The Myth of the Hunt: How the media has misfired on the Cheney accident

Time ^ | Friday, Feb. 17, 2006 | WALTER KIRN

[indcons]

To put things in perspective, this is the one of the few articles in the MSM that take the media to task.

Harry Whittington said it best in his gracious news conference esterday. In the words of Shakespeare, much ado about nothing.

[bybybill]

QUESTION: If we used this article to line our birdcage, would my parrot get sick?

[CFC__VRWC]

His heart wasn't directly hit in the shooting. One of the pellets got into a blood vessel and was carried to his heart that way.

[OldFriend]

It's all about a frightening accident.

Thankfully no lives were lost.

It's not a political event to be exploited.

Real Americans know that!

[Snardius]

Is this part BS shoveling contest?

The epitome of navel gazing...

[ex-snook]

thanks

[1rudeboy]

What do you think the over/under is on the number of folks who have read this piece in its entirety? Anyone? Please frame your answer in the form, x of y.

[spanalot]

Yeah - but did he get the bird ?

[Billthedrill]

About the total disconnect between the media and ordinary people who do actually hunt I concur wholeheartedly. The talking heads are patronizing, arrogant, and astonishingly ignorant about the most elementary facts of ordinary life out here in the sticks. That's why we have local reporters, but God help any one of them who would presume to correct the Anchor Gods or the "experts" about the fact that a 28-gauge is a very little shotgun - they'll never work in the Big Town.

I'm afraid the author went a bit over the top in relating the cosmic irony of persons who send men and women into battle hunting unarmed birds - this is, after all, the sort of thing that he's just complained about with respect to the city boys. Quail hunting is not really comparable to warfare and anyone who's ever done both knows it.

There is, in addition, one thing that as a media figure himself he hasn't seemed to grasp yet:

It's no wonder we're spellbound by Dick Cheney's hunting accident...

We aren't.

[jocon307]

Well, I just went back and read the entire piece, my opinion of it remains unchanged. He makes some good points about media condescension and completely undermines them by his own arrogance. Typical for Time Magazine. If it was ever good it was long before my time, I'm 48 and have had the misfortune to have been reading this rag since I was 10 years old.

[indcons]

Excellent points......I concur.

[Captain Ray]

Raymond

[Capt. Tom]

The good old days when a vice president shot a hated political enemy.
Vice President Burr firing at A. Hamilton.

[Thebaddog]

At first I thought that the White House was misplaying their media strategy. Particularly when I heard that Mary Matalin was involved. Now I think that they were ahead of it all every step of the way and that plinking David Gregory was worth every minute of coverage.

The old Fokkers don't even know that they are being prodded for our agenda, IMHO.

[1rudeboy]

I didn't think your initial comment was off-base, but some of the others on this thread look a whole like knee-jerk reactions.

[MineralMan]

Actually, your heart is in the center of your chest, leaning a bit to the left.

[indcons]

5 of 10 would be my guess.

[JerseyDvl]

This story is really sputtering if that's the best they can come up with at this point.
It's obvious they will just keep recycling Thursday's stories to make this a Sunday talk show. topic.

[Lazamataz]

I can only speak with surety about myself: 0 of 1.

[Starboard]

What's made this awkward reporting not merely annoying but socially and politically divisive is that it insults the intelligence of some people who already feel insulted in other ways by the very same class of urban journalists.

How ironic. It is pieces like this, that attempt to cleverly juxtapose a hunting accident and leading a war, that are both awkward and intelligence insulting.