Saturday, while on a quail hunting trip in Corpus Christi, Texas, Vice President "Big Dick" Cheney shot one of his fellow hunters, a lawyer named Harry Whittington, 78.
Cheney was out hunting with Whittington and another unidentified man when a covey of quail took flight. Whittington shot one of the birds and had gone to retrieve it.
While Whittington was
behind the other two hunters, another covey took flight, Cheney followed one with his gun, and fired, hitting Whittington in the face, neck and chest.
This is NOT how it's supposed to work.Let me say that one more time: Cheney, who had a valid non-resident hunting license but not an "upland game bird stamp," shot Whittington, who was wearing a blaze orange cap and vest and was outside of the hunting line,
according to the report submitted to the Texas Parks and Wildlife by the Kenedy County sheriff's department.Hey, what do you want from a guy who got
five deferments from the draft?
Cheney's medical team, which apparently follows him wherever he goes, rushed to help Whittington, treating the wounds and getting him to a hospital.
Meanwhile, the owner of the ranch, Katherine Armstrong, contacted the
Corpus Christi Caller-Times about the incident, according to White House spokesmonkey Scott McClellan. (More on this in a moment.) Afterwards, Armstrong spoke to Cheney, telling him that she thought it would be a major story by Sunday, and she felt comfortable going to a local paper about it. “And he said ‘you go ahead and do whatever you are comfortable doing,’ ” according to Armstrong.
The White House was informed of a hunting accident at around 7:00 PM Saturday night, according to McClellan, but did not alert the press corps immediately. Or even later that evening. In fact, he didn't let the press corps know until about 22 hours later. This led to a bit of
hostility in the White House press room, and while McClellan tried to bob and weave, going back over and over to the lame explanation that they "wanted to make sure Whittington was getting the proper medical care" and were "waiting for all of the information to come in" so they could clarify what was going on, it was a bit like watching that Urkel guy trying to box with Mike Tyson. A straight-ahead question would be asked, such as, "Scott, why did it take almost 24 hours for you to tell us about this?" And then McClellan would either refer them to the Vice President's press office or try to lay the blame on Armstrong, saying that the press office had decided to let her handle going to the press.
The Vice President's press office did, however, confirm the incident to any journalists who contacted them for information. However, it appears from the transcript of the press conference that they were not forthcoming as to why it took 22 hours to say anything, let alone contact the press themselves.
Now, a lot of this story is pretty questionable. First, why did Cheney go outside of the hunting area? And even more importantly, why didn't he recognize the BRIGHT ORANGE that Whittington was wearing? I've never seen any bright orange quail before.
Moving on, why exactly
did the Vice President's press office not release some sort of information, rather than just letting a local Corpus Christi paper carry the story? And why can nobody int he White House offer any realistic explanation as to why it took so long for
anyone to say anything about the incident?
Before everyone starts insisting that I'm some kind of conspiracy theorist, let me state for the record that I
do not believe for one second that Cheney actually meant to shoot Whittington. If for no other reason than because Cheney doesn't have the testicular fortitude to do something like that himself. If he really wanted to have Whittington shot, he'd have had some goons do it. That's more his style.
As to why it took so long for the White House to issue some kind of statement or hold a press conference, I think it's because, in light of all the problems that the administration is having right now, the last thing they needed was for word to get out that the Vice President had gone out and shot some guy, accidental or not.
Of course, I also believe that if it had got out earlier, Fox would probably have all of their hosts shouting about how Whittington had accosted Cheney and it was self-defense. And, of course, Bill O'Reilly would claim that Whittington was a far-left radical who was trying to overthrow the government.
I think the White House and Cheney need to present a more realistic answer to why it took so long. Making sure Whittington got proper medical care is all well and good, but they were in Corpus Christi. This isn't the middle of the Sahara, for crying out loud. They have hospitals and doctors right in the city! And I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't almost a full day away from the ranch where all of this happened.
Of course, dodging questions and not telling the truth is par for the course with this administration, so I can't imagine why I'm surprised.
(Incidentally, while the whole thing has been written off by the sheriff's department as "no more than a hunting accident," thereby letting Big Dick off the hook, he did get a citation for not having the proper bird stamp for his license. No word on whether Dubya will issue a pardon for him.)All the best,
Derek
(DCF)
(Author's Note: The photos in this post are screenshots lifted from an absolutely hilarious Flash cartoon about Cheney's duck hunting expedition with Supreme Court Judge Scalia. The cartoon can be viewed in its entirety at http://www.justiceisduckblind.com.)
Subscribe to The DCF News