How many of you have ever had some pictures developed, only to find a picture of yourself with your eyes closed and laughed "it looks like I was sleeping", when in fact the picture just happened to capture you in a blink? I think we've all done this at least once or twice, but apparently it's unacceptable for Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Checking out the Drudge Report (part of a daily routine), I see a headline that reads: DID CHENEY FALL ASLEEP DURING HU VISIT?. Following the link takes you to a short slideshow from ABC News. But Drudge is using a different photo, this AP photo from Yahoo! News (I've also included their caption):

Vice President Dick Cheney and various members of the Bush administration, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, center, listen as President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao hold a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

No mention there of a "sleeping Cheney" (that comes in on the ABC slideshow, as we'll discuss shortly). But look at Cheney here... It's tough to tell if his eyes are closed, or if he's looking down at his notes. Also, would he be stupid enough to not know there were cameras there, and that no one would have nudged him to stand up with the rest of the crowd? I think we can assume that because of his known health issues, he might be advised to stay seated when possible. Of course he could also be in the process of slowly standing up, who knows? These are just guesses, but to assume he's sleeping is to assume that he and everyone else in the room is unaware of cameras.

Yahoo provides a second photo. This one he really seems to be looking over some papers, but it's so far away and taken at an angle that it's a total guess by anyone. Again, no mention of "sleeping" here.

Vice President Dick Cheney reads documents while President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao, unseen, hold a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Thursday, April 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Now, back to the ABC News link from Drudge... The first image and caption follow:

Vice President Dick Cheney says he was looking at his notes, not sleeping, during a briefing by President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao in Hu's first Oval Office visit.
(Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images)

Of course at first glance, he would appear to be catching some zs. But gain, first you have to wonder if he would be that stupid, knowing that there were cameras there, particularly knowing that the media is even interested in things like Presidential potty breaks. I think Cheney's a little smarter than that. In fact, I'm not so sure this is even during the briefing. Notice in the first picture (from Yahoo!) that administration folks are standing and listening attentively, but in this photo, someone (Rumsfeld?) is leaning back against a table with his head down. Not sure what is going on, but the next photo shows Condi sitting so one can only guess that these two photos were taken a few minutes before or after the AP photos (via Yahoo!) I think the one thing we can be certain of is that due to the caption and headline on the page, this is an example of the media trying to create news rather than report it.

On to the final photo, as I mentioned it's Condoleezza Rice, in her own "is she sleeping?" shot.

Either Hu was a less-than-charismatic speaker or he was speaking to a very drowsy crowd. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice looks a little sleepy here.
(Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images)

This picture sort of mixes everything up because Cheney was seated by himself in the others, but he's clearly looking at his notes with Condi seated right next to him, supposedly looking sleepy herself. This photo of a clearly awake Cheney, looks to me like a cleverly snapped shot of Condi briefly looking down. But like I said, either way, this all seems to be another case of the media trying to make rather than report the news.

Who knows though, maybe the briefing was just that boring and they were both taking a snooze? I think they're smart enough to know better, but you can make up your own minds.