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Cheney accident not unusual (But you know The New York Slimes By REAVIS WORTHAM "Ultimately, I am the guy who pulled the trigger and fired the round that hit Harry," said Vice President Dick Cheney. -snip- "It's bad, all right," I said. "But unfortunately it isn't uncommon for people to be hit while hunting quail or dove. Hunting is dangerous."

Eyewitness statements about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of his quail hunting partner largely confirm previous accounts with some minor discrepancies, according to affidavits obtained today by the Houston Chronicle.The affidavits, released by the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department, give the most detailed accounts to date of the events leading up to the Feb. 11 shooting of Republican activist and Austin attorney Harry Whittington."Mr. Cheney, not knowing that Harry had made his way into the shooting area, shot at the bird," wrote Michael "Bo" Hubert, the El Campo-based hunting guide. "And at that time is when Harry was shot."Whittington, Cheney...

"I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine." — George W. Bush, Feb. 16, 2006 "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." — George W. Bush, Sept. 2, 2005 Some of us have always thought of Dick Cheney, vice president of the United States, former secretary of defense, industrial magnate and general mover-and-shaker, as The Brains of the Outfit. We still do, but intelligence isn't everything in a leader. Or even the most important thing — like judgment or honesty or prudence or modesty or, well, name your own favorite character trait. Lest we forget, the smartest...

Hunting for a StoryRadical Islam and democracy. Plus the press corps takes a hit in covering Dick Cheney's hunting accident and more.Monday, February 20, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST Paul Gigot: This week on "The Journal Editorial Report," uncertainty in the Middle East. Israel contemplates new sanctions as Hamas takes the helm of the Palestinian Authority. Will radical Islam derail Bush's democracy agenda in the region? The fallout from Dick Cheney's hunting accident, whose reputation is taking a bigger beating, the vice president's or the White House Press Corps'. The panel weighs in on those topics and our "Hits and Misses"...

Alan Simpson: Cheney Coverage Was 'Crap' Former Sen. Alan Simpson blasted the media's obsessive reporting on Dick Cheney hunting accident on Sunday, saying reporters typically focus on nothing but "controversy, crap and confusion." "How are we to trust [the press], after a whole week of absolute dribble, and babble, and people, you know, interviewing themselves," he told "Fox News Sunday." Noting that Washington is filled with "good people doing good things," Simspon fumed: "You'll never find it if you just follow the Washington media. You'll never know the good. All you get is controversy, crap and confusion." Simpson said reporters...

For more than a week now, the press has been beating up on Vice President Dick Cheney for his handling – or, rather, for his mis-handling – of how the accidental shooting of his friend while on a hunting trip in Texas was disclosed. The theme that runs through all this criticism is that the Vice President made a terrible mistake in not arranging for news of the shooting to be disclosed immediately, rather than waiting 14 hours to put out the word. But what if Dick Cheney hadn’t stiffed the press? Let’s conduct what scientists call a “thought experiment.”...

What really happened in the brushy South Texas wild that day? How one shot turned a genteel quail hunt into a political crisis? The delicate and the dangerous meet in the ranch lands of South Texas. In the winter, quail gather in the soft gold of prairie sedge, but snakes, scorpions and wild-boar-like javelina lurk too. In 1999 a fourth-generation South Texas rancher named Tobin Armstrong testified before Congress that he sometimes found illegal immigrants dead of dehydration in the unforgiving brush of his 49,300-acre ranch. It was there that Vice President Dick Cheney, out with a hunting party that...

The editorial is only availible to NYTimes paying costumers.The editorial in today's local paper by Bob Herbert of the times had just one line of any note ..."This story is never going away.Harry Whittington is Dick Cheney's Monica....This will stick to Cheney like Crazy glue and that's bad news for the Bush administration."

NBC White House correspondent David Gregory ate a little crow Sunday on this "Meet The Press," apologizing for his arrogant behavior during White House press briefings dealing with the shooting of a hunting companion by Vice President Cheney. Reacting to the storm of criticism leveled by the public at the Washington press corps for complaining that they were not told immediately about the incident, leaving the job of reporting it to a small-town Texas newspaper, Gregory apologized for his boorish behavior. "I think I made a mistake,” he told host Tim Russert. "I think it was inappropriate for me to...

The vice president's decision to talk only to Fox News -- which Democrats maintain has a pro-Bush bias -- enabled Cheney to dodge an adversarial no-holds-barred news conference with an agitated White House press corps. That rankled some Democrats, including Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. ''Doing an exclusive interview with any single news organization is not enough," Schumer said. ''The vice president hasn't had a press conference in three and a half years, and he ought to have one to clear the air not only on this issue, but more importantly on the many other issues that have...

Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist told CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer on Sunday that Democrats were playing "partisan politics" with Dick Cheney's hunting accident last weekend - a charge that left Mr. Schieffer fuming. "What America does not want to see is what happened right afterwards, and that is that the Democratic leadership tried to inject partisan politics into what is a very, very tragic accident," First told Schieffer, who bristled at the remarks. "But Senator," the veteran newsman protested, "ah - I mean - didn't - didn't - shouldn't [the hunting accident] have been made public but...

Clinton: Secrecy Sparked Shooting Reaction 23 minutes ago Former President Clinton said Sunday the Bush administration's "enormous penchant for secrecy" sparked the strong reaction to Vice President Dick Cheney's shooting mishap. "We have people quite often who are shot in quail incidents, so I didn't feel the need to get into the pile-on," Clinton said Sunday on ABC's "Good Morning America." Cheney has been criticized for not disclosing the shooting on Feb. 11 of Texas lawyer Harry Whittington until the following day. "I think the White House should have said something about it sooner," Clinton said. "I think that it's...

When Harry Whittington strode out of the Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, wearing a blazer, a crisp white shirt and a smile, as well as a bruise and a few small scabs, to face the media last Thursday, the whole artful and painfully constructed edifice of the liberal communications industry and their Democratic hand maidens came crashing down around them.

JFK, RFK and Now ... Harry Whittington? by Patrick Hurley Posted Feb 19, 2006 As I sat in the Phoenix airport Friday afternoon, I heard the breathless excitement of CNN intruding on my consciousness. Did we invade North Korea? Did Ariel Sharon die? Had Iran finally dropped a nuclear bomb on Israel? Those stories pale in comparison to the liberal media's latest life or death breaking news flash: VICE-PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY HAD AGREED TO AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FOX NEWS CONCERNING THE SHOOTING OF HIS HUNTING MATE, HARRY WHITTINGTON! Stop the presses! This developing news bulleting went on to detail...

" [T]he debate playing out in the blogosphere, cable airwaves and on talk radio pits the Vice President against an allegedly left-wing, overly cynical, prissy White House press corps in a tizzy because it wasn't the first to know and angry because it hates the President and Vice President anyway. " That's exactly right. And it comes from NBC's David Gregory. Gregory goes on to announce that this description is "nonsense," but of course Gregory has not allowed himself to be questioned outside of his network. He doesn't return calls and he won't make himself available for questions about what...

Spoiled brat media Feb 16, 2006 by Thomas Sowell ( bio | archive | contact ) The first revolt of the American colonists against their British rulers was immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the shot heard round the world." Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident has now become the shot heard round the Beltway.  The accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, while he was on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney, has nothing to do with government policy or the Vice President's official duties but the mainstream media have gone ballistic over it nevertheless.  They are also angry that the...

Bloggers Battle Over Cheney Misfire (Feb. 18) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's weekend misfire brought verbal combat to a boil between left- and right-leaning bloggers. The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department has closed its investigation into Cheney's accidental shooting of hunting pal Harry Whittington and issued a report that largely supports the vice president's account of the weekend's events. But that hasn't stopped the shooting in cyberspace, where liberal bloggers were particularly riled up over the role alcohol might have played in the mishap. Many bloggers on the left also smelled a cover up, while many right-leaning bloggers said it was...

It seems more like a dream a vice president might have than something that might actually befall one. It might also inspire a great fairy tale someday. I imagine it being recited to the children of a magical, peaceful world to come — a utopia of enduring gentleness that accounts for its origins with the following fable: "And so, after decades at the heights of power helping to mount and administer great battles that caused many thousands of deaths and injuries, the aging leader set out one afternoon into the fields of his beloved homeland in pursuit of a bird...

Dick Cheney's hunting accident could not get the "Dump Dick" reaction or traction the MSM was hoping for. I can easily visualize the bloodthirsty MSM having prayer vigils, pleading with their god(s) to take Cheney's victim, that one tough cookie, Harry Whittington, off the face of the earth so that the Veep could be forever hounded by the Libs, arrested, and then impeached. "The best laid plans of mice (vermin), not men" waiting in their dark cellars under the New York Times for something to chew on. The RIM (Reality Impaired Media) is somewhat like the American Public Schools...

The hunter shot by Vice President Dick Cheney said it "was just an accident" and reassured investigators alcohol was not involved, according a county sheriff's report. In Texas, Harry Whittington "explained foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt and everyone was wearing the proper hunting attire of blaze orange," reported Kenedy County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Gilberto San Miguel Jr. The county sheriff's office closed its investigation without filing any charges. The department's report supported Cheney's account of the accident that injured the 78-year-old lawyer during a quail hunting trip on a private ranch in Texas. Cheney told an...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip was being discharged from a hospital Friday and told reporters he was deeply sorry for all the trouble Cheney had faced over the past week. Cheney, speaking to the Wyoming Legislature on Friday, also alluded to the shooting as he thanked lawmakers for their half-minute standing ovation, saying the warm greeting was especially welcome "when you've had a very long week." "Thankfully, Harry Whittington is on the mend and doing well," Cheney said. In Texas, Whittington wore a suit and tie as he gave...

Harry Whittington, the man shot by Vice President Dick Cheney last weekend, spoke to reporters as he was released from Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. He did not take questions. Here is a transcript of his statement. (Video available)

Some observers have compared the White House’s handling of Dick Cheney’s accident to Vince Foster’s suspicious death in the summer of 1993. This comparison has been drawn mostly on the basis of delays in disclosure in both cases.We know now the Clinton White House actively withheld information on this regrettable incident from the press, starting with the initial delay while they apparently worked on a major cover up. Numerous problems with the investigation ensued and serious misconduct was later exposed. White House Chief Counsel Bernard Nussbaum was eventually rebuked for mishandling this matter.To test this comparison I researched reporting done on...

To the Editor: Re "Places, Everyone. Action!" (column, Feb. 16): David Brooks laments the lack of a "normal human response" (sympathy) to Dick Cheney's hunting accident. ........

For all of us at this "small newspaper in South Texas" or as the host of MSNBC's "The Situation" Tucker Carlson says "podunk paper," it's enlightening — and sometimes embarrassing — to look at our big brothers and sisters in the national media on a story we each are covering. The first step we could all see coming. Someone should have given White House press secretary Scott McClellan a blindfold as he stood at the podium Monday afternoon. The White House press corps spent the previous day stewing about how the White House had failed to deliver a press conference...

Brit Hume's interview with VP Dick Cheney attracted more than 2.1 million viewers on Wednesday night, making Special Report the #1 program on cable news. The 6 p.m. time slot delivered 2,101,000 total viewers, including 513,000 in the 25-54 demographic. Hume beat O'Reilly by a few thousand viewers in P2+...

Some of wackiest of the wacko left are now saying that the accidental shooting of Harry Whittington by Dick Cheney last weekend wasn't an accident after all, but rather a warning to "Scooter" Libby not to testify against Cheney in the upcoming "Plamegate" trial. Barry Saunders at newsobserver.com writes: Accident my eye. Or rather, Harry Whittington's eye. If you believe it was just an accident that Vice President Dick Cheney shot his hunting companion last weekend, you obviously have never seen "The Godfather" movies. Just as surely as a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest means "Luca Brasi sleeps with...

Some say Dick Cheney is toast. He's too hot to handle, throw him over the side if he won't drop himself into the waves. Don't look now, but that isn't water surrounding the Bush ship of state. It's gasoline. The issue titled "Dick Cheney" is just one of many embers. Have you ever noticed how on a scale of one to 10, every untoward event in the life of the Bush presidency goes straight to a 10? The Abu Ghraib photos? A 10 forever. Dick Cheney catching a hunting buddy with some birdshot? An instant 10. The Bush National Guard...

When George W. Bush, then a gubernatorial candidate, accidentally killed a protected deer during a dove shoot in 1994, he and his press aide swiftly decided on a strategy: confess fast. "People watch the way you handle things. They get a feeling they like and trust you or they don't," said a biography of Mr Bush.

Breaking on Fox.

There are few less edifying sights than Terry McAuliffe in full battle cry. But alas there was no avoiding him after the Cheney hunting accident. There he was demanding to know why the vice president waited 22 hours before informing the press and shouting that if Al Gore had done something like this he'd be in Leavenworth by nightfall (a dubious if pleasing supposition). The White House press corps was even more insufferable. One reporter asked, "Is it proper for the vice president to offer his resignation or has he offered his resignation?" Another demanded, "Scott (McClellan), would this be...

Texas police have cleared US Vice President Dick Cheney of any wrongdoing over the weekend mishap in which he shot a 73-year-old hunting companion in the face. They say no charges will be filed. Sheriff Ramon Salinas says an investigation had determined Mr Cheney shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington by accident, therefore no legal action was needed. Mr Cheney sprayed Mr Whittington with birdshot on Saturday when he turned to shoot a quail while hunting on a southern Texas ranch. Mr Whittington is expected to be released from hospital next week.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Americans believe that the recent hunting accident involving Dick Cheney raises serious questions about his ability to serve as Vice President. Twice as many, 57%, say it was "just one of those very embarrassing things that happens to all of us." The survey was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday night. Cheney spoke publicly about the incident for the first time on Wednesday. Sixty-six percent (66%) of Americans say they have been following news about this story somewhat or very closely. Thirty-six percent (36%) of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Vice President while 41% have an...

Poetic justiceJackson Heights: Vice President Cheney and his friend were out killing innocent animals. They got what they deserved. Charles Handelman

Questions about why Vice President Dick Cheney did not tell the public that he had accidentally shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington during a quail hunting outing in Texas on Saturday continue to persist. Now the White House is under fire for not releasing information on the Cheney shooting quickly enough.

The Moonbats are out tonight and howling! Dick Morris, just on Fox, told Hannity that the reason Cheney didn't immediately notify the Royal Dinosaur White House Press Corps of the accident was 'because he needed a day to sober up first before being questioned.' The Libs are imploding!

RUSH: Brian in Wilmington, North Carolina, I know you're still out there, because I know you're here every day, Brian, and I know a lot of you libs are out there. Let me tell you: I think this is probably everything that you're looking for. The reason that it took so long to release details of the hunting accident -- Dick Cheney and Harry Whittington -- is that Whittington is actually dead, and it took them about eight hours to go find a double for Mr. Whittington, because he's actually brain dead. He's so injured that he's being held...

WASHINGTON - It's not Dick Cheney's hunting mishap that worries Republicans. It's his other scandal — the CIA leak case and the threat it poses to the embattled vice president. Republican activists acknowledge that the accidental shooting of Cheney's friend is the talk of mainstream America and has made the vice president the butt of jokes. But they do not expect political fallout from the shooting or the clumsy way in which it was disclosed. "It's hard to believe that anybody can make Dick Cheney a sympathetic figure," said Rep. Tom Cole (news, bio, voting record), R-Okla. "That's what the...

FEBRUARY 16--Five days after Vice President Dick Cheney shot a hunting partner, a Texas sheriff today released his department's report on the incident, which investigators have formally classified as an accident. A copy of the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department report, released this afternoon by Sheriff Ramon Salinas, can be found below. The sheriff's report includes information provided to deputies by assorted witnesses as well as Cheney and Harry Whittington, the 78-year-old lawyer who was struck in the face, neck, and chest by the vice president's wayward birdshot. Cheney was interviewed Sunday morning, more than 14 hours after the Saturday afternoon...

VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney knew where to go when he finally decided to tell his story about the accidental shooting of a hunting buddy. Cheney went to Fox News, where he was guided gently through the events by interviewer Brit Hume. Cheney has not submitted himself to open-ended news conference questioning in more than three years -- and it's clear that he did not regard the aftermath of a Texas shooting as cause for him to face a White House press corps that is openly agitated about his efforts to control the story.

Dick Cheney has been compared to Aaron Burr, the other vice president who shot a guy. But during his interview with Brit Hume, Cheney seemed like an officer in King Louis XVI's court -- proud of a blase disdain for the people he serves. His demeanor was of a disrespectful elitist who doesn't regret concealing the shooting of a friend. He looked non-contrite. The sneer. The chill. The Cheney-Hume volley was soft and sympathetic, like a defense attorney asking a client about basic details. Hume asked few follow-ups. He posed a good-old-boy question, "I take it you missed the bird?"...

The Washington Post is reporting that the Sarita, Texas sherriff's department has closed its investigation of Vice President Dick Cheney. The sheriff's report supports Cheney's account of what is, according to the wacko left, the biggest story since Watergate. The Post is also reporting that President Bush is "very satisfied" with Cheney's explanation.According to a Rasmussen poll, 57% of Americans believe that the hunting accident was "just one of those very embarrassing things that happens to all of us." I find that interesting because, as any listener to Sean Hannity "man on the street" interviews, at least 20% of the American population...

The irregular heartbeat suffered Tuesday by the 78-year-old lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney — apparently caused by a birdshot pellet lodged in or next to his heart — likely will not require surgery or long-term medication, a Ben Taub trauma surgeon said. "We see a shotgun wound almost once a week here," said Dr. Kenneth Mattox, chief of staff at Ben Taub General Hospital, one of Houston's leading trauma centers. "For a bullet the size of a birdshot pellet to create atrial fibrillation would be a little unusual. I'm not saying it didn't happen. Theoretically, it could happen."...

Sitting in armchairs waiting for handouts not the best way to get scoops Members of the elite White House press corps this week have acted more like animals that have been kept in captivity for so long that they can’t find news unless it is forced down their open gullets at a daily press briefing. The Cheney hunting accident story embarrassingly revealed this fact, which probably explains the greater-than-normal anger and outrage of White House correspondents over the last few days. “Why weren’t we told?” has been the refrain, not “How did we miss that story?” The White House press...

by Mark Finkelstein February 15, 2006 - 22:50 I suppose that quoting Al Franken for evidence of liberal media bias is, if you'll excuse the expression, like shooting fish in a barrel. Nevertheless, perhaps it's useful for the archives to record one of Franken's remarks this evening in the course of his appearance on MSNBC's 'Scarborough Country.' Commenting on Vice President Cheney's failure to follow Harry Whittington to the hospital, Franken stated: "It's inconceivable that you don't go to the hospital unless there's a reason you don't go to the hospital. If you had been drinking, you wouldn't go to...

Despite last weekend's hunting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker will go ahead with a $500-per-person pheasant hunt fundraiser on Saturday. "I just can't cancel an event that's had invitations out for three weeks," said Walker's campaign manager Bruce Pfaff. "I need money in the bank, no matter whether I do it this weekend or a month from now." Pfaff said he "only briefly" thought about the correlation between the vice president's incident and this event in deciding to proceed with the event, which Walker will attend. He noted that such fundraisers are fairly common...

MIDI - STAYIN' ALIVE Well, see that look that is in reporters' eyes...they are hoping that he soon will die If Whittington should breathe no more...they will all be thrilled down to the core For now he's all right, he's all right...but they are checking day and night If on his screen there's no more blip...the liberals are all gonna flip For his death they're praying, they want no more delaying But he's staying alive, Harry's alive They all want the story and want it to be gory But he's staying alive, Harry's alive Ah ha ha ha....stayin' alive...Harry's...

Transcript: Interview of Vice President Cheney by Brit Hume, Fox News 2/15/2006 6:00:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: White House Press Office, 202-456-2580 WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a transcript of an interview of Vice President Dick Cheney by Brit Hume of Fox News: Vice President's Ceremonial Office Eisenhower Executive Office Building 2:01 P.M. EST Q: Mr. Vice President, how is Mr. Whittington? THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, the good news is he's doing very well today. I talked to him yesterday after they discovered the heart problem, but it appears now to have been pretty well...

Insane, conservative-hating moonbats chime in with their vitriolic schadenfreude: Attorney on Ed Schultz' Show just said he researched TX law, and the reason the WH Drs are so involved in this Whittington case is that they're scared! TX law states "If a victim dies "WITHIN ONE YEAR" of a shooting incident, the shooter can be charged with involuntary manslaughter! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ STOP talking about Cheney! This whole Cheney story may be fascinating, etc....but, let's stop making such a big fuss over it. It's taking our time away from the war, the economy, medicare, social security, human rights, the tax cuts, etc!...

It may not be much, but the mainstream media appear dedicated to beating the Cheney hunting accident story into the ground. On CNN's American Morning today, anchor Miles O'Brien interviewed New York Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove about it. O'Brien wanted to make sure viewers realized the delayed reporting on the misfortune is all part of a much bigger scheme: "And setting this all in the context of the issues that the Bush administration has been dealing with, the wiretapping issues, the CIA leak case, all of this I think raises some serious credibility issues among people." Naturally, Grove...