Cheney Makes Them Laugh

A copy editor puts the Vice President in his place: "Making a roomful of reporters laugh. On purpose."

Vice President Dick Cheney flashed some humor at a journalism awards luncheon in Washington, and the Times' Sheryl Gay Stolbergpassed him the mike on Tuesday. But the Times couldn't let the moment pass without showing its true feelings for a man it clearly regards as toxic.



The text box puts Cheney in his place: "Making a roomful of reporters laugh. On purpose." (The "For a change" kicker doesn't even have to be spelled out - sympathetic anti-Cheney readers will fill it in subliminally.)



The piece itself was pretty respectful, though Stolberg got some cracks of her own in:


Mr. Cheney was the keynote speaker at a journalism awards luncheon hosted by the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, an uneasy task for a vice president who makes no secret of his distaste for the press. While the words "light" and "Dick Cheney" do not ordinarily exist in the same sentence, the vice president did use the question-and-answer session to reveal a lighter side of himself, all the while throwing in a few characteristic zingers.