The man Cheney shots has had a heart attack

[poohandwendy]

And lest anyone truly believe that she was too preoccupied with attending to Whittington's injuries to pause and contact LE, they did have time for dinner

Oh for goodness sakes, did you not read what she said? It did not occur to her. She did not see it as a criminal thing. Apparently you feel she should have done something different, why not just drop her an email wth your suggestions?

And your thinly veiled suggestion that the fact that they all had dinner together meant not caring about what happened is offensive.

 

[poohandwendy]

I'll go one more round, then I"m out.

If the Secret Service did notify the sheriff's office, why didn't they question anyone until the next day, according to the owner of the ranch. Wouldn't she have noticed the Sheriff on her property?

That would be a question best answered by the Sheriffs office.

The rest of your post is totally irrelevant...

 

[FergieTCat]

Poohandwendy, I could say the same for your relevancy.

Lovely chatting with you ...

 

[delilah]

Will anything happen to Cheney? I mean, if it was you or me, I would think some kind of charges would be pressed or something, even if it was an accident. Just goes to show how competent he is.

We were just discussing this at lunch, what would happen to anybody else, if they accidentally shot somebody while hunting without a valid hunting license? Probably, anybody else would be in jail. Intentional, or not. Friend or not. I remember a big flap was made back in January about some poor woman who lost her eye because somebody had fired a gun into the air at midnight on New Year Eve. Sure, it is stupid to do something like that, and I wouldn't have done it. It is a horrible thing to be shot by a stray bullet. But, police were doing a major search for the type of weapon, etc, with the implication that criminal charges would be filed against the person who shot it.
I see an inconsistency of justice here.

 

[bsnyder]

We were just discussing this at lunch, what would happen to anybody else, if they accidentally shot somebody while hunting without a valid hunting license? Probably, anybody else would be in jail. Intentional, or not. Friend or not. I remember a big flap was made back in January about some poor woman who lost her eye because somebody had fired a gun into the air at midnight on New Year Eve. Sure, it is stupid to do something like that, and I wouldn't have done it. It is a horrible thing to be shot by a stray bullet. But, police were doing a major search for the type of weapon, etc, with the implication that criminal charges would be filed against the person who shot it.
I see an inconsistency of justice here.

You are comparing apples to oranges. They were HUNTING together, a legal sport that carries some degree of risk with it and that has resulted in similar (and worse) accidents in the past. They were not celebrating NYE and shooting guns in the air.

They had valid licenses, they didn't have the newly required upland game bird stamp, which resulted in a routine warning citation. Same thing that would have happened to anyone else in similar circumstances.

Yep, it's a travesty alright. A complete miscarriage of justice. But don't worry, our intrepid elite media reporters are on the hunt, and I'm sure they'll spare no expense or column inches to make sure Cheney is indicted for this horrific crime. And it'll spare them having to address trivial issues like murdering fanatics burning Danish embassies around the world. I'm sure they're pleased!

Apparently, at yesterday's WH Press Briefing, a reporter asked McClellan if the VP would resign because of this.

You can't make this stuff up!

 

[HayGan]

We were just discussing this at lunch, what would happen to anybody else, if they accidentally shot somebody while hunting without a valid hunting license? Probably, anybody else would be in jail. Intentional, or not. Friend or not. I remember a big flap was made back in January about some poor woman who lost her eye because somebody had fired a gun into the air at midnight on New Year Eve. Sure, it is stupid to do something like that, and I wouldn't have done it. It is a horrible thing to be shot by a stray bullet. But, police were doing a major search for the type of weapon, etc, with the implication that criminal charges would be filed against the person who shot it.
I see an inconsistency of justice here.

How can you possibly see a correlation between the 2 situations other than a gun being involved

As I said before, there are hundreds of hunting accidents EVERY year and in most of those incidents no charges are ever filed! How is this any different

 

[Caradana]

It was fumbled in the worst way from a public relations perspective. I mean, an absolutely horrendous treatment. Cheney and his advisors should be EMBARRASSED. I'm sure he's remorseful, I'm sure he's at this guy's bedside ... but it was his own "perceived evasion" that made this such an image nightmare for him.

 

[Galahad]

Apparently, at yesterday's WH Press Briefing, a reporter asked McClellan if the VP would resign because of this.

You can't make this stuff up!

You're kidding?

I guess standards have alarmingly fallen in the nation's schools of journalism.

 

[bsnyder]

You're kidding?

I guess standards have alarmingly fallen in the nation's schools of journalism.

I said apparently because I hadn't yet checked the story out. But it's in the transcripts from yesterday's briefing:

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Connie.

Q Is it proper for the Vice President to offer his resignation or has he offered his resignation --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's an absurd question. Go ahead, Ken.

 

[DawnCt1]

Clinton fired a preemptive strike against Bin Laden, missing him by just a few hours, and I had no problem with it..

But when the Sudan offerred OBL up on a silver platter, Clinton declined. Makes me wonder how sincere the "preemptive strike" actually was.

 

[DawnCt1]

Again, it WAS reported to the authorities shortly after it happened. It was reported to the PRESS the next day.

It's in the press release which was issued by the Sheriffs office, which was linked a few pages back....here it is again:http
://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0213061cheney1.html

What happened to the days of the stealth reporter who put on his trench coat and sought out the story. Now they sit back in the press office and expect to be informed of events. Talk about a lazy occupation.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

But when the Sudan offerred OBL up on a silver platter, Clinton declined. Makes me wonder how sincere the "preemptive strike" actually was.

Tell me exactly how you felt about Sudan in the mid-90's, Dawn. I guess with your selective memory, you probably imagine that at the time, we were on great terms with the Sudanese government, that they were not sponsoring terrorist groups, and that we did not, in fact, bomb the El Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries factory in Sudan's capital Khartoum, which had ties to bin Laden and produce chemicals that could be used to make VX nerve gas. At the time, Clinton taking Sudan's word about Bin Laden as fact would be like President Bush calling Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei of Iran and asking his opinion on how we should deal with the insurgency in Iraq. I'm sure you'd love that prospect...

 

[Geoff_M]

I see an inconsistency of justice here.

Really? This happened about an hour from here... also last weekend:

Man shot when elbow mistaken for squirrel
Monday, February 13, 2006

FROM LOCAL REPORTS

A 64-year-old Muskegon man was treated at Hackley Lakeshore Hospital after he was injured in a hunting accident in Golden Township in Oceana County Sunday morning.

George Arthur Sikkenga was wounded in the elbow by shotgun pellets when his hunting partner, Gregory Scott Wood, 44, also of Muskegon, mistook his elbow for a squirrel.

The two men entered a public wooded area in the southeastern corner of Golden Township at different points.

Sikkenga was wearing camouflage except for a hunter orange hat, which he covered with a hood after taking a seat behind a tree. His elbow was all that was visible when Wood approached from behind the tree.

The incident was investigated by Michigan State Troopers from the Hart Post, and no charges are expected to be filed. It also will be reviewed by the Oceana County Prosecutor, police said.

Link

Newsflash to people living in areas that aren't havens for hunting... The type of story exhibited above is repeated many times across the US each year. Unless gross negligance be demonstrated (i.e. "firing a gun into the air in a populated area"), there ain't going to be charges.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Newsflash to people living in areas that aren't havens for hunting... The type of story exhibited above is repeated many times across the US each year. Unless gross negligance be demonstrated (i.e. "firing a gun into the air in a populated area"), there ain't going to be charges.

True, but the fact that it was the Vice President of the United States does make it a matter of national interest, an obvious point of discussion, and for anyone to say that "this kind of thing happens every day, so why are we talking about it?" is being naive at best.

 

[Geoff_M]

True, but the fact that it was the Vice President of the United States does make it a matter of national interest, an obvious point of discussion, and for anyone to say that "this kind of thing happens every day, so why are we talking about it?" is being naive at best.

Fine, but people need to realize that this isn't the "high crime and misdemeanor" that they keep wishing for. I also find the level of continued interest rather surreal... The last time I saw this number of medical experts being featured on news programming, we were all being shown drawings of President Reagan's colon polyps!

 

[yeartolate]

As is true with alot of what happens (in the current administration) the time from event to disclosure leave too much time for our collective imaginations to wander.


If Cheney played it right (IMHO) he would have disclosed it immediatly the news would have played with it iver the weekend and it would be dead except on the Letterman, Leno, and Stewart. (OK and the assorted liberal pundits) At any rate a big news story it would not be.

But the pause allowed some active imaginations to wonder if he held off disclosing to prevent someone discovering he was drunk at the time of the accident. Given his drunk driving convictions - this would not be a stretch. I don't think this was the case, but when stuff like this happens, you go by the book and get it over with - unless you are hiding something.

 

[LaLa]

This thing would still be an issue with some people no matter WHEN it was disclosed. There will always be those out there that will try to take a horribly unfortunate accident and politicize it in order to achieve their own goals. Frankly, I feel the press has reached an all time new low with this one. The man is being referred to as "Cheney's Victim" in the press. As if it was intentional. Give me a break.

 

[Geoff_M]

As is true with alot of what happens (in the current administration) the time from event to disclosure leave too much time for our collective imaginations to wander.

If you think that an immediate press release (along with the SS informing the local Sheriff "shortly" after the accident) would have prevented all of the "wandering" that's taken place, you're kidding yourself. Such thinking would still have taken place, only 24 hours sooner. As a service to try and focus the collective wandering on the matter, the WSJ has put together this helpful timeline:

Cheney's Coverup
The Vice President shoots a man. Questions must be asked.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

The press corps is outraged that the White House waited 20 hours or so to disclose that Vice President Dick Cheney had shot a hunting companion, and we can see why. Don't these Bush people understand that the coverup is worse than the crime?

In the name of media solidarity, and in the interest of restraining the Imperial Presidency, we have put together the following coverup timeline with crucial questions that deserve to be answered:

• 5:30 p.m., Saturday (all times Central Standard Time). Mr. Cheney sprays Harry Whittington with birdshot, and the Secret Service immediately informs local police. Who is Harry Whittington and whom does he lobby for? Does he know Scooter Libby?

• 6:30 p.m. White House Chief of Staff Andy Card informs President Bush that there's been a hunting accident involving the Vice President's party. Did Mr. Bush ask follow-up questions? Was he intellectually curious?

• 7 p.m. Karl Rove tells Mr. Bush that it is Mr. Cheney who did the shooting. Why was this detail withheld for a full 30 minutes from the President? Who else did Mr. Rove talk to about this in the interim? Was Valerie Plame ever mentioned?

• 5 a.m., Sunday. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan learns that Mr. Cheney is the shooter. He also fails to alert the media. Did he rush to write talking points or fall back to sleep?

• 11 a.m. Katharine Armstrong, owner of the ranch where the shooting took place, blows the story sky-high by giving the news to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. According to Ms. Armstrong, Mr. Cheney told her to do what she thought made sense. Has Ms. Armstrong ever worked for Halliburton?

• 1:30 p.m. The Texas paper posts the story on its Web site, after calling the Veep's office for confirmation. Everyone involved confirms more or less everything, or so the official line goes. Their agreement is very suspicious.

• 11:27 a.m., Monday. Mr. McClellan finally holds a press conference and gets grilled. One reporter actually asks (and we're not making this one up), "Would this be much more serious if the man had died?"

For the record, Mr. McClellan replied, "Of course it would." We hope the 78-year-old Mr. Whittington recovers promptly after his heart attack yesterday. As for the Beltway press corps, it has once again earned the esteem in which it is held by the American public.

Link

 

[sodaseller]

If you think that an immediate press release (along with the SS informing the local Sheriff "shortly" after the accident) would have prevented all of the "wandering" that's taken place, you're kidding yourself. Such thinking would still have taken place, only 24 hours sooner. As a service to try and focus the collective wandering on the matter, the WSJ has put together this helpful timeline:

The WH also tried to use humor. But let's face the facts. Much questioning would be dispelled had Cheney been interviewed sometime that evening, and if the only factual account so far, that from Armstrong, weren't so plainly preposterous. And there is no honest reason to sit on the info and pretend it's not newsworthy. Humor does not change that fact

 

[yeartolate]

If you think that an immediate press release (along with the SS informing the local Sheriff "shortly" after the accident) would have prevented all of the "wandering" that's taken place, you're kidding yourself. Such thinking would still have taken place, only 24 hours sooner. As a service to try and focus the collective wandering on the matter, the WSJ has put together this helpful timeline:

Geoff, I am not kidding myself. Opinion pieces like that would indeed exist, but as far as it being a 24/7 CNN (et al) story - it would have been GREATLY diffused.

What was to be harmed by immediate disclosure? He goes with his friend to the hospital, makes sure he is ok. Police get called and interview the VP immediatly (in person). The VP makes an immediate statement, controversy diffused for MOST of America. (the extremes on either side never let anything go anyway - so I will dismiss them)