froomkin live

* apparently the whitehouse regrets that the AbuG pix were published by sbs et al - what happened to their 'freedom of speech' rah-rah and 'clash of civilizations' and 'the difference between us and them' that we kept hearing wrt to the danish cartoons?

* froomkin did a live-online chat today:

"Shingletown, Calif.: If Hume doesn't ask Cheney the alcohol question, what do you think the chances are that he will ever have to deny the accusation on the record? Would you care to speculate on any other reason that Cheney would have deliberately delayed reporting this incident for so long?

Dan Froomkin: There are lots of possibilities. It could have been an immature, petulant refusal to acknowledge what happened. It could have been a way to cover up -- or consider covering up -- for some other kind of negligence. It could have been just to spite the media. It could have been an intense aversion to being held accountable. Or I guess he could have just forgotten."