Posted on 02/15/2006 10:16:34 AM PST by ex-Texan
The real story is already emerging, if you're willing to do a little digging. Cheney and Whittington went hunting with two women (not their wives), there was some drinking, and Whittington wound up shot.
Armstrong didn't see the incident but claimed she had, Cheney refused to be questioned by the Sheriff until the next morning, and a born-again evangelical physician has been downplaying Whittington's injuries since they occurrred. Neither the press nor law enforcement seems inclined to investigate.
Before the right-wing commenters howl - there's documentation for all of these statements. Let's take them one by one: In addition to Cheney and Whittington, the hunting party included Katherine Armstrong (who was in the car at the time of the shooting: more on that later). After lots of evasive comments that only referred to a "third hunter," we now know her identity: Pamela Willeford, the US Ambassador to Switzerland.
Then there was this Armstrong quote on MSNBC and picked up by Firedoglake (later dutifully scrubbed, but preserved on Google cache): "There may be a beer or two in there," (Armstrong) said, 'but remember not everyone in the party was shooting.'"
Interestingly, Armstrong's playing with words here. She later said that she (Armstrong) hadn't had anything to drink, so at least one of the other three must have been drinking - and the other three were shooting. So while her statement was literally correct ("not everyone ... was shooting"), it gives the false impression that nobody drank and shot.
Then there was this item (courtesy kos):
Armstrong said she saw Cheney's security detail running toward the scene. "The first thing that crossed my mind was he had a heart problem," she told The Associated Press. In other words, she didn't see the accident. All of her statements, replete with colorful sidebars about getting "peppered pretty good," gave the false impression she was an eyewitness. She wasn't.
And what about Dr. David Blanchard, who made such light of Whittington's injuries? Before the heart attack occurred, Blanchard gave no indication that pellets had entered Whittington's torso or major organs (we now know that at least one other pellet entered his liver). I found an interesting quote. After asserting that spiritual beliefs help people recover more quickly (which studies have suggested may be true), Blanchard said this of people with out of body and near death experiences:
"These people do quite well in their disease processes," he said. "The Lord wasn't quite ready for them yet . . . It makes believers out of them." It's likely that Blanchard is also the same "Dr. David Blanchard" who is listed as Vice Chairperson of World Hope International, a Christian evangelical aid group.
Blanchard's certainly entitled to his own beliefs, and World Hope International (if he's the same Blanchard) has done some good work, albeit with a proselytizing bent. But most evangelicals in this country are ardent supporters of the Bush/Cheney Administration. This may explain the otherwize puzzling word choices Dr. Blanchard made to play down Whittington's injuries, especially before the heart attack made that more difficult to do.
So was Cheney drinking, and was there anything inappropriate about this hunting party? We don't know, and nobody's investigating. There's reason to be suspicious. We do have the suggestion that drinking was taking place, we have inconsistencies and a pattern of deception in Armstrong's statements, we have a shooting injury that's far more serious than originally claimed ... and a Sheriff's Department and national press that have already proclaimed the VP innocent of all wrongdoing.
I was right to call this Cheney's Chappaquiddick. The parallels get stronger every day. Of course, Chappaquiddick happened almost forty years ago, and Ted Kennedy's turned his personal life around. Cheney's actions happened this weekend. There's reason to be suspicious of the Vice President's behavior, starting with the cover-up itself.
They're trying to spin it as just a badly handled case of press relations, but it's could be a whole lot more than that.
It's a good thing to keep mental track of posters to assess their agendas. Unfortunately, I can't seem to do it, except in extremely egregious cases.
Maybe you found one.
This is libel... this is shocking. Have the kooks over at Huffington Post become reporters for the MSM. I am frankly shocked by the fast and loose quality of this article. Did Howard Dean write this?
Smells like ozone to me. Better get low to the ground, as I hear the flapping of wings, the meowing . . . the horror.
Look, your hair is standing on end.
It could come any second . . .
A distinction without a difference any more.
Vice President Cheney didn't leave Whittington in the brush to die; Cheney's Chappaquiddick, my ass!!
The other woman was Mrs. Armstrong's daughter, I believe.
In related news: Alcoa stock rose today.
Is there anywhere in the Constitution that says the VP can't drink beer on personal time? That is what I thought.
I've been hunting with men who are not my husband. There may also have been alcohol involved on occasion (when shooting isn't.)
Does that mean I'm guilty of a "great sin?"
(I don't know about the sin - but it was great!)
We should nail that down before this nasty rumor takes legs.
Yes...she found one. Look at his page.
THIS SHOULD NOT BE IN BREAKING NEWS. THIS IS B.S.
This one doesn't say who her parents are, but she's received other awards in the past for her work in education.
http://bern.usembassy.gov/ambassador.html
Now you have to admit, making "sandwiches" out of waitresses and another Senator is a step up from drowning secretaries...
The Nation editorial has more facts than this piece of editorial junk. There are interesting rumors circulating on the web about people drinking and shooting. Strangely. Dick Cheney has been ducking the press all day. The left wing media are claiming the Secret Service would not allow local law enforcement to speak with Cheney after the incident happened.
I know! That comment that Ted Kennedy turned his life around...! Just damn.
Wasn't he trying to steal, in court, his ex-wife's house in Hyannis as recently as last summer?
Please. She obviously SAW him after the accident.
LOL!
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