Vice President on Fox News

[jocon]

Mr. Cheney is scheduled to appear on FOX NEWS and address the shooting.
I got an advanced copy of some of the questions and comments....

Mr. Vice President, Did Mr. Whittington take any hunting safety courses?

Why exactly did he walk into your line of fire?

Our thoughts are with you, Mr. Vice-President, during this difficult time.

It has been suggested that Mr. Whittington was inebriated at the time of the shooting. Did you smell alcohol on his breath?

Is it customary for a lawyer to walk unannounced in the line of fire of a trained hunter?

Does it seems odd that Mr. Whittington would be perpendicular with the ground during a quail hunt?

How did his own negligence contribute to his injuries.

Is it fair to say that if you and your medical team had not been there, that Mr. Whittington would have died of this self-inflicted gunshot wound?

 

[kpm76]

You're joking, right?????

 

[Chuck S]

Oh, here's some more.

Is it fair to say that it was because of Mr. Whittington's influence that both of you were hunting illegally, without the required bird stamp on your license, against your staunch objections?

Were you in fear of your life from Mr. Whittington, thus under Texas law allowing you to shoot him?

In truth, this was a hunting accident. They are much more common than one would think. And while we can poke fun at the VP, Mr. Whittingon was injured more seriously than the press originally led us to believe, the man had a heart attack yesterday because of one of the pellets. I'm sure the VP feels terrible about the incident. I had a friend shoot himself in the foot, literally, a few years ago. I think everyone should have to take some sort of training/safety course before being issued a hunting permit.

 

[inneedofvacation]

Here's some:

Did you do something stupid and accidently shoot the guy? Answer - yes

Are you sorry? Answer - Yes

Thanks, thats all the questions really necessary in the matter today!

 

[chesirechik]

Has anyone else watched The Daily Show that past two days. Their "coverage" has been hysterical. Monday's showed I laughed so hard I almost cried. And last night's "phone call" between Bush & Cheny was priceless.

I won't even be able to watch this press conference.....it's all so rediculous.

 

[Free4Life11]

You know the media needs to just chill out. They're just mad because they weren't told the second this happened and so they are trying to turn it into a big issue. It was an accident and hopefully the guy who was shot will make a speedy recovery. I'm sure he feels terrible for shooting his friend, no matter whos "fault" it was.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Mr. Cheney is scheduled to appear on FOX NEWS and address the shooting.
I got an advanced copy of some of the questions and comments....

Mr. Vice President, Did Mr. Whittington take any hunting safety courses?

Why exactly did he walk into your line of fire?

Our thoughts are with you, Mr. Vice-President, during this difficult time.

It has been suggested that Mr. Whittington was inebriated at the time of the shooting. Did you smell alcohol on his breath?

Is it customary for a lawyer to walk unannounced in the line of fire of a trained hunter?

Does it seems odd that Mr. Whittington would be perpendicular with the ground during a quail hunt?

How did his own negligence contribute to his injuries.

Is it fair to say that if you and your medical team had not been there, that Mr. Whittington would have died of this self-inflicted gunshot wound?

Very funny!

 

[Chuck S]

You know the media needs to just chill out. They're just mad because they weren't told the second this happened and so they are trying to turn it into a big issue. It was an accident and hopefully the guy who was shot will make a speedy recovery. I'm sure he feels terrible for shooting his friend, no matter whos "fault" it was.

I do think the news agencies have a legitimate complaint that there was not any statement by the White House press secretary in a timely manner. A simple statement acknowledging the incident and the condition of the victim would have sufficed.

 

[inneedofvacation]

Man, digging deep when all you have left to do is bash a press secretary!

 

[Free4Life11]

I do think the news agencies have a legitimate complaint that there was not any statement by the White House press secretary in a timely manner. A simple statement acknowledging the incident and the condition of the victim would have sufficed.

Frankly I'm glad they waited. The way the media is these days they would have gone nuts, not that they haven't, but they would gone nuts for 24 more hours than they already have.

 

[Chuck S]

Isn't it the main purpose of the press secretary to issue statements regarding incidents in a timely manner regarding the executive branch? It would be far better to admit the incident and do damage control rather than wait for the regular press to find out later. Even GWB's former press secretary agreed with that.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I do think the news agencies have a legitimate complaint that there was not any statement by the White House press secretary in a timely manner. A simple statement acknowledging the incident and the condition of the victim would have sufficed.

Doesn't the Vice President have his own staff that issues statements?

 

[Chuck S]

Doesn't the Vice President have his own staff that issues statements?

Apparently, but by Cheney's sec'y not doing a release, it then became a White House sec'y issue...both were somewhat at fault...Cheney's more so than GWBs.

Marlin Fitzwater, sec'y to Reagan and the elder Bush said:

"If [Cheney's] press secretary had any sense about it at all, she would have gotten the story together and put it out. Calling AP, UPI, and all of the press services. That would have gotten the story out and it would have been the right thing to do, recognizing his responsibility to the people as a nationally elected official, to tell the country what happened," Fitzwater added.

"Secondly, it would have been confined to the vice president. By not telling anyone for 24 hours, it made it a White House story. Now it has become 'when was the president notified?', 'why didn't he put it out?' It becomes a story about the White House handling of it."

Either way, the press does have a legitimate complaint that there was no earlier press release.

 

[dennis99ss]

Mr. Cheney, Why did you wait 14 hours to allow yourself to be questioned by the sheriff? Was it to remove the alcohol from your breath?

 

[bsnyder]

The latest outrageous overreach by the MSM came from David Ignatius in a Washington Post column today:

Nobody died at Armstrong Ranch, but this incident reminds me a bit of Sen. Edward Kennedy's delay in informing Massachusetts authorities about his role in the fatal automobile accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969. That story, and dozens of others about the Kennedy family, illustrates how wealthy, powerful people can behave as if they are above the law. For my generation, the fall of Richard Nixon is the ultimate allegory about how power can corrupt and destroy. It begins not with venality but with a sense of God-given mission.

So, the failure to tell the national press corps about a hunting accident for 14 hours is similar to leaving to leaving a woman to die in a submerged car while fleeing the scene?

Inbelievable! The press corps hatred of the Bush Administration has led them to become completely irrational.

 

[Galahad]

Man, digging deep when all you have left to do is bash a press secretary!

No - THIS is "digging deep"

Mr. Cheney, Why did you wait 14 hours to allow yourself to be questioned by the sheriff? Was it to remove the alcohol from your breath?

 

[Chuck S]

Inbelievable! The press corps hatred of the Bush Administration has led them to become completely irrational.

Again, according to former REPUBLICAN press secretaries, the press has a legitimate complaint about not being informed.

Ari Fleischer, who was Bush's first press secretary, from 2001 to 2003, told Editor & Publisher the accident should have been promptly reported to the public.

"It would have been better if the vice president and/or his staff had come out last Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning and announced it," he said. "It could have and should have been handled differently."

Marlin Fitzwater, who served as press secretary to President George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, also criticised Cheney, telling E&P he was "appalled" at the response to the incident.

 

[bsnyder]

Again, according to former REPUBLICAN press secretaries, the press has a legitimate complaint about not being informed.

Ari Fleischer, who was Bush's first press secretary, from 2001 to 2003, told Editor & Publisher the accident should have been promptly reported to the public.

"It would have been better if the vice president and/or his staff had come out last Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning and announced it," he said. "It could have and should have been handled differently."

Marlin Fitzwater, who served as press secretary to President George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, also criticised Cheney, telling E&P he was "appalled" at the response to the incident.

That's their opinon. But I can pretty much guarantee that neither of them would compare this to Chappaquidick.

 

[Chuck S]

That's their opinon. But I can pretty much guarantee that neither of them would compare this to Chappaquidick.

The fact that some reporter is comparing the delay to Chappaquiddick, which no one on this thread has stated they agree with, does NOT excuse the lack of press releases from Cheney's and GWB's respective press secretaries, does it? And in fact, statements from Fleischer and Fitzwater seem to support that proper protocol was not followed, don't they? Who better would know the proper protocol than former press secretaries?

 

[Miss Jasmine]

From a PR point of view, yeah a statement should have been released sooner. But really, this is getting out of hand. The press is totally .