Mistaking the ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz with the Academy Awards, reporters devoted several hundred words to Vice President Dick Cheney's outfit, a sensible parka with boots. 
 
Using the same snide tone devoted to a garishly attired starlet spilling out of and revealing all, the fashionistas condemned his outfit. 
 
"The vice president, however was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower," sniffed the Washington Post, while oohing and ahhing the European leaders dressed in more formal attire.  Oh yes, she continues approvingly, "they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event."
 
Commenting on  Lynne Cheney's parka, well, at least it was black so she probably wouldn't wear it when operating a snow blower.
 
Those appropriately dressed European leaders represented countries that behaved and are still behaving inappropriately——and all their dignified clothing cannot disguise their moral and intellectual nakedness.  Why, they were probably shivering, and instead of reflecting on the lessons of Auschwitz perhaps they were thinking that once again the Jews bothered them.
 
Cheney, with the decency he embodies and the country he represents, was the epitome of good taste——something the European leaders should emulate. 
 
And maybe, just maybe, the reporters could learn to dig for substance and not be misled by style. They too, are as naked as the dignified European leaders they so admire.
 
Ethel C. Fenig   1 28 05