Cheney: My first reaction was that my friend Harry needs to be taken care of, not to call the press. We had to talk to his family. HIs wife was at the ranch. DIdn't want the kids to hear it on television.
We also didn't know his medical condition. We did not know until Sunday morning that he was probably going to be okay.
His wife knew as he was leaving the ranch. I didn't call the kids, but made sure the yknew before tv.
First reports are often wrong. There was enough variation in reports we were getting...we really didn't know until Sun. morning that Harry was going to be probably okay and it didn't hit any vital organs.
Brit: You must hav eknown this would be a big story.
Cheney: Unprecedented. Not since Aaron Burr.
Brit: Did it occur to you that something like this, sooner is better.
Cheney: This is a complicated story.
Brit: You knew he was shot and you shot him and that evening that all the members of his family was called.
Cheney: If we put out a report on what we knew Saturday night it would have been superficial injuries.
Brit: You knew this would be a national story. COuldn't you head off the Belway firestorm if you put out to the national media vs. the local media.
Cheney: Who is going to do that? Will they take my word for what happened? We went with Mrs. Armstrong and she was the most credible person; she was a witness.
Brit: The suspicious grows that this was an attempt to minizie it.
Cheney: There wasno way this would be minimized. What I've experieced is that media outlets have proliferated and speed is at the expense of accuracy and I think Kathryn was an excellent choice.
And the story would be about the attempted "Cover-up!"
Thank goodness it was Katharine. The first thing Mr. Whittington's daughter said was that they didn't know if he was being taken to a hospital or a mortuary. *cringe*