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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...

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...

Breaking on Fox.

I am the sheriff, and I say this investigation’s closed. I am the sheriff, and I say this investigation’s closed. All around Washington town They’re attacking Cheney now The media’s branded him guilty, For shooting with no subtlety. Shooting with no subtlety. But I say: I am the sheriff, and this investigation’s closed. I am the sheriff, and this investigation’s closed. This administration always hated media For what, I don’t know This item has become an encyclopedia This story just goes and goes. This story just goes and goes. I say: I am the sheriff, and this investigation’s closed. I...

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...

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?"...

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News Channel in an exclusive interview Wednesday afternoon that he believed he properly handled the disclosure of his involvement in a hunting accident in Texas last week. Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter at a Texas ranch on Saturday while hunting quail. Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old lawyer, has been hospitalized in Corpus Christi ever since and suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday.

(2006-02-16) — The United Nations Security Council today tabled discussion about how to react to Iran’s ongoing nuclear weapons development in order to take up debate on what to do about U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s recently disclosed weapons capabilities. “We don’t really know whether Iran is making a bomb, or just making cheap abundant electricity,” said an unnamed Security Council spokesman. “But we have hard evidence that Dick Cheney is armed and dangerous.” The council will consider a variety of responses, from economic sanctions against Mr. Cheney, to a stringent inspection protocol with all weapons placed under U.N. seal,...

Let’s compare what we know about Dick Cheney’s Hunting accident to Ted Kennedy’s accident at Chappaquiddick.      Cheney Kennedy Alcohol one beer Witnesses account of a wild party Weapon Shot Gun Drunk Driver, driving into a pond Response Immediate Medical Attention Emergency Services never called to the scene Police Notification  Within the hour Police alerted the next morning when the car is discovered in the pond Press Notification 15 – 18 hours Never formally reported Press Response Media Frenzy- calling the White House Press Secretary a Jerk Sympatric response, spun as another Kennedy tragedy Democratic Response Accusations of a...

The Secret Service, which put the time of the shooting at 5:50 p.m., said it had notified Sheriff Ramon Salinas III of Kenedy County by 7 p.m. Sheriff Salinas said he had dispatched a deputy, and he later issued a news release suggesting that the officer had been turned away at the ranch... Sheriff Salinas did not return repeated calls, and a reporter seeking to resolve the discrepancies was turned away Wednesday by the sheriff's office in Sarita, which said he was "unavailable." Ms. Armstrong said she knew nothing of any attempted visit by a deputy on Saturday night. Between...

In my thirteen years as a college professor, I’ve never seen joy and celebration that rivals the response to Dick Cheney’s hunting accident. Of course, that’s really saying something. Bringing American professors to laughter is nearly as tough as bringing American feminists to orgasm. It’s a theoretical possibility that is seldom achieved without a workshop. The liberal reaction to Cheney’s accident may vary slightly from liberal to liberal but there is one common characteristic; namely, these liberals feel morally superior because they’ve never shot someone on a hunting trip.... Of course, the fact that.....

The Dick Cheney shooting incident will, in a way, go away. And, in a way, not--ever. Some things stick. Gerry Ford had physically stumbled only once or twice in public when he became, officially, The Stumbler. Mr. Ford's stumbles seemed to underscore a certain lack of sure-footedness in his early policies and other decisions. The same with Jimmy Carter and the Killer Rabbit. At the time Mr. Carter told the story of a wild rabbit attacking his boat he had already come to be seen by half the country as weak and unlucky. Even bunnies took him on. Same with...

The man shot by Vice President Dick Cheney was working from his hospital room Wednesday, a day after suffering a minor heart attack, hospital officials said. Harry Whittington, 78, is in a private room in the intensive care unit at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, where he will remain for another six days, hospital administrator Peter Banko said during a news conference Wednesday. Whittington is in ICU at his request for privacy, rather than for medical reasons, Banko said. "He's sitting up in a chair, he's eating regular food," Banko said. By Wednesday evening, Banko said Whittington was resting comfortably. The...

Requires registration The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department feels at home with the Secret Service and the powerful people who go hunting on the Armstrong Ranch, but is out of its comfort zone with the media circus that the hunting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney has attracted. Sheriff Ramon Salinas III said no one in the federal government has told him or his deputies how to do their job. He was the one who decided not to go to the ranch to investigate until Sunday, the day after Cheney shot and wounded Austin lawyer Harry Whittington on a quail hunt....

It was unfortunate that Dick Cheney had to go and shoot a lawyer. Really. He gets a lot of criticism for waiting several hours to tell the public about it. I wonder how it would be if he were a Democrat, would he have spoken up any quicker? This items looks at that possibility. http://www.staggeron.org/universe.html#dick_dem

In the minutes following Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, Cheney's medical crew scrambled to treat the injured man while the Secret Service called for medical backup. Whittington, 78, was struck on the face, neck and chest between 5:30 and 5:50 p.m. Saturday while quail hunting at the 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch in Kenedy County. "That's approximate from the information we have got," Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said of the accident's time. "That's coming from our people that were down there and the local agents from McAllen." Whittington had stepped away from Cheney and fellow...

That Dastardly Dick Cheney has done it again! Not only does he have powerful friends at the Evil Empire of Shadow known as Haliburton. Not only did he shoot a family friend, while relaxing on a bird hunt. He had the utter audacity to give an exclusive interview to Fox News instead of the paragons of virtue at CNN. It didn’t necessarily have to be CNN he went to. The offense wouldn’t rise to the impeachment level if he had gone on “Hardball” with Chris Mathews. But to go on “The F-word Network”, there must be an Intifada! Yeah, if...

SARITA, Texas (AP) - The sheriff's department closed its investigation Thursday into Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting partner and said no charges will be filed. The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department issued a report that largely supports the vice president's account of the weekend accident that wounded 78-year-old lawyer Harry Whittington. Whittington, interviewed in the hospital, assured investigators no one was drinking when the accident occurred and everyone was wearing bright orange safety gear, according to the report. Sheriff's dispatcher Diana Mata, speaking for the department, said the case is closed and no charges will be filed. She said...

Do you think too much is being made of the Dick Cheney hunting accident? Yes No

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."...

<p>New York -- For days, the White House news corps has pounded the Bush administration, demanding to learn more about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting companion Saturday.</p> <p>Cheney finally addressed the incident Wednesday, but the forum in which he chose to do so -- in an exclusive interview with Fox News host Brit Hume -- quickly became another source of contention.</p>

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.

Getting involved in a hunting accident -- as either the shooter or the shootee -- is never a great career move, as our vice president is discovering. It probably cost Greg LeMond, what, two Tour de France titles? In 1986, you may recall, LeMond stunned the cycling world by becoming the first American to win the Tour. And the following spring, he stunned the cycling world again by getting riddled with shotgun pellets, 60 of them, while trying to sneak up on a turkey in California. (His brother-in-law didn't see him hiding behind a bush.) Cost LeMond two years of...

The press has spent so much time this week obsessing over Dick Cheney's hunting accident that some reporters have been rendered completely oblivious to other important news developments. After delivering yet another breathless report on Cheneygate Thursday morning, usually reliable ABC Radio News reporter Ann Compton was caught clueless about the takeover of six major U.S. ports by a Dubai company based in the United Arab Emirates - a country said to have ties to terrorism. Compton's exchange with WABC Radio's John Gambling went like this: GAMBLNG: What else [besides Cheneygate] is being talked about in the White House? COMPTON:...

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...

American Clown Journalism 101 By Michelle Malkin February 15, 2006 Journalists around the world are being targeted by suicide bombers, threatened with "hate crimes" prosecutions and thrown in jail for defending a free press from crazed Islamists. You wouldn't know it from the circus-show antics of the American media. Vice President Dick Cheney, as you all are aware from the Beltway press corps' incessant flapping and yapping, was involved in an accidental shooting during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas. The victim is recovering. It's the me-me-media hyperventilators who need intensive care. Peacock Network News correspondent David Gregory, whose...

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...

If lawyer dies, Cheney could face negligent homicide charges 02/15/2006 02:42:17 PM DALLAS (AP) -- If the man wounded by Dick Cheney dies, the vice president could -- in theory at least -- face criminal charges, even though the shooting was an accident. Dallas defense attorney David Finn, who has been a state and a federal prosecutor, said Wednesday that a Texas grand jury could bring a charge of criminally negligent homicide if there is evidence the vice president knew or should have known "there was a substantial or unjustifiable risk that his actions would result in him shooting a...

Personally, I blame Bill Clinton Bill Clinton was an incredibly skilled politician. He mastered the five "D"s of political dodgeball (deny, deceive, denounce, distract, and deny) better than any national figure in my lifetime. He redefined what it means to be great at politics. He also convinced an entire American generation of the uselessness of politicians. The one-two punch of the irrelevance of the Clinton presidency, followed so closely by the profound power of 9/11, has created a climate in which being good at politics is a political negative. We don't want Huey Longs or LBJs or even Ronald Reagans....

Drudge links to a 8/19/05 AP article, via Fox News: WASHINGTON — The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid (search) of Nevada, suffered a brief mini-stroke Tuesday, but doctors found no complications and he feels fine, aides said Friday.... Asked why announcement of the event was delayed for three days, Hafen said, "The reason was the tests and the evaluations that they were doing. We wanted to make sure we knew what we were announcing. You need conclusive information."

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...

In My World: Everyone Loves Cheney Posted by Frank J. at 12:51 PM | TrackBack (0) "Why won't you answer my questions?" David Gregory screeched. "I have answered your questions," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan grumbled. "No you haven't! I think I know when questions have been answered!" "David, I'm getting tired of your attitude," Scott said. "Could you find some other subject to freak out about? It's not like a hunting accident is a matter of national security." "I'm not freaking out!" Gregory yelled. "And you're fat!" Scott rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm going to move onto the...

Other than the fact that a sitting vice president hasn't shot anyone since Aaron Burr dispatched Alexander Hamilton, why is Dick Cheney the non-sharpshooter getting so much coverage? Okay, other than the fact that the comics haven't had so much fun since President Bush choked on a pretzel. (Letterman: "We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney.")

Well now we are after Cheney again. Amazing how the Democrats keep going from one to another, just hoping something will come out from under a rock. Can you just imagine how you would feel if you were in Cheney's shoes? His friend is in the hospital, had a silent heart attack from one of the bird shot that entered his body,

<p>WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.</p> <p>Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.</p>

I just heard from a local radio reporter (during Rush newsbreak at approximately 1:00 p.m) that Whittington "may have taken a turn for the worse," and was put back into intensive care.

Cheney cleared in hunting accident White House faces questions about disclosing incident Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Posted: 1:19 p.m. EST (18:19 GMT) CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (CNN) -- Authorities have cleared Vice President Dick Cheney of wrongdoing in the Texas shooting of a hunting companion, while reporters aimed tough questions at White House officials about their delay in disclosing the accident. During Tuesday's White House news conference, spokesman Scott McClellan was asked if waiting 14 hours after the shooting before Cheney spoke with police was appropriate, and whether an average citizen would have been afforded the same amount of time. "That...

NYT: CHENEY FACES GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION IF MAN DIES... In Texas, Carlos Valdez, the district attorney in Kleberg County, said a fatality would immediately spur a new report from the local sheriff and, most likely, a grand jury investigation... MORE...

The moonbats on DU are fluttering all over the place over the Dick Cheney hunting incident. Adding one part ignorance to two parts conspiracy theorist results in the following sampler: rateyes (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-13-06 10:13 AM Original message Is Hunting Accident an impeachable offense? The Constitution says the standard for impeachment is "high crimes and misdemeanors." As I read the Texas Code on Assault and Aggravated Assault, Cheney is guilty of both: § 22.01. ASSAULT. (a) A person commits an offense if the person: (1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another, including the person's spouse; (2)...

For some entertainment value check out some of the theories on the Cheney hunting accident.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, peppered with reporters’ questions about Vice President Dick Cheney’s accidental weekend shooting of a hunting buddy, said President George Bush was “not immediately informed of the incident because he was too distracted by the Iraq war.” “If, because of the war, the president doesn’t have time to catch Usama bin Laden,” Mr. McClellan said, “when do you think he’ll find a moment to deal with a quail hunting accident in Texas? ” In related news, Mr. McClellan said the Bush administration is sticking with its initial ’single-shooter’ theory. “From all indications,” he said, “the vice...

- The first shooting involving a vice president since the time of Aaron Burr has lit up the blogosphere with political jokesters lampooning Vice President Dick Cheney's weekend hunting accident as "Quailgate." "You know who's doing a 'there but for the grace of God go I'? Scalia," wrote comedian Al Franken on his Web site, referring to Cheney's longtime duck-hunting friend, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Internet sprouted with offerings of "Dick Cheney hunts people" T-shirts and comments about calling the vice president "Deadeye Dick." There also was a version of the vice-presidential seal featuring a shotgun-wielding Elmer Fudd...

11. Whittington bears a remarkable resemblance to a quail 10. Just to watch him die 9. Whittington had just filled his SUV and Cheney wanted the oil 8. Cheney tired of Jesse Ventura's taunts about him for never having hunted man

How Did Dick Cheney Break the No.1 Rule of Hunting? For veteran sportsmen like the vice president, safety is a core value By TIMOTHY J. BURGER/WASHINGTON The cardinal rule of hunting could not be more simple: Don’t shoot the people (or the dogs). If there’s anyone in Washington who knows this, one would have thought it would be Vice President Dick Cheney, who accidentally shot his friend and fellow hunter Harry Whittington, 78, late Saturday afternoon. Whittington is expected to recover from his injuries, but the question will linger on: how does an accident like this happen among hunters with...

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that Vice President Cheney should resign if he ordered a top aide to leak classified information to the media to defend the invasion of Iraq. On CNN's "American Morning" program, Dean repeated calls he first made Sunday, saying Cheney may have broken the law if he ordered his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to share secret information with reporters in 2003. "If Vice President Cheney has, in fact, ordered the leaking of political information — of intelligence information, that means he has to step aside," Dean said on...

Monday's hunting trip to Pennsylvania by Vice President Dick Cheney in which he reportedly shot more than 70 stocked pheasants and an unknown number of mallard ducks at an exclusive private club places a spotlight on an increasingly popular and deplorable form of hunting, in which birds are pen-reared and released to be shot in large numbers by patrons. The ethics of these hunts are called into question by rank-and-file sportsmen, who hunt animals in their native habitat and do not shoot confined or pen-raised animals that cannot escape. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today that 500 farm-raised pheasants were released...

Franken Says Cheney Shot Whittington “Just to Watch Him Die” Posted by Noel Sheppard February 13, 2006 - 10:04. Remember back in October when Al Franken joked with David Letterman about Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby being executed for treason? Well, Franken is at it again with a blog entry Sunday evening at the Huffington Post. This time, the target of his tasteless satire is Vice President Dick Cheney who accidentally shot his hunting partner on Saturday: “Over the weekend, Vice President Dick Cheney shot a man in Texas. Asked why he shot the man, the Vice President said,...

This is a riot !

DALLAS - Vice President Dick Cheney was hunting illegally - without the required $7 stamp on his license for quail - when he accidentally shot one of his hunting partners, Texas Parks and Wildlife officials said Monday. And so was Harry Whittington, 78, who was recovering Monday from a shotgun blast to the face, neck and chest. In its report, the state agency that oversees hunting and fishing said it found that neither Cheney nor Whittington had purchased the game bird stamp required to hunt quail in Texas, although both had valid hunting licenses. Both will get warning citations, and...