Lloyd Grove: Cheney Needs a "Barbara Walters' Moment"

It may not be much, but the mainstream media appear dedicated to beating the Cheney hunting accident story into the ground. On CNN's American Morning today, anchor Miles O'Brien interviewed New York Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove about it. O'Brien wanted to make sure viewers realized the delayed reporting on the misfortune is all part of a much bigger scheme: "And setting this all in the context of the issues that the Bush administration has been dealing with, the wiretapping issues, the CIA leak case, all of this I think raises some serious credibility issues among people."

Naturally, Grove agreed, saying that Cheney's "gone into the bunker" and that the relationship between the president's staff and the vice president's staff "goes downhill." O'Brien completed the segment by asking Grove to provide guidance to Mr. Cheney: "If you were offering advice right now, would you say get before the cameras as soon as possible, Mr. Cheney, and make a statement?" Grove wants considerably more than that: "Get out there yesterday. Do an interview with -- if not someone from CNN, with Barbara Walters and cry."

I'm surprised he didn't suggest the VP try jumping up and down on the couch. Superficial theatrics, a public apology for not disseminating more information more quickly, and assurances that it will never happen again is what the press would love to see.

That's not going to happen, a point acknowledged by Miles O'Brien: "I don't know if Dick Cheney is going to do that for us." By "us," he doesn't mean the American public. He means the mainstream media.