Funny or Sad?

This week in the news has lots of noise and fury but very little substance. Particularly with the Cheney hunting accident, it amazes me that the press doesn't seem to realize how stupid they look. But that's why I'm not sure whether to keep laughing at them or to start crying, because this is the most baldly obvious example of who our mainstream news reporters really are.

In case you've been in a cave or deserted island since last weekend, the Veep shot a hunting partner with birdshot in Texas on Saturday. The victim was rushed to the hospital for treatment, and last word was he had a mild heart attack due to a piece of birdshot that got too close to his heart, but has been treated and is apparently fine. The local Sheriff was informed and is satisfied that it was an accident, and that's about all there is to the story.

But it's created this gigantic furor in Washington among the press and the Democrats. Why? Because the Washington press didn't get in on the story immediately after it happened and had to find out by reading the local news accounts from the Corpus Christi newspaper. They're so ticked off about the whole thing that they're making absolute fools of themselves, yelling like lunatics at the White House spokesman.

That was funny enough to watch, but then it got funnier when the Democrats started in on the whole "culture of secrecy and cover-up" at the White House. Led by people like Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, who apparently never heard the one about people in glass houses throwing stones.

But then they really got offended when Cheney went public at Fox News, which of course as far as they are concerned is just a tool of the Republicans. But who can really blame him? Let me see if I can come up with the questions he would have received from any one of the ABC, NBC, CBS, or CNN anchors:

How many other people have you shot?
Were you drunk when you shot him?
Is it true that you shot your friend as a warning to anyone that might testify against you in the Valerie Plame case?
So will you finally resign now? Huh? Huh?
What were you trying to cover up by not talking with the press on Saturday?
Isn't this really just another example of your cavalier attitude toward guns and violence?
Aren't you lying about this incident just like you have continually lied about Iraq?
Do you still beat your wife?
Do you still abuse your dog?

You get the idea. Ever wonder what the press would have said if Bill Clinton had been involved in the same accident? Suppose Bill really was drunk at the time? How would the press coverage been different, do you think?

And that's why it might be more sad than funny. Not to mention that there are lots of really important stories out there right now that the press doesn't seem to care about, because they're more focused on their mission to destroy the President & VP.

By the way, so Mike Davis had apparently already worked out a deal for his resignation by the time I wrote yesterday's post. Let the speculation on Steve Alford begin. I've even already heard somebody suggesting that maybe the university could bring back Bob Knight. Either way, this season's a bust for the Hoosiers. They got beat by a mediocre Penn State team last night in pretty much the same way they lost most of their last 5 or 6 games.

By the way, if you wonder why I care, maybe I shouldn't. I never went to IU (I went to Ball State undergrad and South Carolina graduate). But I've been following Indiana basketball since I was a kid, and was hooked when a guy from my High School, John Ritter, was a 4-year starter for the Hoosiers under Knight. And Indiana is the team that represents the state, and residents of Indiana are rightfully proud of the state's long tradition in basketball. Which was wrecked by the switch to High School Class Basketball, but that's another topic for another day.