Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

[gr8fuldaniel]

YAHOO NEWS

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday. Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong. Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. <snip> Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and found a second covey. Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told the Associated Press in an interview. "The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good." The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said Whittington was bleeding but not very seriously injured, and Cheney was very apologetic. "It broke the skin," she said. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that." She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington, holding his face and cleaning up the blood. "Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came." Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year. She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together. "This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

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

[Compugasm]

Everytime I hear something like this, I think of that scene in "The Distinguished Gentlemen" where they go quail hunting with assult rifles. They fire about 1000 rounds into a flock and drop one. Eddie Murphy says "Must've died of a heart attack".

[Osborn F Enready]

I just heard about it on CNN and have to say that it is a shame. I always hate seeing an accidental shooting, especially when an experienced hunter is at the hands of it. Hunters should ALWAYS know the location of the others in their party, and should never swing over another hunters body.

I guess Cheney runs as fast and loose on hunting safety basics as he does on National Security safety basics.

A sad day for all involved, especially the victim of the accident.

I can't help but wonder which democratic knob polisher is going to use this to trumpet more anti-gun agenda........

[another day]

Heh...this is very weird...that it happened to cheney

totally accidental of course, but it's just ironic since hes such an evil bastard.

[G. Adams]

Shame it wasn't Cheney in the firing line. I'd organise a street party.

[Scribbler1]

Of course I will make a point to watch the Daily Show tomorrow. In all fairness I hope they don't make TOO much political hay out of this. It WAS an accident after all regardless of who did it.



Of course, it would explain the whole Iraqi civilian "collateral damage" issue.

And when my Wife told me about it earlier, my first response was "why would they try to shoot poor Dan Quayle?"

[RickSp]

Look the guy was probably a terrorist sympathizer talking on a cell phone to Bin Laden himself. And anyone who says otherwise is a traitor.

[Chris the Chees]

Its nice to know that Cheney has decided that he wishes to liberate 78 year old men as well as small inoffensive birds and Iraqis.

[Clarence]

Quote by: Chris the Chees Its nice to know that Cheney has decided that he wishes to liberate 78 year old men as well as small inoffensive birds and Iraqis.

:) aw shit! that's funny. I'll bet some anti-gunners will surface. I'm not at all against guns. I don't hunt. But I would if I needed fur skin or meat and then I'd use the entire animal. Oh, and I'd kill it with a crossbow up close and know it's pain (out of respect). The only way I could justify doing it myself. You know, hunting. I gobble down ground up cow like it's my job though... :confused: HAH! I just thought about Cheney 'liberating' old men and inoffensive birds. phew! Alright, I'm over it. Good laugh.

[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?

[Boetie]

I wonder if this gun accident will cause Cheney to take a cold hard look at the statistics of death due to gun accidents in the United States and start doing something about it or is he going to be afraid of the NRA. My bet is he will be afraid of the NRA

[gr8fuldaniel]

Boetie, assuming this WAS an accident, do you think Cheney or any other hunters would swear off the sport that has been around as long as human beings have existed, becaues of a few accidents?? More people die from doctors malpractice than from hunting accidents. Should doctors be outlawed?

Suspicions.
The Brad Blog brings up a few good points:

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Several sources (Fox, CNN, Reuters) confirming incident, but reporting it took place yesterday (Saturday) at 5:30pm Texas time. Why was the story withheld from the media until now? Almost 24 hours later? The man is reported to be in stable condition, apparently, at this time. Did they wait until they could report that he would be fine before releasing it at all? Would we have found out about it at all, therefore, if the man had died? Did they wait until after it was too late to be discussed discussed on the Sunday News shows?

An important little fact:

DETAILS FROM HOSPITAL ON WHITTINGTON'S CONDITION... As Josh Marshall points out, details on Whittington's condition has so far only been reported by the property owner, Katharine Armstrong who has, by-and-large, downplayed the injury as no big deal.

The guy who got mistaken for a little bird happened to have been up to his neck in Gov. GW Bushs funeral parlor scandal.

There was a delay getting this guy treatment:

News reports have said that Whittington was shot at 5:30pm CT, but Wheeler had no explanation for the apparent delay in his admission, other than she understands he was initially treated on-site. While the hospital is a two-hour drive from Armstrong's ranch, Whittington was transported to the facility by the hospital's own helicopter, so the reason for the apparent two-hour time-delay is still unclear.

Another intuit:

POLITICAL CORTEX summarizes nicely... So, what we have is an event shrouded in secrecy for almost twenty-four hours which, when disclosed, was accompanied by a fawning statement by a Bush apparachik exonerating Cheney from any and all blame and/or liability. 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? Who the heck knows. What we do know is that, regardless of what actually happened, the Administration spin doctors immediately jumped in and crafted a story that put Cheney in the best possible light. And the "traditional media" reported that story without any skepticism whatsoever. Nevertheless, in light of the circumstances described above, this story from Ms. Armstrong is really no more credible than the stories we first heard from the Bushies about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. Looks like just another day for the Bush White House and the pliant media

[Boetie]

gr8fuldaniel, I was including all gun accidents, not just the hunting ones. There are gun accidents at home, etc. All gun accidents.

By the way your post about Cheney mistaking a man for a quail is interesting. It has that same mistake quality that Cheney likes to show often. Of course this hunting mistake still won't top the one that will end up killing untold numbers of United States soldiers. The end to that mistake will be decided on the basis of whether or not Halliburton thinks they collected enough unearned money from the taxpayers.

[Osborn F Enready]

Guns are essential if you value freedom Boetie. Hunting in some form or another is also necessary if you value food in the form of a balanced diet.

[another day]

It's not about him mistaking the man for a quail...the guy simply got in the line of fire.

I doubt there is anything sinister to this...I'm sure if dick cheney actually wanted to shoot him then he would have gotten one of his henchmen to do it for him.

[Scribbler1]

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 wasn't an accident it would be assault with a deadly weapon or attempted murder. I'm sure there are laws against THAT! The only thing is people who try to kill other people aren't too quick to call the cops on themselves.

[RickSp]

Quote by: Scribbler1 If it wasn't an accident it would be assault with a deadly weapon or attempted murder. I'm sure there are laws against THAT! The only thing is people who try to kill other people aren't too quick to call the cops on themselves.

All week Cheney has been arguing that the president is above the law. So why would he bother reporting the shooting? The law doesn't apply to him either. The only thing that surprises me is that the Justice Department hasn't launched an investigation into who at the Corpus Christi Chronicle leaking the story. That leak had to give aid and comfort to terrorists.

What I am wondering is how Karl Rove will manage to blame the shooting on either Kerry, Dean or Hillary.

[Amuse]

Maybe Cheney thought he saw a WMD in the guys shirt pocket??

[Amuse]

Maybe Cheney thought he saw a WMD in the guys shirt pocket?

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: another day I doubt there is anything sinister to this...

You mean like if Cheney tried to field dress the guy?