An Operational World

by digby

Laura Rozen posts some interesting observations on the Wapo Cheney story from a newspaper editor friend of hers.

When I read it this morning, I also thought that stuff about Cheney not really being the defacto president and how he's lost some battles with the big guy seemed pasted on to the story. I ignored them. Certainly this first part of the series gave no examples of such a thing --- quite the opposite. The portrait that was painted was of a secretive, megalomaniacal VP who has been running the country through underhanded and unaccountable means by manipulating his ridiculously stupid boss and exerting his power by any means necessary. You really can't read the article any other way.

Rozen's friend speculates that this story was held until the dead time in June and the reporters became enraged, which sounds right. And if they hadn't been enraged before, they almost certainly were when people (like me) started taking pot shots at the media for ignoring the story. Gelman and Becker must have been furious about that if they had this whopper in the chute and their editors were sitting on it.

Fascinating stuff. The DC establishment is at war with itself.