Probably Deliberately, Hunter Steps In Front Of Cheney's Gun

Probably Deliberately, Hunter Steps In Front Of Cheney's Gun


Oh, msolga, you're a sweet lady, but I must differ. Are you speaking from personal, hands-on experience? The results of double-blind-folded studies I've conducted have proven quite the opposite. :wink:

Re: Probably Deliberately, Hunter Steps In Front Of Cheney's




I do admire your commitment to so thoroughly researching this fascinating area, PS! However, my research was of the rigorous, academic variety! That seemed the wisest & safest way to go! :wink:

LOL
I'm been betting in my head all day to wonding who might have started this topic - lost my own bet with self.

Editors Want to Know Why Cheney Shooting Reported Late
Vice President Cheney
By Joe Strupp, senior editor at E&P.
Published: February 13, 2006

From Texas to Washington, D.C., news outlets are asking why word of Vice President Dick Cheney's shooting of a fellow hunter on Saturday did not get out until nearly a day later, eventually coming only from unofficial sources.

"That is the question our Washington bureau is asking, that it took that long to get notification out about it," said Debbie Hiott, assistant managing editor for national, state, and local news at the Austin American-Statesman. "We are still not clear on what investigative agencies were involved."

Newspapers and other news agencies were caught by surprise Sunday when the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times first reported that Cheney on Saturday had shot fellow hunter Harry Whittington, a prominent Austin attorney. The two were part of a group hunting at a Texas ranch owned by Anne Armstrong, whose family has long-running ties to several Republican leaders.

The story first broke on the Caller-Times Web site Sunday, with Associated Press first reporting it after 3 p.m. Sunday. But no official word came from the vice-president's office until reporters began asking about the incident late Sunday.

"We are concerned when an official of the United States is involved in a shooting and 24 hours passes without official word coming out," said Kathleen Carroll, Associated Press executive editor. "The vice president's office did not choose to announce it, go public with it. We are talking to everyone this morning about what happened, who is responsible, and the issues related to who should say something and why."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said today that he had been told about the shooting Saturday--but not Cheney's role in it until Sunday.

Michael Tackett, Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune, offered a demand for answers. "When you are the vice president of the United States, you live in perhaps the world's second biggest fishbowl," said Tackett. "Part of the price of admission is that there are very few things that can be considered private events. When what happened also prompts the generation of public records, police reports and hospital records, that certainly is not a private event."

Tribune Washington reporters also took the issue to the bureau's recently launched blog, "The Swamp." "How is it that Vice President Cheney can shoot a man, albeit accidentally, on Saturday during a hunting trip and the American public not be informed of it until today?" reporter Frank James blogged on Sunday evening. As of Monday morning, that entry had prompted 143 comments to the site.

Editors contend it is news and remain critical of the lack of information. "I've been asking the same questions," Editor Jeff Cohen of the Houston Chronicle said when told of other editors' concerns. "We are trying to run down exactly what happened. We are still trying to piece it all together."

Leonard Downie, Jr., executive editor of The Washington Post, declined to comment on the issue. But Post political blogger Dan Froomkin opined on his Web page Monday, stating, "The vice president of the United States shoots someone in a hunting accident and rather than immediately come clean to the public, his office keeps it a secret for almost a whole day."

One of the few journalists involved in the story who was not surprised at the delay in reporting is Caller-Times reporter Jaime Powell, who with her colleague Katahryn Garcia broke the story after the ranch owner Armstrong, one of her longtime sources, called her Sunday morning. Powell, who also hunts, said she has been sprayed with the type of pellets that injured Whittington, although not at such close range.

Because such accidents "happen frequently," according to Powell, she was not surprised that it would not be reported sooner. "It just happens," she said.

But Doug Pike, an outdoors reporter at the Houston Chronicle who, like many such writers has been drafted to work the story, reports that the accident is rare. He said his reporting since Sunday found that Texas had only 2.7 hunting accidents per 100,000 hunting licenses sold in 2005. "That is the lowest since 1966 when they started keeping records," he said. "It is uncommon."

Papers Differing Accounts of Sheriff's Questioning Cheney
Papers Carry Differing Accounts of Sheriff's Office Questioning Cheney
By E&P Staff
Published: February 13, 2006 7:00 PM ET

Several newspapers today carried wildly different accounts of the aftermath of the Saturday incident in which Vice President Cheney shot a hunting companion at a ranch in Texas.

The New York Times reports Tuesday that the local sheriff, Ramon Salinas III of Kenedy County, said the Secret Service called him shortly after the shooting occurred.
"Sheriff Salinas said he sent his chief deputy, Gilbert Sanmiguel, to the Armstrong Ranch that night," the Times relates. "He said Mr. Sanmiguel interviewed Mr. Cheney and reported that the shooting was an accident."

The Dallas Morning News, at the same time, reports that "questions remained as to why Mr. Cheney was not interviewed on Saturday."

Chief Deputy Gilbert San Miguel suggested he always knew where the vice president and the other witnesses were. "We were always in contact with Secret Service," he told the paper.

Sheriff Salinas said he decided Saturday night not to send anyone to the ranch and added that he was relying on information from others that it was an accident. "If I wanted to go in there, we would have gone in there," he told the Dallas paper. "If someone called and told me there was a shooting and they didn't think it was an accident, I'd have five or six people on the ranch."

The Washington Post reports Tuesday: "Local law enforcement officials did not interview Cheney until Sunday morning, about 14 hours after the shooting, in an agreement worked out between the Secret Service and Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III. Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said at least one deputy was turned away shortly after the shooting because security personnel at the ranch were not aware of the agreement between the sheriff and the Secret Service."



Meanwhile, Texas state wildlife officials reported Monday that while Vice President Cheney had purchased a valid non-resident hunting license, he did not obtain a required "upland game bird stamp."

A warning citation--which carries no fine or penalty--will be issued to Cheney, which state officials described as "routine." Cheney's office said he would promptly send in the $7 for the stamp. However, as the Dallas Morning News headlined on its Web site, he was, on Saturday, "hunting illegally."

The first official report on the shooting of a fellow hunter on Saturday by Cheney was issued late today by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It follows much controversy and speculaton stemming from the failure of the vice president or the White House to announce the incident for 18 hours.

The report, posted at the Smoking Gun site, confirmed the time of shooting of Harry Whittington at 5:30 pm on Saturday and that Cheney was wearing a "blaze orange" cap and "coat/vest" and brown trousers and was toting a Perazzi .28 caliber shotgun.

The "Game Law Violated" box was checked, with the violation listed as section "P&W Code 43.652." According to an online rundown on that sectin, this relates to the lack of the upland bird stamp. The text follows: "Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person may not hunt a
migratory or upland game bird in this state unless the person has acquired a migratory or upland game bird stamp, as applicable, issued to the person by the department."

At the same time, the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office this afternoon issued a press release noting that an "investigation reveals that there was no alcohol, or misconduct involved in the incident." It added that Whittington "collaborated Vice President Cheney's statement," and concluded, "This was no more than a hunting accident."

Meanwhile, one of the many odd details about the episode involves the third hunter in the group. Some news outlets, including The Associated Press in some dispatches, after not disclosed the name, while many others have said it was Pam Willeford, the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and a native Texan.

Jon Stewart re Cheney
TDS: Cheney makes Stewart so happy!

Jon Stewart was having a really boring weekend and he was really sad. Nothing had been getting his blood boiling lately and he just wasn't excited to be alive anymore-Until:

Stewart was on fire tonight:

"Whittington was mistaken for a bird."

"Harry Whittington, seasoned to an inch of his life."

"Don't let your kids go hunting with the Vice President. I don't care what kind of lucrative contracts they're trying to land or-energy regulations they're trying to get lifted. He'll shoot them in the face."

Rob Courdry joined in.

Courdry: "Jon, tonight the Vice President is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. Now according to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time-there-were-quail in the brush. And while the quail turned out to be the 78 year old man. Even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists-he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face.

Cheney's Shooting Spree
Cheney's Shooting Spree
by Bill Maher
02.13.2006

"Keep going, we'll come back for him later, he's fine."

"Um. Sir. Mr. Vice President, he's kinda just laying there."

"Shhhhhh!!!! He's a lawyer. You want him to sue?...Harry? You OK? Harry? See? He's fine. This is just part of the administration's new tort reform package."

"Sir, he's not moving."

"He's just sleeping it off.

Hand me another round. I'm going to get me some quail."

"I think he's hurt sir. He's bleeding."

"You think he's hurt. Are you a doctor?"

"Yes. I'm your doctor. I travel with you all the time."

"Ah yes. The Jew. I didn't recognize you without the rib spreader."

"I think we need to call one of your ambulances."

"Aw, now why do you want to go and do something like that? If Antonin hears about this he won't come duck hunting next time there's an important case before the Supreme Court that I need him to rule on."

"Sir. I'm doing the best to stop the bleeding, but we're out in the middle of nowhere. No equipment. No sanitation. This is a far cry from George Washington University Hospital."

"Yeah, it's more like the County Hospital right next door to it. Well, do your best."

"I'm stanching the blood flow."

"No you idiot. I meant do your best to make it look self-inflicted."

TWO HOURS LATER IN THE HOSPITAL ROOM

"There you go, a Purple Heart."

"Thanks, Dick. Now we both have one."

"Yeah, but yours is on the outside."

Cheney's companion at fault in shooting, White House says
Posted on Mon, Feb. 13, 2006
Cheney's companion at fault in shooting, White House says
By William Douglas
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The White House blamed the 78-year-old man whom Vice President Dick Cheney shot during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas for the incident, as officials struggled Monday to explain why they waited nearly 24 hours before making the news public.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan tried to absolve Cheney of blame for shooting wealthy Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, saying that hunting "protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying others that he was there. And so, you know, unfortunately, these types of hunting accidents happen from time to time."

Several hunting experts were skeptical of McClellan's explanation. They said Cheney might have violated a cardinal rule of hunting: Know your surroundings before you pull the trigger.

"Particularly identify the game that you are shooting and particularly identify your surroundings, that it's safe to shoot," said Mark Birkhauser, the incoming president of the International Hunter Education Association, a group of fish and wildlife agencies. "Every second, you're adjusting your personal information that it is a safe area to shoot or it's not a safe area to shoot."

Safe-hunting rules published by the National Rifle Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department echo Birkhauser's advice.

"Be absolutely sure you have identified your target beyond any doubt," the NRA says in the gun-safety rules on its Web site. "Equally important, be aware of the area beyond your target. This means observing your prospective area of fire before you shoot. Never fire in a direction in which there are people or any other potential for mishap. Think first. Shoot second."

On its 10 Commandments of Shooting Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife lists being sure of your target as the third commandment. "Know what is in front and behind your target. Determine that you have a safe backstop or background."

Cheney has a Texas non-resident hunting license, but he failed to get a $7 stamp that's required to hunt game birds, the vice president's office said in a statement Monday night. He has since sent a check to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to buy the stamp, the statement said.

Whittington was listed in stable condition Monday at a hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, with birdshot wounds to his face, neck and chest. The shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch, a 50,000-acre spread in south Texas owned by friends of the president.

White House and Texas law enforcement officials haven't provided a detailed account of the incident. Katharine Armstrong, one of the ranch's owners, said Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of their vehicle to shoot a covey of quail. The third member of the hunting party was the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Pamela Willeford, a Texan and a Bush family friend.

Whittington shot a bird and went to get it, breaking from Cheney and Willeford. Armstrong said Whittington then came up from behind without signaling, and as a covey flushed Cheney wheeled and fired his .28-gauge shotgun, hitting Whittington.

Whittington was tended at the scene by Cheney's medical detail before being taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Though the shooting happened Saturday afternoon, it didn't become public knowledge until Armstrong notified the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, her local paper, at midday Sunday. The White House then confirmed news media requests for verification.

The lag between the shooting and the reporting of it prompted questions about why a private citizen, not the government, was disclosing a shooting involving the vice president.

McClellan said Monday that Cheney's staff didn't immediately inform the media because the first priority was tending to Whittington's health.

McClellan said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Bush around 8 p.m. Saturday that Cheney had shot Whittington, but McClellan said he himself didn't learn that Cheney was the shooter until around 6 a.m. Sunday. He said he urged Cheney's office to get the information out as quickly as possible. The news broke nationally about 3:45 p.m. EST Sunday.

Lee Anne McBride, Cheney's press secretary, talked Sunday about Whittington's condition and said the vice president had spoken with him and was pleased with his condition. But she referred most questions - from the names of everyone in the hunting party to what type of weapon Cheney had fired - to Armstrong.

"The vice president thought that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to go out there and provide that information to the public, which she did," McClellan said.

Cheney's office has a history of not sharing information with the public. Last month, it refused to specify the nature of a foot injury for which he was given medication that caused water retention and shortness of breath and sent him to the hospital.

"He's secretive by nature," said Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "It's a dumb thing for officials to do, especially someone as experienced as Cheney. Just imagine what Jon Stewart, Jay Leno and David Letterman are going to do to him for days. It's a self-inflicted wound."

Cheney shot a lawyer. Haven't we ALL been tempted...?

Oh, sure!

But Cheney shot a fellow Republican. One can only hope it starts a trend!

Cheney hunting victim suffers minor heart attack
Cheney hunting victim suffers minor heart attack
Feb 14, 2006

Harry Whittington, the man US Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot while hunting, suffered a minor heart attack after pieces of birdshot lodged in his heart, doctors said.

Doctors said there were no immediate fears for the life of the 78-year-old lawyer, who was accidentally shot by Cheney on Saturday during a hunting party.

A spokesman for the Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi, Texas, said the hospital was in contact with White House doctors.

The birdshot "basically has lodged in a certain area causing inflammatory changes. When that occurs it causes irritability," David Blanchard, emergency room chief at the hospital, told a new conference.

"At this point in time, there's no plans to do surgery to remove that bird shot," hospital spokesman Peter Banko told the news conference.

"It's fixed in the heart at this point in time. However it will require that we monitor Mr. Whittington for up to another seven days in the hospital to make sure no more bird shot moves into vital organs, as well as that piece of bird shot doesn't move anywhere else in the heart," the spokesman added.

Cheney shot the prominent Texas lawyer in the neck, face and chest with birdshot as the two were out quail hunting on a Texas ranch.

This keeps goin up in the weirdness scale. The pellet can easily cause infection at the entry point and the hert itself. Maybe theyre waiting for a longer time so that they can deny any culpability of the guy suffers the "Big One" while on an operating table.

Its good to be the King

It certainly does.

<raising one eyebrow>

if this would have been a 'monty python' sketch, i would have said : 'that's just too stupid and unbelievable; can't they come up with something better ?'
facts are stranger than fiction . hbg

Rumors explore Cheney's behavior
Exploring possible reasons for Cheney's bizzare behavior.---BBB

Was Cheney Hiding His Lewinsky?
by Bob Cesca
2/15/06

Sirius radio's Alex Bennett just broke a rumor that the delay in reporting the news that Cheney shot an old man in the heart was due to an effort to hide or spin Cheney's female companion.

Pamela Willeford (shown right), ambassador to Switzerland and -- yes -- Liechtenstein, was part of the hunting excursion with Cheney and Whittington. And according to Willeford's account, Cheney and the ambassador were side-by-side when the shooting of Whittington took place.

The vice president's Secret Service detail had to decide what to do with Willeford by way of perhaps covering up her relationship with Cheney, and thus the delay in reporting the news.

The rumor goes that Lynn Cheney isn't happy with Cheney's close relationship with Willeford.

Again, just a rumor.
------------------------------------------------------

Was Cheney Drunk?
Lawrence O'Donnell
02.14.2006

The L.A. Times is edging closer to the most likely reason for the 18 hour delay in reporting that the Vice President of the United States shot someone:

"This was a hunting accident," said Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy of the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office. "There was no alcohol or misconduct."

How do we know there was no alcohol? Cheney refused to talk to local authorities until the next day. No point in giving him a breathalyzer then. Every lawyer I've talked to assumes Cheney was too drunk to talk to the cops after the shooting. The next question for the White House should be: Was Cheney drunk?

I have never gone hunting with ultra-rich Republicans on a Saturday afternoon, but I have seen them tailgating at Ivy League football games, so it's hard for me to believe that any of their Saturday lunches are alcohol free.

Nothing Cheney does would surprise me. I hope Whittington recovers and drops a big bomb!

Look, what would you rather do.

Go hunting with Cheney or go for a drive with Ted Kennedy behind the wheel?

That is a very tough choice, woiyo. Very tough.

So is it time to speculate on how the neocons will play this hand? If Cheney is guilty of any illegality, would they make him step down and put someone else in place as veep so s/he would have more power for the 2008 election?

Assuming your wish does NOT come true and Mr. Whittington lives, what law might Mr. Cheney have broken?

Also, I would assume he would receive the same treatment as Sen Kennedy received when he had his accident.