That would have been the case had Cheney's people handled the incident correctly, which is what they get paid to do. They did not, and what could have been a story with no legs is now a story about the story, feeding on itself.
Bad error in judgement by Cheney's people.
You just said it. Its become a story about the story.
The human part of the story is the only part thats interesting to me. I'm satisfied with the way it was handled, personally. Law enforcement was informed right away, the guy was treated medically right away, and the newspapers were informed in the morning. The Washington Press Corps hemorrhage doesn't interest me, except for the fact that it occurred.
I want to know if the guy is alright, I'd be interested to know if they were drinking. (If they were, it might explain why they didn't want to talk to law enforcement right away). If they want to make a Big Issue out of it all, they've lost my interest. Which was my point; what interests the press is different from what interests me, and this might explain why some media are losing market share.
This is a great story; its not every day your vice president shoots someone. But as a political story, its a non-story.
If this were about Kerry, I'd be having a field day with the one-liners, and so would everyone else. And I'd see it as more proof that Kerry was a poser, pretending to be a hunter when he doesn't know how to shoot. Since its Cheney, I assume he knows how to shoot, so I assume he messed up. Its still pretty funny, as long as the other guy doesn't die (upon which time most of the humor disappears).