Cheney's Auschwitz outfit

Dr. B is being too gracious towards Dick Cheney:

I hate to say this because I never mind dissing Dick Cheney, but the Washington Post is wrong about this. Cheney isn't wearing a ski parka, embroidered like a kid's coat at camp. He's wearing a USAF parka with a USAF patch on it. Arguably, there is nothing at all wrong with wearing a US military parka to an event commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz.

Now, what the deal is with the boots and pants, I can't say. It looks to me like someone on his staff forgot to bring the right suitcase. But the parka itself isn't objectionable (except possibly on the grounds that Cheney hasn't done military service).

Cheney's outfit is totally inappropriate. He's wearing a toque, fer chrissakes. I doubt British, Russian, or Canadian envoys showed up at the Auschwitz memorial wearing something from the surplus store.

Maybe it would have been appropriate for an American envoy to wear some kind of military garb if the Americans had liberated Auschwitz. But they didn't--the Soviets got there first. Obviously, the Americans helped win the war and American troops liberated many other camps and sub-camps (cf. Honoring Liberators). But the same is true of the British and the Candians, and as far as I know, none of their envoys showed up sub-battle dress.

As Dr. B. pointed out, Cheney isn't even a veteran. At least president is the Commander-in-Chief of the US armed forces. Maybe Bush would have been entitled to wear some kind of uniform if he wanted to flaunt the junta look, but as VP, Cheney no analogous excuse.

So, the US basically dressed Cheney up in someone else's uniform to memorialize a liberation conducted by someone else's army. Nice.

And WTF is it with the Air Force parka?! The US Air Force didn't exist when Auschwitz was liberated. The US Army liberated the death camps. (Previously, I wrote that the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions were part of the USAAF, but I was mistaken. Thanks to Johnny for pointing that out.)

Besides which, Cheney's outfit would literally have been illegal if he were a real airman or a retired member of the USAF.

Most importantly, it's tacky to wear a self-styled uniform to an anti-fascist event. The connotations are alarming.

(See also Forked Tongue Sparks USAF Uniform Controversy.)

Comments

[bitchphd]

Yeah, I've seen enough commentary since I wrote that to convince me I was wrong.

You're the first person in the blogosphere that's ever said I was "too gracious." ;)

[Mark H]

Look closely. I see ski-lift tags.

[clockwork bluejay]

I don't think Cheney was wearing an Air Force parka as military garb. I think he was wearing it because he wanted to be warm. The hat is the really disrespectful item. It seems to be a "Jackson Hole Staff 2001" freebie. I'm sure if Putin or Chirac or any foreign leader had worn a similar item to the Bush-Cheney Inaugural ceremony, the wingnuts would have had a field day. If Cheney was too stupid or more likely too pigheaded to realize the inappropriateness of his dress, it is a sad commentary on his staff.

[robert bate]

What was the signifigance and origin of the "Staff 2001" knit cap he wore? Was it some reference to September 11th?

[oliver]

I think the "wrong-suitcase" suggestion is entirely plausible. Not to mention a man with his heart condition might be risking his life by letting himself get cold for the sake of propriety. We won't know the truth 'til Oliver Stone makes the documentary.

[Josh Narins]

I don't believe the wrong suitcase is plausible. He has staff who could acquire appropriate dress at the shortest notice. His preferred tailors undoubtedly live in Europe, his size is well known, and his trunk is not packed by some harried staffer at Burger King.

The hat was the weirdest part.

Cheney is a 96th percentile conservative from Wyoming. He's definitely familiar with rightist holocaust denial, and probably lends some credence to some of it.

[Will]

The hat comes from the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ski School (according to my brother who worked there during the 02/03 season). Apparently, no one is allowed to ever wear the hat/coat/pants when they're not working. The hat is part of the uniform and wearing it when you're not working was grounds for dismissal (two people were fired for wearing their coats in local bars when he was there). Once you leave, you're supposed to give the hat back.

Now, the question is whether anyone from JHMR will call the white house and demand Cheney give it back...

[R. Mildred]

The other alternative is that Cheney's only other suit was one of the new Bush Admin Faux-military Uniforms.

[Lance Mannion]

Maybe he'd just seen the movie MASH and identified too much with Trapper John. Maybe he had a beer in one pocket and a jar of olives in the other.

Seriously, though, as much as I'd like to pick on Cheney, I think Oliver's onto something. I'm betting this has something to do with Cheney's heart problems. Blood medications make people extremely sensitive to cold. I think Josh is right too, it's not a case of the wrong suitcase. If someone had left his topcoat behind there'd have been some aide or secret service agent who'd have stepped up and offered his coat, taking the parka for himself. My guess is that he started out appropriately dressed and then couldn't take the cold.

But I think that if Cheney was a secret Holocaust denier or slighter then Don Rumsefeld or Colin Powell or even Laura Bush would have been at the ceremony. Condi Rice would have been glad to go to give herself a vacation from having to lie to Congress.

There are plenty enough other reasons to dislke the guy. I used to live in a city where in winter it got too damn cold for anyone to care what they were wearing as long as they were warm. Ugliest collection of people on earth from Jan. through March. I'm willing to believe Cheney just got too cold to care.

Of course, that's a pretty good description of his character, isn't it? Too cold to care.

[Fast Freddy]

The left is now reduced to complaining about the Vice Presidents choice of winter wear.
Can you sink any lower?

[dls]

It's not "winter wear" we're talking about. It's about attending a solemn ceremony. I don't give a shit how cold it was. He looks riduculous, as if he were at a Packers game. You'd think a conservative like Cheney would appreciate the need to dress appropriately for the occasion. It looks like he doesn't care, which may not be true, but that's how it looks.

[Uncle Kvetch]

I'm willing to believe Cheney just got too cold to care.

It was pretty damn cold in DC on Inauguration Day, but somehow Cheney managed to make it through the day without resorting to a ski cap and hiking boots.

I see no reason not to see this as just a big ol' Fuck You. It is in no way out of character. The man told a Senator to "go fuck himself" on the Senate floor.

Now, exactly who or what was being flipped off here is another story. I didn't think it was so much a commentary on Auschwitz or the Holocaust as it was a screamingly unsubtle reminder to the world that we don't play by anybody's rules but our own.

To paraphrase Lily Tomlin's Ernestine the Operator:

We don't care.
We don't have to.
We're America.

[WeSaferThemHealthier]

"The left is now reduced to complaining about the Vice Presidents choice of winter wear.
Can you sink any lower?"

Yeah, man, libruls are such fashion Nazis. All of a sudden, dressing warmly is verboten.

Please go around the Internets saying that, it will only highlight how inappropriate Cheney was.

[Gozer]

There's a photo the next day of Cheney touring the site in which he's properly attired. Thus there really is no excuse for this faux pas.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

The heart problem is a total red herring. How long has Cheney had heart disease? How long has his staff known about this event? What percentage of the attendees have chronic health conditions? A lot, I suspect, considering how many elderly holocaust survivors, aging veterans, and senior statesmen were in attendence. Yet, everyone else seems to have grappled successfully with the sartorial challenge.

Yahoo has lots more photos, including several of Dick Cheney wandering around bare-headed, most from the following day.

[oliver]

It boggles my mind that people can so confidently doubt the wrong suit-case scenario. Sure, Cheney snaps his fingers and things happen, but the laws of physics apply, he's just a guy, and sometimes the only corner store within copter range is going to be out of milk _even for Dick Cheney_. Other times it'll be the president barfing on the prime minister of Japan (nobody remembers?). You can't predict such things, but you can count on them.

[oliver]

Sorry not "doubt"--doubt's no problem. I meant "dismiss."

[Dr Pretorius]

Don't you think part of 'counting on them' would be 'trying to avoid them'?

And even if it turned out to be an unavoidable unfortunate coincidence that Cheney had to go to the party but just didn't have anything to wear, is US Foreign opinion so low that he couldn't have borrowed, say, a hat or a coat from someone?

After all, it's not like there weren't lots of elderly gentlemen packing formal attire in the area...

[Johnny]

So far as I'm aware, neither the 82nd nor the 101st Airborne divisions were part of the U.S. Army Air Force. Their initial designations were the 82nd and 101st Infantry (Airborne) and they were part of the regular Army chain of command.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

My mistake, Johnny. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I will amend the post.

[Herbert Browne]

I found the sentiments with which Mr. Cheney clothed himself to be equally incongruous. The victims of Auschwitz as "children of god" was an eye-roller; but the labored crack about how all of this had happened in a "civilized " country really got me thinking. Are there places in the world where one might consider the inhabitants to be free of civility?.. or of "civilization"? It seems to reflect a world-view worthy of Kipling, maybe. The incrassation of this Wyoming barnacle continues apace... ^..^

[Fox]

Interesting that you all fixate on Cheney's inappropriate outfit, but think nothing of the idea of rich, well fed people showing up to Auschwitz wearing fur hats and coats. Gassing is a common method for killing on fur "farms".

Sorry to intrude with my stupid concern for animals - I realize that you all are so filled with compassion for humans that you can only be annoyed by people like me. Please carry on...

[bob crane]

Fox,
I agree with you, however that's a different argument. The argument here is appriorpriate attire for an international event of solemnity and dignity.

The analysis and reaction of seeing this event of: "well fed people showing up to Auschwitz wearing fur hats and coats" at a reknowned site of human slaughter, is grounds for an interesting column and chatroom, though I imagine all sorts of ugly and unreasonable comments would exaserbate the debate.

Do you have blog or know of one going into ths? The reactions of all types of ideologies would be interesting.

[oliver]

It sounds like you're diminishing the atrocity when you pretend it adds something to say "And it would be a mean thing to do to minks as well!" Yeah, so? You may win animals all the rights in the world but you're never going to have people marrying or giving birth to them. Even if you hold the extreme view that there's no difference in the ethical status of people versus other animals, I'd have thunk you'd recognize there's a difference in emotional status. Usually one doesn't mull the Holocaust as philosophy in action but viscerally as a horror. I'm sorry you're horrified by mink farms, but please don't say things you know I'm likely to regard as you pissing on _my_ horror. Come tell me about your horror some other time.

[Uncle Kvetch]

I'm sorry you're horrified by mink farms, but please don't say things you know I'm likely to regard as you pissing on _my_ horror.

I didn't realize horror was a zero-sum game. Is there only so much horror to go around? Or can one only be indignant about one thing at a time?