WELL-EARNED CONTEMPT:

Critics: Mishap shows Cheney's secretive side (Susan Page, 2/14/06, USA TODAY)

Some friends see the episode as classic Cheney. In the administration's early days, he fought a court battle rather than release names of oil and gas company executives who met with the energy task force he headed. He almost never holds news conferences, and reporters are often unaware of his whereabouts — including when he leaves town on hunting trips.

He doesn't seem to worry about reporters' outrage.

"My personal preference is to go along with the press' sense of entitlement because it's easier to go along with it than try to fight it," says Charlie Black, a Republican strategist close to the White House. "But I don't think he thinks that way." [...]

Cheney's attitude toward the news media changed when he served as secretary of Defense in the first Bush administration, according to former Wyoming senator Alan Simpson, an old friend. During his tenure in the U.S. House, Cheney was "open and responsive" to reporters' questions as they campaigned together in the Cowboy State, Simpson said.

During the lead-up to the 1991 Gulf War, however, Cheney was appalled when reporters would ask at briefings, say, when the first strikes would be launched. Since then, Cheney has "handled the media dismissively," Simpson says. His attitude: " 'You ask the stupid questions, and I won't answer them.' "