Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

[fushigi]

Thus, this appears to be yet another example of the Bush Administration attempting to manipulate the press and perhaps hide the truth. What really happened on that ranch yesterday? <snip> Looks like just another day for the Bush White House and the pliant media

Seems to me if the Bush White House was so incredibly able to manipulate the press and master media spin, either (A) the event would have never been reported in the first place or (B) Cheney's name would have been left out of the story. As far as not hearing about it for 24 hours, that doesn't mean it wasn't reported in a timely manner, just someone felt at least a small sense of propriety for a critical member of the U.S. gov't.

[RickSp]

An interesting and amusing take on the shooting.

Shoots, Hides and Leaves

Why isn't Dick Cheney on TV right now? The vice president of the United States shoots someone in a hunting accident and rather than immediately come clean to the public, his office keeps it a secret for almost a whole day. Even then, it's only to confirm a report in a local paper. And still from the White House, no details, no apologies, and no Cheney. No one is suggesting that Cheney shot his hunting buddy on purpose. But could he have been negligent? What does he say happened exactly? What do the others there -- not just their hostess -- say took place? Shouldn't there be some sort of investigation? Does Cheney take any responsibility? And just when was he planning on letting the press know?

[fushigi]

Quote by: RickSp An interesting and amusing take on the shooting. Shoots, Hides and Leaves

Come on, when has it ever been Cheney's style to hold a press conference and reveal anything, aside from "we have to get those terrorists before they get us!"

It's just his style. Textbook Cheney.

[Lullaby]

Quote by: gr8fuldaniel Now we find out it happened over 24 hours ago. The law says you have to report hunting accidents immediately. Not sure about the law if it wasnt an accident. If it was an accident, why wait so long to report it?

I believe the participants were more concerned with getting the injured party to the hospital.

And, can you please quote the relevant law? I'm most particularly interested in the time frame of "immediate." 24 hours seems to me to be quite immediate, given that medical treatment takes precedence.

[RickSp]

Quote by: fushigi Come on, when has it ever been Cheney's style to hold a press conference and reveal anything, aside from "we have to get those terrorists before they get us!" It's just his style. Textbook Cheney.

Is anyone in the Bush White House accountible for his/her actions?

Cheney sat down with reporters to justify Bush's illegal wiretaps. He could have had a short chat with Larry King or some other non-threatening journalist about the shooting. He would win points. Right now he is running and hiding. Pretty wimpy.

[Waychel]

This sort of thing is known to happen. There are all kinds of accidents that can occure when hunting, which is why everyone is always extremely coordinated and informed of what the others are doing. There are different ways to approach hunting and different game, but accidents will most assuredly happen if you are not careful. The group needs to be alert, informed and prepared at all times.

When you're targeting/focusing on something from a distance, you're pretty much blind to other surroundings. I would expect such a wealthy/experienced group to not make such mistakes, but I don't find it that unusual.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: Waychel When you're targeting/focusing on something from a distance, you're pretty much blind to other surroundings. I would expect such a wealthy/experienced group to not make such mistakes, but I don't find it that unusual.

When Blaze Orange enters your line of sight buzzers and bells go off in your head. It is a signal to an experienced hunter to ABORT.

[Lullaby]

gr8fuldaniel, I'm waiting on you to quote the law, please?

[Waychel]

We don't know if they were wearing jackets or not. Every picture that I have seen of Bush and Cheney hunting shows them wearing only camo.

The guy was in the line of fire. We don't know where he was positioned. All we know is that Cheney was targeting a bird when he was in the way.

[Matt W]

So it would appear that, at the very minimum, he needs his eyes tested?

[RickSp]

Quote by: Waychel We don't know if they were wearing jackets or not. Every picture that I have seen of Bush and Cheney hunting shows them wearing only camo. The guy was in the line of fire. We don't know where he was positioned. All we know is that Cheney was targeting a bird when he was in the way.

CNN this morning reported the lawyer was wearing a blaze orange vest. He was thirty yards away and may have been obscured by brush. He apparently flushed the doves that Cheney shot at.

[brien]

Quote by: gr8fuldaniel YAHOO NEWS It was nice of Cheney to let the guy he shot, have his personal ambulance. Right, this happens all the time. Nothing to see here folks, move along. Mental note: Make sure you dont dress like a quail if you hang with Cheney

Someone ought to check the guys glasses. Wonder if they really wore the required blaze orange or dispensed with the formailty because they were on 50,000 acres of private land. CNN can make mistakes.

It's too bad. The guy took bird shot to the face. Must have really stung. Ouchhh :eek:

[brien]

Quote by: RickSp Is anyone in the Bush White House accountible for his/her actions? Cheney sat down with reporters to justify Bush's illegal wiretaps. He could have had a short chat with Larry King or some other non-threatening journalist about the shooting. He would win points. Right now he is running and hiding. Pretty wimpy.

No different than Ted Kennedy running, swimming and hiding when he let Mary Jo drown in Chappaquiddick. Probably worse, because she died.

All of these politicians act the same god damned way. They run from the publicty when it implicates them in something bad, and they can't get to them fast enough when they are involved in something for which they are going to be praised. Hypocrites.

[Osborn F Enready]

Brien said: Hypocrites

I say:
Couldn't agree more.

[brien]

Quote by: gr8fuldaniel Now we find out it happened over 24 hours ago. The law says you have to report hunting accidents immediately. Not sure about the law if it wasnt an accident. If it was an accident, why wait so long to report it?

Dan: I think it was probably reported to the local authorites upon arrival of Whittington at the ER. Usually, the ER has to notify the police immediately of all gunshot wound treatments. So, that probably would have been the first opportunity for the authorities to get it out to the media.

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: brien Quote by: gr8fuldaniel Now we find out it happened over 24 hours ago. The law says you have to report hunting accidents immediately. Not sure about the law if it wasnt an accident. If it was an accident, why wait so long to report it? Dan: I think it was probably reported to the local authorites upon arrival of Wadington at the ER. Usually, the ER has to notify the police immediately of all gunshot wound treatments. So, that probably would have been the first opportunity for the authorities to get it out to the media.

brien, do a bit of research before conjecturing: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1001995719

The more than 18-hour delay in news emerging that the vice president of the United States had shot a man, sending him to an intensive care unit with his wounds, grew even more curious Monday with word from the White House that President Bush had been informed of the incident Saturday but not Dick Cheney's role until the next day. Earlier, E&P had learned that the official confirmation of the shooting came about only after a local reporter in Corpus Christi, Texas, received a tip from the owner of the property where the shooting occurred and called Vice President Cheney's office for confirmation. The confirmation was made but it is not known for certain that Cheney's office, the White House, or anyone else intended to announce the shooting if the reporter, Jaime Powell of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, had not received word from the ranch owner.

While E&P was first to raise questions about the delay Sunday afternoon, Frank James, reporter in the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau, put his own spin on it later in the day, asking, "How is it that Vice President Cheney can shoot a man, albeit accidentally, on Saturday during a hunting trip and the American public not be informed of it until today?" Indeed, others raised questions as well. "There was no immediate reason given as to why the incident wasn't reported until Sunday," the Dallas Morning News observed. "The sheriff's office in Kenedy County did not respond to phone calls Sunday." The president, who was at the White House over the weekend, was informed about the incident in Texas after it happened Saturday by Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and was updated on Sunday, press secretary Scott McClellan said. But neither the White House nor the vice president's staff announced the shooting. The Washington Post reported late Sunday that Cheney's office did not make a public announcement.

"It was accidental, a hunting accident," Sheriff Ramon Salinas III of Kenedy County told The New York Times, adding that the Secret Service notified him Saturday of the episode. "They did what they had to according to law."

On Sunday, the Chicago Tribune's James wrote on the Washington bureau's blog at the newspaper's site, "When a vice president of the U.S. shoots a man under any circumstance, that is extremely relevant information. What might be the excuse to justify not immediately making the incident public? "The vice president is well known for preferring to operate in secret. ... Some secrecy, especially when it comes to the executing the duties of president or vice president, is understandable and expected by Americans. "But when the vice president's office, or the White House, delays in reporting a shooting like Saturday's to the public via the media, it needlessly raises suspicions and questions of trust. And it may just further the impression held by many, rightly or wrongly, that the White House doesn't place the highest premium on keeping the public fully and immediately informed."

:eek:

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: Lullaby gr8fuldaniel, I'm waiting on you to quote the law, please?

HB 1806 Hunting injury

In addition, the person who causes an injury or damages property while hunting or trapping is required to report the incident immediately to a law-enforcement officer. The failure to provide assistance to the injured person or immediately report the hunting-related injury is a Class 6 felony.

[brien]

Quote by: PatrickHenry brien, do a bit of research before conjecturing: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1001995719 :eek:

Pat: So where is the conjecture on my part? My point is/was that the hospital is USUALLY obligated to inform the police when they treat a shooting victim. Are you stating that I should conclude from your link that the hospital was not obligated to inform the police? And if the hospital didn't inform the police, then they are remiss. We really don't know if the police were informed or not informed by the hospital. All I was "conjecturing" was that the hospital was "usually" under the obligation to inform the police and we should think that they followed protocol. If not, then they are responsible for an illegal act, if they are under legal obligation to report all gunshot wounds. Hopefully, this makes my post clearer to you.

[gr8fuldaniel]

From Patricks article

"It was accidental, a hunting accident," Sheriff Ramon Salinas III of Kenedy County told The New York Times, adding that the Secret Service notified him Saturday of the episode. "They did what they had to according to law."

So according to the Sherriff, the triggerman doesnt have to file an accident report personally? More cronyism. How will the Sherriff file a report on heresay? Fishy.

Here they stand above the law AGAIN. Somebody oughtta knock these fucking tyrants off their high horses.

It will happen in good time. Pride before a fall, you know.

brien,
The onus is on Dick Cheney to drop a dime personally and poke his 3 favorite numbers 911

[Zeebadee]

I got this in an email, source unknown:

CHENEY SAYS SHOOTING OF FELLOW HUNTER WAS BASED ON FAULTY INTELLIGENCE
Believed Shooting Victim Was Zawahiri, Veep Says

Vice President Dick Cheney revealed today that he shot a fellow hunter while on a quail hunting trip over the weekend because he believed the man was the fugitive terror mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Mr. Cheney acknowledged that the man he sprayed with pellets on Saturday was not al-Zawahiri but rather Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old millionaire lawyer from Austin, blaming the mix-up on “faulty intelligence.”

“I believed I had credible intelligence that al-Zawahiri had infiltrated my hunting party in disguise with the intent of spraying me with pellets,” Mr. Cheney told reporters. “Only after I shot Harry in the face and he shouted ‘Cheney, you bastard’ did I realize that this intelligence was faulty.”

Moments after Mr. Cheney’s assault on Mr. Whittington, Mr. al-Zawahiri appeared in a new videotape broadcast on al-Jazeera to announce that he was uninjured in the vice president’s attack because, in his words, “I was in Pakistan.”

An aide to the vice president said he believed that the American people would believe Mr. Cheney’s version of events, but added, “If he was going to shoot any of his cronies right now it’s a shame it wasn’t Jack Abramoff.”

At the White House, President George W. Bush defended his vice president’s shooting of a fellow hunter, saying that the attack sent “a strong message to terrorists everywhere.”

“The message is, if Dick Cheney is willing to shoot an innocent American citizen at point-blank range, imagine what he’ll do to you,” Mr. Bush said.

Elsewhere, aviator Steve Fossett completed his three-day journey around the globe, setting a world record for wasting both time and money.