[Barney Gumble]

If Cheney had gone first to the D.C. Press, the drumbeat would have been, "he cares more about spinning the news than the health of his hunting buddy".

Exactly. They might have even said "Why isn't the family releasing the news? Why Cheney?" Who knows what complaints they could come up with, but it would be something to try to make a scandal.

[Verginius Rufus]

It's like the old story of the old man, the boy, and the donkey, going on a trip...no matter what they did (boy riding while man walked, old man riding while boy walked, both riding, neither riding) the by-standers would find fault with how they were handling it.