Only In America
From CNet's News.blog: Cheney was talking about hurricane cleanup progress in Gulfport, Miss., when a local resident--who has since put his story and footage up for auction on eBay (now at $207.50)--yelled out "Go f*** yourself, Mr. Cheney." (The auction was taken down without explanation later in the day after the price reached more than $500)
A reporter then asked Cheney if he's "getting a lot of that." Cheney replied, "First time I've heard it. Must be a friend of John,er...ah--never mind." iFilm and Crooks and Liars are among the sites hosting the video.
The heckler, who said he was later put in handcuffs and detained for 20 minutes, wrote in his eBay item description that he lost his home and many other things, but still feels lucky to be alive.
As much as I dislike Mr. Cheney -- not a personal animosity as I don't know him well enough for that, but more along the lines of discontent as a citizen -- I believe the behavior exhibited by Dr. Ben Marble, the offender mentioned in the article, was inappropriate. Understandable as tensions and frustrations in the disaster area are approaching unmanageable levels, but inappropriate nonetheless. My belief doesn't stem from the fact that the target was the Vice President. Respect for the office stems directly from the level of respect earned by the occupant and while Mr. Cheney may be a master insider politician, but he is far from the graceful ideal that should be presented in his position.
The Vice President is about as graceless and tactless as I've ever seen in an individual. These traits led him to be an offender in the video, too. That moment would have been an ideal opportunity to express empathy for the plight of the community, certainly not a time for jokes of any kind let alone a poor one about a political rivalry. 
But then again, Mr. Cheney has never been one to demonstrate the civilized behavior I would expect. Remember when he used the same expression directly to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy in June 2004? Or how about when he dressed as if for a camping trip when he attended the 60th Anniversary memorial at Auschwitz just this year? I am seriously concerned that this man is a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Someone had to be the one to show grace under pressure and sadly Dr. Marble was not the one. I wonder if I would have done better, though. Certainly Mr. Cheney lost the moment.
Ebay chose a moment of it's own and I'm glad I got a snapshot of the item listing when I did. Before publishing this post I went to the site and found that the item had been pulled from bidding. Check your favorite news sources over the next few days and I'm sure you'll see some stories about that action.
