There are some criticisms you can make of public officials that don't click with me. That is, I shrug and think that someone is trying to spin something minor into a solid attack. One of these is the notion that someone is crazed and out of control and "losing it." If a politician goes up in a tower with a rifle and starts picking off innocent bystanders…or if he ran naked into the streets screaming, okay. I'd accept that the guy was maybe a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
But I don't buy that Al Gore raising his voice or Howard Dean giving out with a big "whoop" or even George W. Bush stammering is indicative of mental fission. The other day, Bill Clinton gave an interview on British television which his detractors spun as an "emotional outburst" and a sign that the stress was getting to him…or something of the sort. I watched it (as you can do here) and I thought it was a perfectly acceptable tone and that Clinton was firmly in control. His foes were just trying to make something out of nothing.
And I guess I also feel that way about all these speculations that Dick Cheney's recent use of the dreaded "f-word" suggests that he's having some sort of breakdown. I think the Vice-President made a tactical error that will come back to haunt him. Hostile crowds will chant his quote back at him, plus it'll be that much harder for him to argue that he's restored "dignity and honor" to the White House. But I don't think you can really infer that the man is falling apart. He just got mad and that's how it came out. Do we think our elected officials never get mad? Or don't say such things that go unreported?
I think Dick Cheney has a lot to answer for. I'm waiting for the Vice-Presidential Debate when the Democratic nominee — who looks more and more like Edwards — starts itemizing how much government money has found its way over the years to the Cheney bank account. But the suggestion that Cheney is becoming unstable is lost on me. This election is getting nasty enough without that kind of nonsense.