — 01.29.05 @ 2:30 am
Around the Blogsphere in 4 hours or less….We review so you don’t have too….
- If you are one of those perfectly normal people who get a bad rash every time someone launches into a long powder dry dissertation on something scientific Mr Vanderleun over at “American Digest” may have something that will help improve your tolora…
Trackback by Smoking Gun — 01.29.05 @ 3:56 am
1) He looks silly in the parka. He could have gone with a Northface shell and fleece liner, staed toasty warm, and avoided looking like a snow blower operator.
2) The answer to this question is he ain’t running for anything. So who cares? Does anyone really think the Israelis care what he is wearing?
I think they’d like to see some of those Euro leaders wearing thick stripes.
Comment by Vanyogan — 01.29.05 @ 7:11 am
Being Canadian I tend to sympathise with VP Cheney’s parka situation, since right now it’s 16 degrees below 0 Celsius outside and there’s a 7 foot high snowdrift in my front yard.
When it’s cold, it’s cold, and you have to dress accordingly. I had to wear a similar parka to my grandmother’s funeral, and I honestly don’t believe I commited any act of disrespect. They should be grateful that Cheney participated as much as he did.
Of course this is yet another example of the protocol illustrated in the ABCNews internal memo that stated reporters were to pounce on any real or imagined blunder of the Bush team while ignoring the all too real blunders of Democrats.
That’s probably why the MSM for the most part ignored an ex-Klansman’s attempt to block the nomination of Condeleeza Rice.
Comment by Vox Poplar — 01.29.05 @ 10:40 am
Exactly.
Comment by Rick — 01.29.05 @ 12:55 pm
So the mainstream media is having a hissy fit about how Cheney dresses now?? They know the solution: Make a call to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.Toodles!!!
Comment by ratso ferrari — 01.29.05 @ 1:06 pm
Clothes maketh the man
Trackback by connexions — 01.29.05 @ 2:12 pm
Survivors who attended the ceremony were not ushered into a warm place like the dignitaries where. That is newsworthy.
I am sorry La Shawn, but Mr. Cheney was inappropriate. There is black cold weather gear he could have worn that would have protected him adequately. This was a scheduled world event, on a world stage and image does matter.
Making jokes about slow news days and the fashion police do not address the fact the US Vice-President was offically representing your country at a very solemn occasion.
You may scoff, but the pictures are out there.
Comment by Bene Diction — 01.29.05 @ 2:57 pm
Dick Cheney’s coat
I’ll add my voice to those of these fine folk in saying that complaining about the coat Dick Cheney wore this week during the holocaust remembrance ceremony at Auschwitz was bloody stupid. Peg at what if? has a great post about the matter. It is not f…
Trackback by Uncle Sam's Cabin — 01.29.05 @ 3:26 pm
Bene Diction - You take yourself way too seriously.
Comment by La Shawn — 01.29.05 @ 3:51 pm
The MSM will find something bad with Dick no matter what he does. Expect it; Rathergate proved what we have suspected for 55 years - the MSM is bigoted. It will be news when they have something positive to say about America!
Comment by Rod Stanton — 01.29.05 @ 4:29 pm
Diplomacy
Blogger LaShawn Barber is mocking the fuss made over coverage of US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s appearance at the rememberence ceremony at Auschwitz. His parka, touque and hiking boots got noticed in the crowd of black clad leaders. It matters how a …
Trackback by Bene Diction Blogs On — 01.29.05 @ 4:55 pm
Like I said at the end of my post, anyone who would think Cheney inappropriate is either ignornat of the medical facts as they relate to cold weather … or wish to see Mr. Cheney dead.
Comment by Mean Dean — 01.29.05 @ 5:05 pm
John Thompson, Mayflower & Bene Diction, what would you call appropriate atire for a 45 min tour of Auswitz, culminating with placing a bouquet of red and ivory roses at the base of what is called the Wall of Death? (see map at http://www.remember.org/camps/birkenau/bir-introduction.html)
Methinks that on a snowy day between 3 & 17 degrees farenheit, the last thing I’d want to do is be out walking around. But if duty calls, then I might as well be comfortable and practical about it. Keeping in mind that while Auschwitz has changing rooms and showers, I don’t think anyone in their right minds are gonna want to use them to change from touring gear to formal wear.
So what to wear then?
Lessee, I’d want Goretex hiking boots since dem Guccis will be next to useless as far as traction and warmth goes. I’d bet the press would love to get a pic of Cheney slipping and falling down. As big as that camp is, one is gonna put in a couple of miles walking.
A knit cap would be great for warmth retention while allowing the sweat to evaporate rather than clinging to the scalp. and increasing the risk of hypothermia, when you then have to sit still thru an outdoor memorial service.
I’d want a parka, dem GI parkas were made for walking & working in sub-zero weather w/o getting all into a sweat, plus it’d be a heck lighter than a woolen overcoat. And given the somber occasion, a North Face or Columbia outfit would be too bright. Beside’s as mentioned by others, if one is going to wear cold weather gear, wearing a GI parka fittingly serves as mute testimony to the thousands of GIs that sacrificed their lives to put an end to the nazi monstrocity.
Here’s an ironic synonym for “sweating out” auf Deutsch - heraus schwitzen. Drop the leading “her” and the closing “en” and what’s it spell? I’m sure that sweating was therapeutic for the former inmates [/sacarsm]. That’s the last thing a guy with a heart condition needs.
So lets’ talk about properly representing the US. Protocol dictates that either or all of the following persons represent the govt at the highest level. Unless I’m mistaken, the order of precedence would be the President, the Secretary of State or the Vice President. Anything else is second tier. You would be correct in asking “Where was Bush?”. The answer is that he was attending the swearing-in of Condi.
Thanks to racist obstructionism of the DEM “leadership”, they not only managed to insult Blacks, they also inadvertantly (or deliberately?) caused Bush or Condi to miss out on attending a memorial to honor the victims of the holocaust. Taking partisanship that to its logical conclusion, Jews were also colaterally slighted by the sore losers of this past election.
FWIW, President Bush sent Cheney, his daughter Liz and several members of the U.S. delegation that to Thursday’s liberation celebration at Birkenau. One member of the group was Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., who, as a teenager, survived a Hungarian fascist forced-labor camp.
I’d like to know who else representing their respective countries also took a tour of the death camp?
Bush can also be excused for not going, since in May of 2003, he also toured Auschwitz. Afterwards, he said: “And this site is also a strong reminder that the civilized world must never forget what took place on this site. May God bless the victims and the families of the victims, and may we always remember.”
Finally, especially those who question the holocaust, there’s the recent recollections of a nazi who worked at Auschwitz, http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=81689
Comment by Andy — 01.29.05 @ 6:15 pm
For those that have never visted a concentration camp, here’s a pretty good description:
Day Seven… Sachsenhausen
Our usually talkative group was quiet during our visit to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was perhaps the most poignant part of our adventure, certainly the most painful part of German history. Its tough to make broadcast journalists speechless, but this did.
As reporters, we each have witnessed more than an average person. This place stuns and saddens us. It wasn’t the the empty old buildings, or the human incinerators, but our imaginations that stirred us. We each in our own way tried to comprehend the inhumanities that took place here a mere sixty years ago. I felt it. I saw it in the eyes of my colleagues. Most of us were in tears. We wandered alone, or in small groups, wondering how a civilized people could kill millions so pointlessly. It was a somber, personal moment each of us will surely remember.
WebSource: http://www.riasberlinkommission.de/rcom-exch/rcus-exch-de2002fall.html
I know exactly what the writer was talking about since for several years, I and some of my friends used to organize and give tours of Sachsenhausen (used to process mostly leftists, Seventh Day Adventists, and moral delinquents, ie anarchists and gays) and Ravensbruck (a women and children’s camp).
Although it’s been 8 or so years since giving my last tour, you could blindfold me and stick me in some of those rooms and I’d know exactly where I am, just from the smell and sense of dread. One of these days, I oughta scan my photo album.
Comment by Andy — 01.29.05 @ 6:31 pm
Me thinks the leftist wienees doth protest too much.
Again this is typical leftist ‘pap’, and again its symbolism over substance.
Of all the whiners from the far left berating the VPs dress there one not one who could give any indication of what IS appropriate dress, if it even exist, perhaps it does in Europe, but afterall we are Americans, and that is all that is needed to be said, and If they don’t like they can stick it where the sun don’t shine.
When are these morons going to realize THEY LOST the election and that is all there is too it.
Speaking of the election has anyone noticed that Hanoi Johns Wrinkles are back, he must have stopped his Botox injection. That man is still a joke.
Mark
Comment by Mark — 01.30.05 @ 8:19 am
“With a not-so-subtle implication that Cheney, in opting to stay warm in Oswiecim”
Was everybody else not opting to stay warm?
Comment by actus — 01.30.05 @ 5:25 pm
“Was everybody else not opting to stay warm?”
Perhaps everyone else didn’t have a heart condition.
Perhaps those who are complaining are more into appearances (style) over substance?
Either way, this is a dead horse and a non-issue in the grander scheme of things.
Comment by Bhuma Wrang — 01.30.05 @ 6:02 pm
If Republicans can talk for two weeks about a “Dean scream” then others ought to be able to point out that it is perfectly possible to dress warmly in appropriate-looking clothing.
Can you imagine what Republicans would have said if Al Gore had dressed this way. If Cheney’s health is so fragile, he shouldn’t be VP, maybe.
Still, Cheney should be given credit for showing up.
Comment by Joel Thomas — 01.30.05 @ 6:57 pm
“Perhaps everyone else didn’t have a heart condition.”
Ya. Bunch of holocaust survivors.
“Perhaps those who are complaining are more into appearances (style) over substance?”
Probably. I mean, thats why everybody there was dressed for the occasion, rather than the weather. Or maybe they were dressed for the weather and the occasion.
Comment by actus — 01.30.05 @ 7:14 pm
Why pile on Cheney? At least he showed up (albeit looking like he was planning on going ice fishing right after the ceremony ended). Granted, I really wish he hadn’t worn a hat emblazoned “Staff 2001.” “Staff”? At Auschwitz? Didn’t someone realize the inappropriateness of that?
No, the real thing to criticize is the fact that Bush did not see fit to go to the ceremony himself, rather than sending an underling. Putin and Chirac showed up. Bush didn’t.
Comment by Orac — 01.30.05 @ 9:59 pm
Maybe the other distinguished and elderly vistors were dressed merely for sitting thru a memorial service (lip service) and had no intention of touring. I did a little googling, but can’t seem to find any mentions of others making a tour.
Perhaps they dared not tour the camps, lest the ghosts of nazi victims haunt them for their politically cynical pandering to anti-semitism back home. Or is it that thing about not looking into the abyss and risk having it stare right back into their soul?
Calculating that merely showing up would absolve them, of their miserable failure as human beings to discern good from evil, from karmic payback for stroking the Bush=Hitler meme. Heh
Comment by Andy — 01.30.05 @ 10:24 pm
Cheney’s supposed to be from Wyoming. I’ve seem people from Wyo. in short pants in the kind of weather described (can you imagine the outcry if he did *that*) and snicker at the relatively mild winters here in Colorado’s front range.
Comment by Mark Slater — 01.30.05 @ 10:55 pm
Can you imagine what Republicans would have said if Al Gore had dressed this way.
Probably something to the effect of “Where’s your global warming now, tree-hugger?”
Comment by AWG — 01.31.05 @ 10:46 am