Alan Simpson’s Take On Washington Press Corps
I had the joy of watching Chris Wallace interview former Senator Alan Simpson about the Cheney hunting accident on yesterday’s Fox News Sunday. It made me long for the days when he and Bob Dole and Pat Moynihan were the main players in the Senate. Here’s the most telling exchange of the interview:
WALLACE: Now, your friend is not a touchy-feely guy who generally lets people feel his emotions. But I’ve got to tell you, Senator, I was struck by how pained he seems to have been by this incident.
SIMPSON: Well, I haven’t talked to him, because the first few days of it, I was in Ohio, and they were calling me, and I had the sense that they were saying have you talked to Cheney, and if you did, what did he say you should say — in other words, a sinister approach to put a spin on it.
I haven’t talked with him. As soon as this is over, I will have done all these, and I’m going to call him. But let me tell you, he probably went home that day when he got back to Lynne and probably put his head down on her shoulder and cried, because this guy — think of how you would feel if you pulled up any kind of a gun and a human being was in front of it and he dropped. And then you went over to see him and he didn’t say anything.
I always say in this line of work, how would you feel if this were happening to you — not you, Chris, I mean, but there is a human element here that got lost in the perfect storm of people who don’t like Cheney. They don’t like hunting. They don’t like guns. They don’t like people who kill birds and eat them. I mean, good grief.
With that exchange, Alan Simpson reminds us all of how badly the White House press corps missed the story. They didn’t think about the fact that Vice President Cheney was going through a terrible ordeal himself. No, Cheney wasn’t the victim. The victim was Harry Whittington. But for the White House press corps to think that he just brushed this accident off and that he didn’t have a care in the world was foolish.
Here’s another great exchange:
WALLACE: Senator, as we mentioned, Democrats have taken this opportunity to pound on the vice president and the White House for what they say is a display of arrogance. Let’s take a look at some of that, sir.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)U.S. SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY): A tendency of this administration from the top all the way to the bottom is to withhold information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
U.S. SENATOR HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: This administration is the most secretive administration in modern history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Senator, what do you make of that?
SIMPSON: Well, you know, that’s an interesting pitch, but we haven’t had another 9/11, so something good must be going on with all this, quote, evil, secret stuff. And then this business of the 20-hour gap — I mean, it is a laugher. I mean, that’s a laugher. It’s a lot more sinister than the 18 minutes on Rosemary Woods’ tape with Nixon. I mean, what is this? What are they doing?
Let me tell you, the American people know that when you have an accident on your ranch, and you’re the host, and a guy gets bucked off a horse and has a concussion, or there’s a hunting accident, your first impression is not to pick up the phone and call your dearest, you know, A.P. or Reuters or Bloomberg. That is not the first thing in your head.
First thing is take care of the guy, go to the hospital, call his relatives, sit down, say who wants to do this. As I understand it, Dick said, you know, to her it’s your call. And the sadness, the tragedy, was that she called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead of The New York Times. This has just got them all worked up, for God’s sake.
For Hillary to complain about White House secrecy isn’t just laughable, it’s shameless. Then again, that’s what you should expect with a Clinton. They’re shameless by nature and they’re full of chutzpah.
Then there’s this:
WALLACE: Some Republicans, though, Senator, have also been unhappy with the way the vice president handled this. I want to point out one example. Peggy Noonan, the former Reagan speech writer, wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal in which she said that Dick Cheney has become the hate magnet for this administration.
And then she went on to say this. Take a look. She said, “So Mr. Bush may feel in time that he has reason to want to put in a new vice president in order to pick a successor who’ll presumably have an edge in the primaries.” Senator Simpson, what do you make of that?
SIMPSON: Well, we have a word for it, but we won’t use it here, out here in the wild west. Let me tell you, that is — she is a wonderful gal. And I mean, I know her, and when I read her words, they’re lyrical and they’re marvelous.
Dick Cheney has become the hate symbol from the beginning. He was the hate symbol when he was with Halliburton. He was the hate symbol when he came in and the votes with South Africa and this and that. And then he was the hate symbol of hiding an energy conference. He was the hate symbol of terrorists, hate symbol of torture.
Let me tell you, those who don’t like him have put a big red tail on his bum, and cloven hooves, and horns on his head. And let me tell you, if anybody thinks — if this had happened to anybody else in America, it would have been like a sparrow belch in a typhoon.
WALLACE: Could you be a little more colorful, Senator?
SIMPSON: Well, I don’t think I could, because it really is absurd. It’s absolutely absurd. I go around the country. I travel all the time. And the American people are just shaking their heads and saying it’s a hunting accident, a tragic hunting accident — a victim, a guy who’s hurt, and a guy who’s hurt because he shot, who’s pained, who’s anguished. What’s new, for God’s sakes?
Sen. Simpson nails it. Outside of the Washington press corp and the Daily Kos/MoveOn.org children, nobody cares about this incident with this type of intensity. Most of America doesn’t hate Cheney like they do. They might not agree with him but they don’t have the hatred towards him like that group has towards him.
This is why I’d love to have Sens. Simpson, Moynihan and Dole back in the Senate. They’re colorful, intelligent and they had a great sense of humor.
Finally, there’s this shot at the Washington press corps:
WALLACE: So I take it, Senator, do you really miss this place?
SIMPSON: No, I do. I loved it. I did. I loved it. And I loved it because it was fun. And I have a lot of pals on both sides of the aisle. I worked with President Clinton. I enjoyed him. President Bush, President Carter — good people doing good things.
But let me tell you, you’ll never find it if you just follow the Washington media. You’ll never know the good. All you get is controversy, crap and confusion.
A CQ reader has already designed and copyrighted that line on a bumper sticker. Sen. Simpson is right though in castigating these pompous idiots for their worthless reporting and their negativity. They’re all legends in their own minds.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing