That Dick Cheney's "So?" remark touched off no more than a one-day flurry of coverage calls into question the media's perception of exactly what is happening in this country. A democracy that fights a war against the wishes of 70% of its people has lost its way. That should be apparent to anyone regardless of political persuasion. And yet Cheney's manifestation of this sorry reality winds up with less attention than the fulminations of a minister.
The media seems to see itself as players in a fiction -- a screenplay that in their minds they write, direct, and even act in. With few exceptions -- such as the great Helen Thomas -- they inflate Reverend Wright and downplay Dick Cheney because that's their perception of where the ratings are. The quality and importance of the story to a vibrant, functioning democracy doesn't enter into the equation at all: This is television and the good guys will win in the end anyway. That other forces, forces whose only interest is the accumulation and exercise of power, might be the writers and directors doesn't occur to them.
Well, guys, this is serious business. I guarantee you that Dick Cheney thinks so, and that he wasn't kidding when he said he didn't care about ratings. Heck, that ought to shake you up ...