Blogosphere declares open season on Cheney (Lawrence O'Donnell serious about idea that VP was drunk)

CNET ^ | February 14, 2006 | Greg Sandoval

[presidio9]

Comedians and left-leaning political pundits opened fire on Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday, sparking enormous chatter among both Republican and Democratic bloggers.

Cheney's accidental shooting of an attorney friend during a quail hunting foray in Texas on Saturday prompted quips from late-night television hosts such as Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson. The jokes offended or tickled audiences, depending on their political beliefs, and skittered around the Web on Tuesday.

Video: Gates' cheap shot at Cheney? During his keynote at the 2006 RSA Conference, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took a tongue-in-cheek shot at the vice president. "You can understand why this lawyer fellow let his guard down," Ferguson said. "Because if you're out hunting with a politician, you think, 'If I'm going to get it, it's going to be in the back.'"

On the "Late Show," David Letterman tied the shooting to another one of the administration's past controversies to poke fun at Cheney.

"Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney...but here is the sad part--before the trip Donald Rumsfeld had denied the guy's request for body armor."

Cheney accidentally fired bird shot that struck 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest as the pair hunted for quail, Texas law enforcement officials say.

Controversy grew out of the vice president's expired hunting license and his failure to speak with police until 18 hours after the incident. The tone of the blogs turned gloomier when word came that a piece of bird shot circulated to Whittington's heart, causing a minor heart attack.

There was also speculation about whether the vice president had been drinking, an accusation Cheney denied.

"How do we know there was no alcohol?" Lawrence O'Donnell, a television producer and Democratic commentator, asked on The Huffington Post. "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?"

The Washington Post reported that both the Kenedy County, Texas, sheriff's department and the state have determined that alcohol did not appear to be a factor.

Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison, also on The Huffington Post, lamented that the "law and order administration" can justify hunting without proper licenses as well as eavesdropping on Americans without court orders.

"Anyone sense a pattern here?" Morrison wrote.

Some of the more notable bloggers on the right were quiet about the incident on Tuesday. There was nothing about the Cheney shooting on the Web sites of commentators Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly.

On Blogs for Bush, bloggers blamed the escalating controversy on the media.

"I can only wonder how different the reaction would be to this incident had it been a Democrat vice president," wrote Matt Margolis.

On the same site, Mark Noonan pointed out that Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank wore an orange hunting jacket on Keith Olberman's MSNBC show as proof of a liberal bias in the media.

"Imagine for a moment," Noonan wrote, "if a Republican commentator had worn a blue dress with a white stain back during Clinton's administration."

[hgro]

O'Donnell has no credibility on any subject. He is a typical brainless Bill Clinton reject.

[finnman69]

GOLDIE OLDIE VIDEO

Lawrence O'Donnell losing it "LYING LIAR"

http://img55.exs.cx/img55/6428/Lecter-ODonnell.jpg

[presidio9]

You have been here, what?, two weeks now, and I have yet to see you say ANYTHING positive about conservatisim or this administration. You have made this point about Ted Kennedy on six or seven threads now. It's wrong, but you've made it. I suggest you move on to something else now, because it is getting hard to see you as anything else than a troll.

[SpinyNorman]

"How do we know there was no alcohol?" Lawrence O'Donnell, a television producer and Democratic commentator, asked on The Huffington Post. "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?"

Given O'Donnell's penchant for shooting off his mouth, he shouldn't talk. Of course, even a stinking drunk would have more decorum and use of reasonable logic than O'Donnell.

Speaking of stinking drunks, I wonder what O'Donnell's opinion is of Ted Kennedy's antics at Chappaquiddick over 36 years ago? Is he hoping to fix Kennedy's manslaughter by impugning the VP? Does he have a shred of evidence, or is he using the liberal reporter's tried and true technique of throwing crap against the wall and hoping it will stick?

Why does any reasonable, thinking person listen to O'Donnell? Ooops! I think I answered my own question!! LOL!

[OldFriend]

O'Donnell and serious in the same sentence. How about O'Donnell and insane!

[Malesherbes]

"Every lawyer I've talked to assumes that Cheney was drunk." Okay, every lawyer I've talked to assumes that Lawrence O'Donnell is a stupid jerk. I guess that settles it.

[1Old Pro]

Why did Kennedy wait almost a half a day to report a car accident where the girl riding in his car was killed and HE was at the wheel driving while intoxicated?

http://www.ytedk.com/chapter5.htm

10:00 AM

- Arena arrived at the Edgartown police station, and found Kennedy in his office using his phone. - "Hello, Senator. I'm Jim Arena," he said. - Kennedy hung up, came around the desk to shake Arena's outstretched hand and said, "Hello, Jim." - From his state trooper days at Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston, Arena recognized the other man with Kennedy as former US Attorney Paul Markham. Arena said, "I'm sorry about the accident." - "Yes, I know," Kennedy said. "I was the driver." - "Nothing in my prior career as a police officer," Arena recalled later, "had prepared me for standing in a wet bathing suit and shaking hands with a United States Senator - and a Kennedy - who tells me he is the driver of a car from which I have just removed the body of a beautiful young girl. I was stunned." - Arena was struck by the incongruity of the situation. "Our roles could have been reversed. The Senator was in clean, dry clothes - poised, confident and in control, using my office and telephone. I'm standing in a puddle of water in a state of confusion thinking I had only minutes before broken the news of a personal tragedy he's now telling me quite calmly he knows all about." - "What would you like me to do?" Kennedy asked. "We must do what is right or we will both be criticized for it." - As far as Arena could see, it was a routine motor vehicle accident. "The first thing we have to do," he said, "is to have a statement from you about what happened." - "Would it be all right if I wrote it out?" kennedy said, requesting time "undisturbed" to prepare the statement. - Arena led the way to and unoccupied office down the hall "so the Senator could have some privacy". Kennedy asked Arena to return to Chappaquiddick to see that his car "got out and cleared OK." - Arena, who was thoroughly rattled by the Senator's admission that he had been the driver of the fatal accident car, was glad for the repreive. On his way to the ferry, Arena collected his thoughts, reminding himself of the proper police procedures to follow when he returned to the station to receive Kennedy's statement.

---

[ER Doc]

Sorry, I don't want to cause trouble, but I keep seeing this over and over, and I think it's making trouble for Cheney.

[D-Chivas]

Cheney should offer to give Lawrence O'Donnell a urine sample.... in his face.

[Peach]

FNC: 6:00 p.m. exclusive interview with VP Cheney tonight!

[acad1228]

Every lawyer I've talked to assumes that Cheney was drunk...

Yeah... I'm thinking Cheney's mixing his heart medication and alcohol would have ended this hunting trip a lot sooner than an errant shot. O'Donnell's an ass!

[white trash redneck]

"How do we know there was no alcohol?" Lawrence O'Donnell, a television producer and Democratic commentator, asked on The Huffington Post.

Yeah, and how do we know that UFO's were not involved, either?

Jeez, these lefties will stoop to anything.

[HawaiianGecko]

 

"How do we know there was no alcohol?" Lawrence O'Donnell, a television producer and Democratic commentator, asked on The Huffington Post.

Hell, how do we know he wasn't shooting molten steel into his veins?  Lawrence O'Donnell is definitely NOT a fountain of knowledge IMHO. 

I have to mention that I just saw a leftist moonbat (Melanie Marshall) say  that "at least Clinton didn't shoot Monica."  It took her about 2 seconds to realize what she had said and then she blamed her "fair & balanced" opponent of having a "nasty mind", although after reversing the TIVO a dozen times, he said nothing, so maybe it was a Fox producer whispering in her ear.

[presidio9]

Sorry, I don't want to cause trouble, but I keep seeing this over and over, and I think it's making trouble for Cheney.

And you are going to see this over and over some more. The press has gotten themselves hot and bothered about this story, and I say have at it.

Tell you what: Let's say Cheney WAS drunk at the time of the shooting. No, let's say he was geeked-out on PCP. Does this create any room for eqivocation with the Kennedy story? Of course not. Kennedy's crime was not that he was drunk. I'm not sure DWI even WAS a crime on Martha's Vineyard at that time (didn't W get what amounted to a summons there?). Kennedy's crime was that he left a young woman to die, passing a pay phone and a firehouse on his way back to the ferry without a second thought. Saying Chappiquiddick was about drunkenness is like saying Whitewater was about sex. Irrelevant. And if the left wants to give us the opportunity to make that point, I say we do so as many times as they let us.

[Zacs Mom]

If I recall correctly, he didn't actually "report" the incident until AFTER he found out that the vehicle had been discovered! And AFTER he'd worked his butt off trying to create an alibi that would indidcate he wasn't involved at all!

[1Old Pro]

That's correct. The difference between him and Cheney is Cheney's sole concern was the victim and Teddy's sole concern was for himself.

[markman46]

this numb-nuts was just on Hugh Hewitt just now, foaming at the mouth and yelling, "I talked to a bunch of Attorneys and they all say the VP was drunk". What a piece of ****

[presidio9]

It is indicative of how bad things have gotten with the mainstream media that the would put a guy on to say things like this without any evidence. In the past, a responsible journalist, even an openly liberal one, would immediately ask "do you have any proof of this?" No more.

[markman46]

That is for sure, I am listening now. this guy is just a raving loon, and I would be banned from here if I said what I am thinking right now!!

[mylife]

OH they are at it "bigtime" Mattews just had DR Bernadine Healy on who declared, he didnt have a heart attack, he was shot in the heart! and she went on to speculate that he was shot in the lung and liver