"X" Over Cheney: (A) Juvenile (B) Scary

On Monday, CNN, a major cable news network, repeatedly superimposed flashing "X's" over the face of the Vice President of the United States during a televised speech pertaining to national security and the war in Iraq.

CNN's explanation is that it was a technological malfunction.

It's possible.  Or it might have been deliberate but impossible to prove.  That is what is called "plausible deniability." 

But is it even plausible?

1.  The "X" appeared only during the speech and at no other time.  That seems too coincidental. If it was a technical malfunction, it would have continued until the cause was rooted out and eliminated.  But that is not what happened, according to news reports to date.

2.  The "X" appeared intermittently, not continuously.  Odd.  Implausible as an accident.

3.  According to the Drudge Report, "A well-placed CNN insider claims a control room staffer "laughed" when the image appeared shortly after 11 am.  Gee, is that the normal reaction when you realize your switcher has just gone haywire during a national broadcast of the Vice President of the United States?  Let's pause and think on this.  Even if it was a technical malfunction, what does the reaction of this staffer -- laughter rather than surprised concern -- tell you about this staffer's motivations?

4.  Also according to Drudge, a rival network news director asks: "When has an 'X' ever aired on CNN before?  Who had the graphic sitting in the key signal?  Who generated the 'X'?"  So the official spin is not plausible to at least one "rival" (known less pejoratively as a "peer") in the same industry.

5.  CNN Is not exactly known for its established institutional love for the president or vice president.

Thus, we seem to have:  Motive, means, opportunity, at least some evidence of planning and preparation, and at least some evidence of absence of mistake or accident.

It could be dismissed as a juvenile prank, and it probably is that, but it is more than that:  It is scary. 

Whether this was a technological malfunction or not, CNN is one of the major cable networks that Americans rely on for news and information. 

The Office of the Vice President is a national symbol, not a symbol as stirring as the American flag but important nonetheless.  The vice presidency is one small step from the presidency.  The vice president is elected along with the president -- chosen by the American people to lead. 

We are in the middle of a war on terrorists -- one that the terrorists started and intend to finish. We know, based on their prior threats and their prior murderous actions, that they will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons that can annihilate entire cities filled with innocent men, women, and children. 

It is too horrible to contemplate, and it hasn't happened yet -- so we assume that it can't or won't happen.  Yet many things that seem impossible happen anyway.  To entire nations.  Witness the fall of the Berlin wall.  Witness the collapse of the Soviet Union and the freeing of many nations formerly enslaved by it.  Witness September 11th, if you can remember back that far.  Did it seem possible that the Pentagon would be hit and many killed there?  Did you expect four jets to be commandeered and everyone on board killed?  Did you picture the twin towers burning and then falling, with innocent people inside?

That didn't seem possible. 

It doesn't seem possible that a staffer at CNN would engage in a juvenile stunt during the speech of the Vice President of the United States.  Yet it certainly does seem possible -- even likely -- that some at CNN, and many in the broadcast news business, haven't fully grasped the situation we face.  Because their imaginations and their historical perspective are so limited, they think America is invincible.  They are wrong. 

America is strong, but not invincible.  No nation is invincible.

Our strength is in our people.  Our strength is in our democracy.  Our strength is in our free market economy.  Our strength is in our unity, at least when it comes to matters of national security.

Somebody at CNN in particular, and many people in America generally, don't seem to care.  Before this latest incident, they have already done more on their own to undermine the Vice President and President of the United States than the terrorists themselves have done to date.

By their actions, they show that they take our national security for granted.  They have exceedingly short memories about the threat that Islamic terrorism poses.  Their short memories are partly a choice.  It's more comfortable, less frightening, that way.

They seem to believe that they can take unlimited numbers of bites out of the hide of the White House in wartime without bleeding the nation to death.  They seem not to realize that, as far as the terrorists and the world are concerned, our White House and administration are America.  They think they can tear down the commander in chief during wartime and yet simultaneously do no damage whatsoever to our military, our intelligence services, our homeland security, our emergency preparedness, our economic well being, or our national defense.  They are wrong.

In wartime, we need our strength, all of it.  Those who deliberately take juvenile, intellectually vacant shots at the nation's leaders, while they are engaged in the serious business of protecting our national security, have truly become the enemy within.

_____________________________________________________

UPDATE 11/23/05:  According to Newsday.com, CNN has issued an apology.  CNN continues to refer to the event as a technical malfunction.  That still seems implausible, unless CNN can document other recent instances of this same technical malfunction having occurred before the Cheney speech.  Nonetheless, CNN's apology is the right first step.  CNN now has a larger problem to address -- deeply institutionalized bias.  Otherwise, embarrassing "malfunctions" in one form or another will continue to occur.

More commentary and links at:  Wizbang here and here; Flopping Aces; All Things Beautiful here and here; Stop the ACLU; Right Wing News (comments); Outside the Beltway; Daily Pundit; Gateway Pundit; and Michelle Malkin

Comments

[Jim Hoft]

That is a great breakdown on the story. Interesting.

[docdave]

Impossible for a CNN staffer to deliberately place an X over Cheneys image? Not at all when one considers how extreme the leftist hatred is toward the Bush administration. Being knowledgable of imaging software/hardware, what I find improbable is that the X resulted from some hardware/software glitch. The X has to be a canned hardware or software image which has some purpose other than obliterating Cheneys face. Knowing its real purpose could shed some light on this issue.

[owned]

cheney got PWNT!!