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Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 06:27:57 PM EST
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I didn't think Dick Cheney was a good choice to represent the U.S. at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auchwitz, but I didn't expect this. Can anyone find another time he appeared at an official event so dressed down? I bet not. It's not like he flew commercial and they lost his baggage. So why the nonchalance (at best) and disrespect?

Vice President Dick Cheney raised eyebrows on Friday for wearing an olive-drab parka, hiking boots and knit ski cap to represent the United States at a solemn ceremony remembering the liberation of Auschwitz.

Other leaders at the event in Poland on Thursday marking the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, wore dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots.

"The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower," Robin Givhan, The Washington Post's fashion writer, wrote in the newspaper's Friday editions.

[p. photo via Atrios.]

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    Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony | 63 comments (63 topical)
    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#1)
    by wishful on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 06:43:45 PM EST
    Whatever else Cheney is, he is a smart man. He understands exactly what he was doing, knows protocol as well or better than anyone, and intends to send the message that was received. The only ones who don't understand this are American apologists too ignorant to know better, which is no excuse at all.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:53:46 PM EST
    he is a pig - what do you expect?

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimcee on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:59:09 PM EST
    Hey he looks like he is dressed warm. Could be worse he could have not shown up at all, you know like all the Muslim heads of state. I have a hard time believeing that the ghosts of Auchwicz care how Cheney is dressed. What surprizes me is that there are those that are so desperate that they would be so snarky about a tribute to those who died in the concentration camps as to do a fashion critique of those who did attend. There are reasons I left the Left and this is but one. The 60's Liberalism is dead. Classical Liberals rule as they always have in a free society.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:09:17 PM EST
    It didn't occur to you that a man with heart disease ought to stay warm? Or was that just way, way to complicated for you?

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:40:31 PM EST
    James, then why didn't he dress that way at the Inauguration? It was probably colder there. Like I said, name another time he dressed that way at an offical event where he was representing the United States?

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#6)
    by wishful on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:46:11 PM EST
    James, you don't really expect anyone to believe that the only warm clothes available are ones that are inappropriate for this occasion? Cheney is waaaayyy too smart to believe that, as are the readers here.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:53:47 PM EST
    Polish people I know were very offended. Crap like this is why we're losing whatever war we're fighting these days.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:58:35 PM EST
    The ghosts of Auschwitz recognize Cheney all too well. As you haven't noticed, Dick Cheney had NO problem dressing appropriately for the cold "inauguration." He owns the right clothes. But let's not forget Bush's famous ZIPPER DOWN performance in South America. (Since scrubbed from the Internet, or I would link it.) He, at least, wasn't afraid of the 'cold.' It's never too cold to insult the world's peoples. And when Bush was at Auschwitz, his comment to the curator after the tour was "I bet a lot of people dispute what you present here." Real sensitive. And who can forget those famous words from Bush's Goree Island speech: "Small men took on the powers and airs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced a dullness and hardness of conscience. Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice. A republic founded on equality for all became a prison for millions." Gee, I wonder what he was really saying? Help Put Rumsfeld, Tenet, and Sanchez on Trial for Warcrimes at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 10:06:05 PM EST
    This is a typical example of what people surrounding Bush are able to do. They follow their own way, ignoring the international savoir-vivre the same way they ignore Geneva convention. Disgusting!

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 10:28:46 PM EST
    Man you liberals complain about everthing. Who cares about the way he's dressed. IT'S COLD. Anyways, a word from scripture. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:34 See ya

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 10:34:44 PM EST
    ...or maybe it was casual day.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 01:11:42 AM EST
    "Man you liberals complain about everthing." The man shows up at Auschwitz death camp with a cap that says: STAFF Don't think we and the world don't get what that is supposed to mean. The flashiness of the parka, and the boots, is to suggest the WARDEN, who can wear what he pleases. The idea that Dick Cheney, who has conspired to kill more than 100,000 innocent (= Not Proven Guilty of Anything Other than being Arab) people, one of the authors of the Rape of Fallujah, is the man to put a wreath on Auschwitz is like last year, when Bush decided to evacuate the MLK Jr. eternal flame, disrupting the celebration, having city cops push the (mostly black) celebrants behind a row of city buses on the other side of the highway, AND getting the US taxpayers to pay his way to a Concerned Citizens Council (KKK) fundraiser. He took that video to the KKK (oh, CCC) meeting, and the next morning put Pickering on the DC court. That'll fix that n*r MLK Jr. Lots of donations, lots of laughs. Cheney takes HIS footage from Auschwitz, and does the exact same thing with right-wing (Nazi) billionaires in the former states. And the same laughing is heard. Kaching!! We're real sure which side we're on, and Dick Cheney has proven which side he's on, along with the rest of the neo-Nazi right wing. The right to Kill All Arabs was not bestowed on Dick Cheney by 911, as he clearly claims at Auschwitz, just as the right to Kill All Poles was not bestowed on Adolph Hitler by his false claim that Poles were castrating Germans.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 02:18:06 AM EST
    The guy to the left is Israeli president Moshe Katsav. He is in his 70s (older than Cheney), but it seems he was able to find some warm clothes more appropriate for the occasion. Come to think of it, why would the vice president of the United States care anyway. After all, the *Soviet Union* liberated Auschwitz, not the US.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 03:07:28 AM EST
    Jimcee: When you last went to a funeral, (for someone whom you respected) what did you wear? Did you give a minute's thought to what the clothes said about your attitude to the person(s) memory, or did you just think, "hey I can wear anything I like as long as I'm warm"? Could be worse he could have not shown up at all, you know like all the Muslim heads of state. Or maybe Tony Blair? He wasn't there either. And your point is? I have a hard time believeing that the ghosts of Auchwicz care how Cheney is dressed. I have a hard time believing that the ghosts heard anything. However, back here in the land of the living, those who still have eyes can see that what Cheney is doing is sending a message - a big loud "I'm Dick Cheney. I run America, I run the godamn world, so I'll do as I damn well please. You don't like it? F**K YOU and welcome to Guantanamo". What surprizes me is that there are those that are so desperate that they would be so snarky about a tribute to those who died in the concentration camps as to do a fashion critique of those who did attend. It's not really a fashion critique. Nobody's saying that he didn't look fashionable - I hear that olive green parkas are in right now. No, it's more of an analysis of why the (arguably) second most powerful man in the world decides to show up in such inappropriate clothing for such a sombre event. Don't think that politicians don't understand the messages they send in everything they do. And here's where we get a little off topic - sorry... There are reasons I left the Left and this is but one. Yeah, whatever. You're a traitor and a sell out, and all you're doing is trying to make yourself feel better. People like you were never really committed in the first place. What probably happened is that back when you were young and you had no cash, and you wanted to be part of the cool crowd and probably weren't getting laid a lot, you jumped on the bandwagon, grew your hair, maybe even inhaled (just a little), got a little freaky with some cute hippy chicks. (Or perhaps not). But truth is, you probably knew in your heart even then that all your proclaimed concern for other people in the world was really just so much hot air designed to help you fit in with the in-crowd. Of course, once it became unfashionable, once people started getting arrested and beaten up, once the chicks started sleeping with disco DJs not hippies, but most of all, once YOU started making some proper cash of your own, you realised that actually, all you really cared about was pursuing your own self interests and making sure that all your cash went straight into your own pocket. Basically, you decided: "Screw the rest of the world, I wanna get PAID." It happens a lot and people like you always try to pretend that it's "the Left" that changed, not you, and not your willingness to actually redistribute YOUR income rather than just that of your parents. The 60's Liberalism is dead. Well if it is, it was killed off by fair-weather sellouts like you who aren't willing to stand by their beliefs when faced with a big tempting wedge of cash. It's no more than political prostitution, my traitorous friend, and you seem to be a willing whore for the corporate pimp.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 03:20:38 AM EST
    JR: But Psalm 68 says God will shatter the heads of His enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways...so that you may bathe your feet in blood, so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share from the foe. Yeah the Bible says lots of crap you can spout nonsensically out of context. It ain't all peace, love, and universal brotherhood. Trample under foot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war, blah blah blah. You can pick and choose phrases out of just about any 2,000 page book and try to make a point with it. Bring me the Yellow Pages and I'll find something you can quote that sounds profound rather than tackling the issues at hand. There's nothing like the Good Book for deflecting criticism. If you can't find the apropos phrase, you can always just use the sheer mass of the thing and thwack your opponents over the head with it.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#18)
    by john horse on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 04:51:10 AM EST
    Hey, lets give Cheney credit, at least he showed up. By my last count, Bush has missed 1,427 funerals for the servicemen killed in Iraq (ok, I know he couldn't go to all of them, but couldn't he attend at least one?).

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 06:00:57 AM EST
    et al - Not one word about the Americans who died to destroy the evil that created this camp. Not one word about the victims slaughtered in this camp. Not one word about the Moslem leaders who did not come. Instead you titter and chatter about the color of a politicial opponent's coat. There is nothing that needs to be added. That says it all.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 06:01:39 AM EST
    You just know the state of the world can't be too bad when arguing about Dick Cheney's choice of attire at Auschwitz is important enough to make the news.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#21)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 07:51:07 AM EST
    Maybe the deficit is hitting home more than we thought. That coat has got to be on sale at Mall Wart for $99.95.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#22)
    by DonS on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 08:53:35 AM EST
    The wingers try rhetorical upsmanship and shaming that "we" should be concerned about something as superficial as dress. "We" point to something concrete and physical, that cannot be denied and spells disrespect without much imagination. Who ya gonna believe, the wingers or your own two eyes? Just because shrub "won" the election does not mean the laws of common sense and logic have been suspended.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 09:02:07 AM EST
    Instead you titter and chatter about the color of a politicial opponent's coat. At least he didn't have a cheesehead on? That he shows such monummental disrepect for the sacrifice Americans made to liberate the camps and end the tyranny of Nazi Germany is despicable. That is the real message he sent. American sacrifice is valueless. Oil profits are sacred.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 09:12:31 AM EST
    I want everyone here to reread the posts of those critical of Cheney. And when you are finished look forward to 2008. And when either a Republican or a very conservative Democratic ('southern') win the election remember your childlike whining. I had two aunts and two grandparents killed there. While I am slightly confused by his choice of attire I can in no way engage in this benign blather. I didn't wear a tie to my mother's funeral and I heard someone thought it was disrespectful. I simply forgot to put one on. In other words, get a life.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#25)
    by DonS on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 09:33:34 AM EST
    Boca, I too lost the vast majority of my mother's family to the Nazis. So please, no preaching that your opinion is the right one. There's sopmething wrong here, and if its NOT disrespect, it is a good imitation. And please, too, don't tell me I'm whining. Don't tell me I have to play nice with MY opinion of what I clearly feel so I won't offend some rascist or bigot.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#26)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 09:42:42 AM EST
    Clearly Dick hates Jews and approved of the Holocaust; what other reasonable explanation is there? Morons.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 10:11:54 AM EST
    "Posted by Poker Player: Not one word about the Americans who died to destroy the evil that created this camp." Oh yeah? I posted the link to the German Federal Prosecutor...didn't you see it? WE, with our fathers' blood, wrote the German warcrimes law. TO DESTROY THE EVIL THAT CREATED THIS CAMP, and Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib. Maybe you missed it. My family lost five uncles in the war to put Hitler and his camps down. And we're willing to lose a couple more if necessary to put Dick Cheney down. 100,000+ innocent, untried VICTIMS of Cheney's money-lust. An entire city (or three) DESTROYED. The National Museum looted, with US permission, by Ahmed Chalabi's gang of expats. The Koran/Torah Repository, burned to the ground. The National Library, burned to the ground (but the books, no thanks to US thugs, mostly saved by those ornery mullahs). Women and children splattered against their kitchen walls. Innocent people swept up and tortured. Blitzkrieg against a DISARMED country. And the SAME racists applaud. And if there's any question who is the warden, who is the jailor: STAFF tells it all. That will be the label on the front of his Nuremburg box at the trial, Jimbo. You can go visit the trial and tell all the victim's families that they had to die because George, Dick, and Donald had an itch in their arse that told them they have the right to kill the innocent en masse, to the horror of the entire world once again.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#29)
    by Peaches on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 10:17:29 AM EST
    Jimcee, Classical Liberals rule as they always have in a free society. I know what you are talking about and in a strange sense we probably agree, but...Cheney is a classic liberal?

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#30)
    by Peaches on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 10:19:08 AM EST
    Cheney is a classical liberal?

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 10:21:26 AM EST
    "Posted by pigwiggle: Clearly Dick hates Jews and approved of the Holocaust; what other reasonable explanation is there? Morons" Yeah, reasonable 'explanations,' which includes telling lies to the US population to drive them into war. WHAT a bunch of morons believed those felons, eh? What kind of idiot would believe a single WORD that came out of george or dick's mouth? "Eternal War" Dick Cheney is a war criminal. You can say a lot of nasty things about Bill Clinton, but there isn't any good evidence that he was a war criminal. These thugs? We have the evidence; all we need is even a fraction of the INVESTIGATION thrown at Clinton like he was Stalin with a Saxophone. And you blokes know it. WHAT A BUNCH OF ERRANT LIARS AND RACISTS, 'pigwiggle.' If Cheney is the STAFF, what part of the Camp are you? Ash-shoveler.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#32)
    by Peaches on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 10:47:04 AM EST
    Clearly Dick hates Jews and approved of the Holocaust; what other reasonable explanation is there? Morons. I apologize for Piggle. Clearly, I put him in a sour mood. Piggles, What is your reasonable explanation? Dick may hate Jews, he might not. I would not be surprised. He probably does not approve of the holocaust, but he may question some of the historical accounts. It would not be outside his character. We know he hates liberals. Give us your explanation. Was it just the cold? Does he lack an advisor on what to wear? I agree, it is petty. I would show up looking much worse. But I am not representing the US. I am not a statesman. I think TL asks a legitimate question? What message was DC trying to send?

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#33)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 10:50:24 AM EST
    “And you blokes know it. WHAT A BUNCH OF ERRANT LIARS AND RACISTS, 'pigwiggle.' If Cheney is the STAFF, what part of the Camp are you?” No joking; I am consistently amazed at the nonsensical garbage you vomit out here. It is like a tourettic spasm of delusional, conspiratorial whim-wham. Truly, truly bizarre. I get the impression you are one traumatic event away from a substantial stay in a psychiatric hospital. Good luck with that.

    Re: Cheney Dresses Down for Auchwitz Ceremony (none / 0) (#34)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 11:03:06 AM EST