i don't think the story about cheney shooting a man is that big a deal, other than as an opportunity to make jokes at his expense (to which, of course, i am not opposed).
but the story does raise the interesting question of why, exactly, the story had to be withheld from the public for 24 hours. the shooting happened on saturday, but was kept out of the press until today. once again, i don't think this story really matters all that much, but that just begs the question why we weren't allowed to hear about it sooner.
i have no problem with delaying information from being released to the public in some circumstances. sometimes a delay simply is necessary to avoid some greater harm. but, for the life of me, i can't come up with what the greater harm is here. or any harm, for that matter. that is, other than the danger of cracks being made at cheney's expense during the sunday morning talkshows. maybe it's just me, but that really shouldn't cut it.
in a way this non-story echoes a very serious concern i have about the administration: how quickly it is willing to keep information from the american public. and although most of the secrecy approved by the bush administration is cloaked in grandiose language of national security or the ability of the president to speak freely with his advisors, there always is this creeping suspicion that it's really more about keeping the bad news out of the papers and keeping poll numbers from dropping.
"national security" or "free speaking with advisors" doesn't even work to explain the delay in this case. so i hope someone asks the administration about this one. i'm really curious how they will explain it all away. if they don't, all it will do is encourage crazy conspiracy theories.
(crazy conspiracy theory via susie)
