Cheney Dozes Off At Bush Farewell Speech

Vice President Cheney may have dozed off during Bush's apparently somniferous farewell speech last night. Courtesy of Examiner.com:

As Bush said, "But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger..."

Cheney's eyelids briefly fluttered shut. He immediately roused himself and sat up straighter and shifted in his chair.

See for yourself here:

ThinkProgress notes that this is not the first time Cheney has inopportunely caught up on sleep. In their video here, he make his narcoleptic tendencies even more obvious during a cabinet meeting to discuss California wildfires in 2007.

Perhaps this is an unfair leap to judgment on Cheney though. As Time notes today, the East Room of the White House was hardly the place to be last night, with far more exciting events taking place. Think of it as having to work the graveyard shift on New Years Eve. From Time:

President George W. Bush said farewell to the nation, but the nation wasn't paying attention. TV barely cut to him in time for his first words Thursday evening and couldn't wait to cut away when he finished 13 minutes later. Something unexpected and awesome had happened to shoulder him out of the picture: a jet gliding to a stop in the middle of the Hudson River, with everyone emerging safe. The departure of President Bush, by contrast, had become part of the world's mental wallpaper some time ago.

Much like Bush's final press-conference, where White House interns were conscripted to fill vacant seats left by a disinterested press corp, the farewell address was predictably anticlimactic--a final past-due dying breath for an administration already cast into the dustbin of "short term" history.

Comments

[Claimnoparty]

BaileyWo, what is the evidence that Bush ever paid for an abortion? I googled that for a while and all I could come up with was Larry Flints accusation. I could not find any conclusive evidence to prove or disprove that accusation.

I assume it DIDN'T happen until I see some evidence for the claim.

Let me guess.. You are a "Democrat".

[Bocado]

That right there probably represented all of us listening to Bush throughout his 2 terms, I refuse to say the P word and Bush in the same sentence.

But Cheney was classic. lol

[billbb]

I would have zoned myself, save for the shocked laughter from my wife when I took off my slipper and hurled it at Bush's image of the box. Couldn't stay in the room, though; it isn't pleasant to listen to someone hallucinate like that. He thinks he did a swell job, the rest of us know better. Could say that he has delusions of adequacy.

[Bubba Gump]

I'll give this one to Cheney. He stayed awake longer than I did! LOL!

[FrTown]

I think he's running out of (pacemaker) battery.

[thats2much]

maybe he's up all night thinking about being tried for war crimes... just a thought !

[rebelzz]

Cheney probably wrote the speech.

[silencer]

Sucking the blood out of children can make a guy a bit sleepy.

[QuestionEveryone]

The first picture doesn't match the video..so this is once again H uuf prpoganda.

[BlackYowe]

He has no respect for Bush because he is the puppet master!

[Supercruize]

didnt believe this day would come to pass. Thanks God.

[johnnyjust]

Thank you, President Bush, for keeping this country safe from attack since 9/11. Mission Accomplished.

[SuiginTou7]

Thank you, W for keep us safe from the fly spagetti monster and the Martian Invasions and Godzilla too. Too bad that 9/11 happened on your watch as well as the London Bombings, Madrid bombings and the Bali bombing. Nice ones, now walk down the path of shame.

[AnalyzeIT]

.........and taking all of our money to do so. Of course he helped to keep America safe especially since he and Cheney helped to orchestrate that attack in the first place.

[wmary82]

DITTO!

[DavidATolucaLake]

As long as you give the same thanks to Obama if we are not attack during his presidency, go right ahead.

[buddhistMonkey]

Too bad Bush didn't keep us safe BEFORE 9/11. Instead, he went on an extended vacation, and ignored all of the dire warnings from the intelligence agencies, including a National Intelligence Estimate entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S."

Mission Accomplished... yeah, too bad that it was al Qaeda's mission that got accomplished.

[ChristianEcon.com]

"too bad that it was al Qaeda's mission that got accomplished."

...throughout the entirety of the Bush admin.

http://www.christianecon.com/2008/09/republicans-as-weak-as-can-be-imagined.html

[SCVADem]

Did you thank Pres. Clinton for keeping our country safe from Feb. 27, 1993 until Jan. 20, 2001, too?

[PuddyKatz]

Cheney's an old man on God knows how many heart medications. Let him sleep.

[klmarch]

When was President Bush's speech aired? I don't think anyone paid attention to him. Well, after all that he has done to create the U.S. today- a country doubted by the rest of the world, and of all the "alliances" he has made, I don't think the American's really care about him. His governance today seems so vague. How many of his manifestos did he really accomplish? Did he even care for the well being of the people, or only for his daughters? What was he thinking when he sent the troops to Iraq? How and why would it benefit America? Oh! I see, I guess he wanted to be the next Napoleon, or say Alexander the Great. But the one thing he forgot was that the soldiers were no longer wearing an amour, nor were they carrying swords or spears. The Industrial Revolution had swept by a long time ago even before his father had reigned! What brought him joy when the U.S. army caught Sad dam Hussein? That was of Iraqi's problem, and not his. His reign has just lead to America's trillions of dollars debt, job losses, world-hatred, and an economic recession, and a shoe he earned at a conference in Baghdad!

[lastcallmd]

The problem with all of the left wing commenters is that you are every bit as hateful, classless and petty as the right wing was towards Clinton. And the beat goes on.....

[KayDGee]

Cllinton was vilified for having a sexual encounter - Something that was none of our business in the first place - and took over $40 million of taxpayer money to surface. That money sure would come in handy now. The right wing's poking of their collective noses into private business in the name of "honesty and morality" was shameful. The laying bare of the unconscionable actions (that Bush describes as "mistakes") that have resulted in the collapse of the US economy, its reputation in the world community; and the slaughter of tens of thousands of Iraqi's and Americans in the middle east entitles Americans who did not vote for the outgoing Clothesless Emperor to launch a public outcry. They haven't even coined a proper phrase do describe the depths to which this man and his administration have sunk. Since the right wing likes Biblical references, let's just say, "the thieves in the temple".

[buddhistMonkey]

There's a big difference.

Bill Clinton was a superb President who gave us 8 years of peace and prosperity. He entered office with a recession and a huge deficit, and exited with a surplus and a 68% approval rating. The hateful, classless, petty Republicans despised him for seemingly irrational reasons clearly unrelated to his job performance.

By contrast, George Bush Jr. is the worst President in the history of the United States, and he's leaving office with a 22% approval rating -- meaning that virtually EVERYONE agrees with the assessment that he was a terrible President. America's hatred of George Bush is both rational and based on his horrendous job performance.

THAT's the difference.

[MikeDu]

Its so laughable watching the right-wing spin machine trying to prop up Bush's reputation on his final days. Blah blah blah - no attacks since 9-11. Yeh, but 9-11 happened ON Bush's watch after he had been pointedly warned by the outgoing administration that Bin Laden was a major danger. The Repub congress was more interested in Monica than the nation's safety. They took their eye off the ball. 9-11 is Bush's fault.

[Jesster]

Thanks Mike, the truth is we'll never really know how good (or bad) the Clinton Administration could have been if the rabid right-wing hadn't been so completely obsessed with demonizing and bringing Clinton down.

Clinton spent at least half of his time fighting off all kinds of bogus or insignificant accusations from "Travelgate" to hair-cuts - to the Whitewater irrelevance. (If Bush was subjected to the same kind of scrutiny in his past (and present) personal and "professional" life - he'd have been tarred and feathered and burned at the stake long ago.

But the point is I hold the GOP and it's allies almost as responsible for Clinton's failures as Clinton and his team. Geez - fighting off all of these (mostly frivolous things considered) was accusations and charges was worse than a mega distraction - it was a virtual fulltime job - not only for him - but for his entire staff!

I'm trying to remember when the last time was that the GOP put our country and our people first - and ahead of their own ambitions, greed and ideology....