He's just a f'n' girlie-man, is all. Show some balls, Dick, you're embarassing the nation.

Hate to lose him.

Except there was a picture of him walking around the day before, wearing a (sensible, respectful) black overcoat (which also puts a bullet in the 'well, maybe he didn't have another coat' theory I've seen bandied about).

As for being too cold for Dick - hey, somehow those 80 year old Red Army veterans and camp survivors were able to tough it out without having to dress like Billy Bob Thornton's character from A SIMPLE PLAN, or Bob and Doug MacKenzie's lost brother.

No, he was there all day, at one point kneeling and placing a bouquet on a monument. Others have excused his attire because the duration of his exposure exceeded that of the other notables.

Any explanation has to include the lace-up boots as well as the parka and the knit cap, and the fact that the next day he turned up turned out in topcoat and dress clothes.

It was a fashion statement of some sort.

"dress is him in a staffer's jacket and staffer's hat"

Not to mention the staffer's pants and the staffer's hiking boots. Any reports about the staffer's long johns? Any sightings of dead naked staffers in the Polish tundra?

What's this? The attack of the fashion police? Cheney does not dress any worse than most American men. Drab? What about khakis and a polo shirt - now that's drab. Don't blame his wife for this. Most women try very hard to improve their husbands' wardrobes, suggesting more lively clothing, lots of color, perhaps stripes and interesting shapes. But a lot of men persist with the drab tried and true. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Cheney had a fight over his wardrobe right before they left for the ceremony.

What's this? The attack of the fashion police? But a lot of men persist with the drab tried and true. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Cheney had a fight over his wardrobe right before they left for the ceremony.

Lessee...where's that dictionary...ah. O...oblong...hmmm...obession...back...here:

Obsequious.

Huh. Not perfect, but that's close.

D

They told him it was a another hunting trip with Scalia.

Yes, attack of the fashion police. Cheney's attire was very disrespectful to the event. It was held at Auschwitz, where many, many people died. He could still be warm and look respectful. It's called layering, which is much more effective than one big coat. I personally think he was sending some kind of message - it was the whole outfit: coat, hat and boots. If it was just the coat, it's just a lapse in judgement, but brown hiking boots? WTF with that?

I like to play the "What If?" Game. What if then VP Al Gore had showed up at Auschwitz wearing the same outfit? Would this story be a minor blip under the radar screen? Or would Rush, Sean, and the rest of the minion be screaming about his "lack of respect" for days on end ad nauseum? I think the answer is beyond self-evident.

By the way, as the son of a Holocaust survivor, I found Cheney's choice of attire monumentally disrespectful.

Sitting long periods in the cold is not walking around. Check out the statistics on how many old people die of heart attacks while shoveling snow. It is not trivial. Cold requires the heart to work harder. Simplest explanation. Cheney is not healthy.

"dress is him in a staffer's jacket and staffer's hat"

It wasn't a staffer's jacket, because it was embroidered with Cheney's name. Like they were afraid he would leave it at school. No word about if they equiped it with mitten clips.

"Cold requires the heart to work harder."

That is another explanation which, in this case, can be laid aside. The man has not heart.

See ya, Dick; Ronnie's got your seat in Hell all warmed up for ya.

He thought a visit to the camps of Poland meant a wilderness adventure and maybe bagging a (bound and captive) wild pig.

"Oh!" he said, "you meant Death Camps! Well, shit, I could have gone to Gitmo, where the weather's a whole lot better."

bakho writes: "Sitting long periods in the cold is not walking around. Check out the statistics on how many old people die of heart attacks while shoveling snow. It is not trivial. Cold requires the heart to work harder. Simplest explanation. Cheney is not healthy."

I'm guessing the VP can afford electric socks and underwear and other high-tech means of staying warm without looking like a goof. And I'm sure he's aware of them, being from Wyoming.

And I'm not sure heart attacks from shoveling snow are due to the *cold*, but rather due to the effort.

I would bet that more heart attacks happen to people shoveling snow on above-freezing days than on colder, below-freezing days. When it's colder, the snow tends to be lighter. When it's warmer, the snow tends to be heavier, because some has melted. Also, wet snow clogs snowblowers, leading people to do it by hand, despite the risk.

I'm sure your British readers will remember that when Labour leader Michael Foot wore a duffel coat to a Remembrance Day commemoration the right wing (particularly the Murdoch press) went berserk :

[quote]One of the cultural underpinnings of Mrs Thatcher's political ascendancy was created when Michael Foot as leader of the opposition, attended the Cenotaph on remembrance day wearing what some commentators described as a donkey jacket. This was seized on by the right as a sign of Labour's disrespect for those who died to secure today's freedoms.

Foot and the Labour party never shook off the charge, which even clung to Neil Kinnock. It is fashionable in many parts of the left to deride New Labour for its eagerness to placate tabloid jingoism, but its conviction that it should never again lay itself open to the charge of being unpatriotic or of not believing in nation is absolutely right.[/quote]
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0,9321,1345387,00.html

It's okay if you're a conservative!

Maybe some symbolic nod to the heartland from stuffy Old Europe?

It's funny how you have to resort to Kremlinology to try to figure out what these guys are up to. They certainly won't tell you. Like, what's this whole SS reform thing really about?

cheny was sick: there is a complete photoset of him on that day at gettyimages.com. he did look fine the earlier days, but the closeups of his face under that hood spell HEART CONDITION.

Short explantion:

Cheney is about to be outsourced so they can start grooming a handpicked, telegenic republican for the next election.

A couple of months ago Cheney bought new, larger shoes. This was news because the shoe store had a short press release on the matter--they were bragging about having him as a customer.
Most likely he is suffering from congestive heart failure now. He has looked horrible for years---there's no surprise if he is kicking the bucket now.

More illness- From today's Guardian:

With the US treasury secretary, John Snow, unwell, Mr Taylor - attending in his place - does not have the authority to commit the US to any major change in its current position.

" . . . would Rush, Sean, and the rest of the minion be screaming about his 'lack of respect' for days on end . . . "

" . . . Foot wore a duffel coat to a Remembrance Day commemoration the right wing (particularly the Murdoch press) went berserk . . . "

Murdoch did the same in Australia, to the conservative government of William McMahon. His papers were unrelenting in their ridicule - McMahon had rather large ears, and I'll always remember one cartoon in a Murdoch paper that portrayed McMahon as Dumbo.

It's particularly frustrating when you consider that all these upright Christian folk are in the thrall of a man who made his mark with tits-and-ass tabloids and bare-breasted "Page 3 girls". I have no doubt that Murdoch has nothing but contempt for Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest, but he sure knows how to use them.

So we've identified the problem, what do we do about it?

Cheney's sick, all right - but "Kremlin sick" doesn't describe it, unless you're talking about the same kind of sickness that Beria used to infect people with...

And Dis, good observation. Hmmm..." a handpicked, telegenic republican for the next election..." Let's see if anyone can guess who I'm thinking of. I'll even give everyone a hint - his initials are Jeb Bush.

I believe that Veep Dick is about to kick the bucket when he pops up on Giblets' Death Watch List. Wait, I think it just happened!

http://fafblog.blogspot.com/

Somebody wrote : closeups of his face under that hood spell HEART CONDITION.

I say:
DUH!!!!
The man has had at least 4 major heart attacks with the first at age 49. He has a full time cardiologist who recently needed replacement due to stress from keeping the VP alive.
Cheney wears, inside his skin, not a pacemaker, but a tiny defibrillator.
If he were a Democrat he would be declared medically unfit to hold office.
In other words, and this conmdition has pertained since 2001, the man who is a heartbeat away from thew presidency is also a heartbeat away from his last heartbeat.
Did you miss this news in the last 4 years?

Sorry! Cheney had his first heart attack at age 37!!!!!!!
37!!!
medical history:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's history of heart problems started in 1978, when the 37-year old suffered his first of four heart attacks. Cheney's health has been put under the national spotlight since his last heart attack a few weeks after the 2000 presidential election.

A summary of Cheney's heart problems:

1978 : Dick Cheney suffers his first heart attack. The incident does not sideline Cheney, as the former White House chief of staff wins the first of five terms to Congress that same year.

1984 : Cheney suffers another attack while serving as Wyoming's lone U.S. representative. Doctors consider the heart attack minor, like the 1978 incident, and Cheney soon heads back to work, eventually representing the Republicans as minority whip in the House.

1988 : An attack in August -- Cheney's third before his 48th birthday -- leads to quadruple bypass surgery. But the congressman's condition stabilizes throughout the 1990s, with no official reports of health problems. He has his last comprehensive heart check-up in 1996, not to have another one for four years.
November 22, 2000 : With the presidential election hanging on a few hundred votes in Florida, Cheney checks into George Washington University Hospital with chest pains. Doctors insert a coronary stent to prop open a narrowed artery after what Cheney calls "a very slight heart attack." Doctors say Cheney should be able to resume all his normal activities.
March 5, 2001 : Cheney checks himself into George Washington University Hospital with chest pain and discomfort. The vice president undergoes an "urgent" procedure to re-open the blocked heart artery treated in November, returning home after an overnight stay. With advisers saying his heart has not been damaged, Cheney soon resumes his busy schedule. (Read more on Cheney's March hospitalization)

June 29, 2001 : At an impromptu White House press conference, Cheney says he will undergo tests to determine whether he needs a "pacemaker plus," a device to normalize an irregular heartbeat. Cheney calls the procedure "an insurance policy" given his history of heart problems. (Read more on Cheney's heart tests)

June 30, 2001 : Doctors say Cheney's prognosis is "terrific" after he has surgery to implant a device to monitor his heart rhythm and slow it down if necessary. Cheney leaves the hospital that afternoon. (More on Cheney's surgery)

Notice how the Republicans play the media and people like war? Offense ..defense..Maybe football is a better analogy. Rumsfield can't go to Germay because of a war crimes lawsuit. We'll show you how important your little ceremony is to us. Cheney wore a topcoat without a hat during the inaguration and looked guite spiffy.