One more question about Dick's "accident".

[Island Blue]

Sorry to post a Dick thread here. I realize there have been 1,754 similar posts in GD today, but I like you folks better so I thought I'd torture you with my question instead. (Whaaaaaa?)

Does anyone else think that the strangest part about this entire incident is not that Dick sprayed his friend with bird shot, but that Dick and his friend were at the ranch with two women who neither are married to? Can you even begin to imagine the uproar if ANY Democrat (never mind Clinton) was found to be in a similar situation?

I know this particular Dick mishap was very tiny in comparison to the many crimes this administration* has committed during the past six years, but this angle of the story seems like something the press would really enjoy wrapping its hands around - I'm guessing though that they won't. They never do.

[sandnsea]

1. Oh yes, another puzzlement

Although I was already called politically incorrect for even suggesting that men and women can't go on hunting trips together without presuming the women are "sluts". :eyes:

This whole story stinks to high heaven, the article ProSense posted lays it out as best I've seen. The quail would have been gone at the first shot. The circle was too tight to have been 30 yards away. The White House heard at 7:30 eastern, but weren't told Cheney was involved. ha. Cheney spoke with the ranch owner before she broke the story. The insistence that the victim wasn't hurt badly, despite being flown to a better hospital and 2 days in intensive care. And now the two women. Huge cover up, no doubt in my mind. Just not sure what they're really covering up.

[DoBotherMe]

2. It's a "Chappaquiddick" incident

don't you think? D ; )

[jillan]

7. Haha - you are soooo right! n/t

[zann725]

20. I like to think of it as the "smoking gun" Dems said they needed

to question '04 Election results.

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. This is getting more suspicious

as the hours pass by. Good point on the two women. You know if it was Dems and it wasn't their wives it would be all over the tube.

[karynnj]

4. I NEVER thought of that

maybe because the idea of Cheney having sex with anyone is repulsive. There is something very strange with the timeline. It seems strange even with Cheney's personal ambulance that they wouldn't go directly to a hospital. Isn't there a danger of shock or something with a 78 year old man in this position. Also, if he is so stable and basically ok why fly to a different hospital and put him in intensive care.

They may have withheld the names just for privacy. (Also the owner might have a resident husband who was there.)

[_dynamicdems]

5. And this is the guy with a bad heart!

He's messing around (maybe), he'out hunting and he's involved in a shooting accident (shoots his friend in the face). This would stress any healty guy out. But Cheney is apparently none the worse for the excitement.

Maybe the only things that stress him out are: John Kerry and things like...civil liberties.

[Island Blue]

6. Yeah, if I shot someone in the face

I'd be pretty damn freaked. Actually, I'd be down right panicked!

I guess we can look at this another way though. Somewhere out there are men who probably owe their lives to the fact that Dick had "other obligations" during Viet Nam. If he had gone, there is no telling how many men he would have taken out with friendly fire.

[_dynamicdems]

8. Oh, that's good! You have to post that in DU.

A Chickenhawk for a reason. DeadEyeDick! LMAO!

[TayTay]

9. Did you see this from the WaPo

It was one of those "everyone's a wise guy" days in Washington yesterday,
thanks to Dick Cheney. Quipping at the vice president's expense was like
shooting fish, or quail -- oh, never mind.

It's never a good thing to be a punch line in politics, and the vice president
had the field to himself after accidentally shooting his hunting companion,
Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, at a Texas ranch late Saturday. The accident
left the 78-year-old man seriously injured. He was released from the intensive
care unit yesterday.

Meantime, the incident provided a laugh bounty for gallows humorists,
particularly those of the anti-Bush persuasion. Have at 'em, kids:

"Bush-Quail '06," cracked Democratic strategist Jenny Backus.

"The CIA assured Cheney that Harry Whittington was actually a pheasant," added
Democratic speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum.

"The worst part is, he was aiming at the special prosecutor," contributed John
Kerry spokesman David Wade.

Democratic staffers on the Hill could be heard singing a parody of Aerosmith's
"Janie's Got a Gun," using the words "Cheney's got a gun." Or marveling at how
"Republicans really don't like lawyers, do they?" or circulating a quote from
Bush, in a 2000 interview with the Houston Chronicle, in which he hailed Cheney
as "somebody who is going to shoot straight with the American people."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021301303.html

[ProSense]

10. It seems they're trying to spin the

insensitive Dems. Here's is a really good column:

A ready, fire, aim mentality
Column by Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON - I told you people Dick Cheney was dangerous.

Let's all wish a full and speedy recovery for Harry Whittington, the man Cheney accidentally shot on Saturday while they were out on in the Texas boonies hunting quail. As for the trigger-happy vice president, let's hope he takes this unfortunate episode as a hint to pack up his shotgun and go home. Lord knows he's done enough.

The man is out of control.

snip...

His uncompromising drill-and-guzzle position on energy makes a lot of oil industry executives sound like tree-huggers. When the subject turns to measures that could actually begin to lead this country toward energy independence, such as conservation and alternative fuels, Cheney begins checking his watch and barely tries to stifle his yawns. But let someone raise the prospect of drilling in the Arctic, which couldn't even begin to slake America's energy thirst, and he lights up with such glee that it's impossible not to think of Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons."

Conservation sounds like one of those sissified foreign ideas. Drilling, now that's what America is all about - at least the America that spends its weekends on a 50,000-acre ranch in south Texas with a bunch of fellow millionaires, shooting at quail.

Typically, Cheney's office didn't bother to tell anyone for more than 18 hours that the vice president of the United States had shot someone. A vice-presidential shooting doesn't happen every day, and I, for one, would appreciate being informed whenever the man who's just "a heartbeat away from the presidency" peppers a 78-year-old attorney with birdshot.

more...

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060214/EDIT/602140319/1003

[karynnj]

11. Isn't Jenny Backus also Kerry's staff (per Mass's post)

I sure hope the RW is sufficintly embarrased that they won't try to use Wade's joke. It does sound like the Democratic staffers are at least having some fun with it - with the world in a mess and dealing with the reality of how badly the Republicans dealt with Katrina, this may be a needed laugh.

[rox63]

13. Slightly-expanded quotes from Kerry's office

This is from Roll Call:

Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), another prominent Democrat who has traded personal barbs with Cheney, is also delighting in the vice president’s bizarre hunting mishap.

If readers recall, during the tail end of the 2004 presidential campaign, Cheney made a comedy routine out of mocking Kerry’s hunting getup, saying on one occasion, “He wore a brand new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which makes you wonder just how often he does really go goose hunting.”

Maybe the jacket was over the top, but at least Kerry can control his trigger, aides say.

“Let the record show, when John Kerry hunts, only the birds get shot,” Kerry spokesman David Wade said, adding, “Maybe he was aiming at the special prosecutor.”

This is the only Kerry mention in the column. But if you are interested, you can read the rest of it here: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_83/hoh/12174-1.html

[karynnj]

12. Cheney's victim had a mild heart attack

after a piece of the birdshot moved to him heart. (CNN front page said "heart scare")

Although it was almost certainly an accident, they really need to look at the time line. If they really delayed sending him to the hospital - as was suggested in some stories - this is sheer negligence.

I hope Lynne Cheney has enough decency to see who is really not a good man. He is total evil.

[INdemo]

14. you're forgetting Cheney has a pace maker

[blm]

15. heh...I've had sex with guys on pacemakers before.

And the pacemakers they have now are more advanced from the 80s devices.

[ProSense]

16. Um....

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[blm]

17. heh... I know.... I'm not shy about those things.

One guy did seem a bit faint, though.

[TayTay]

18. You rock girl!

Admitting to have a .... electronic device.... introduced into the, ahm, adventure. I love it! (Dem women are awesome. We just are not shrinking violets at all.)

[INdemo]

29. I made that comment as a joke

[ProSense]

19. Related info

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2460649&mesg_id=2460649

[paulk]

21. It's almost funny...

I mentioned that last night at a small dinner party - "what were Dick and that old fellow he shot doing
besides hunting with those two young women who were not their wives"?

And it was like no one had even thought of that... The MSM has gotten us all well trained to the idea that
the good god fearing folk in the Bush admin. would never even think of doing that... much less do it.

If it had been a Democrat that would be the FIRST question asked.

[karynnj]

22. Could it just be the thought is too unappetizing to contemplate?

[paulk]

23. that's a good point!

especially right before dinner!

[rox63]

24. This is friggin hysterical!

Cheney Plays Folsom Prison

Probably not appropriate to play at work or in front of young kiddies, because we all know what a foul mouth Dickie has. But please make sure your speakers are on when you check it out.

http://cheneyplaysfolsom.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[karynnj]

25. New RW talking point: Cheney waiting a day to say anything

was no different from what Democrats do. Example: Kerry, when he was a Presidential candidate didn't tell the press for a month when he had health problems (prostrate cancer) This was Blakely on Hardball. Tweedy didn't point out this wasn't the same or it was still over 10 months before the first primary.

Tweedy also has a mew person to blame - the secret service should have stopped the man.

[globalvillage]

26. I heard Tony Blankley

What an asshole.

[karynnj]

27. Wasn't that pathetic!

Although it was sicker that the Boston Globe made an issue of it when he had the press conference. You wonder how Kerry felt at their absolute lack of either compassion or sympathy.

[Island Blue]

28. Actually, maybe they're on to something there.

Maybe Dick waited 24 hours because he thought he needed to notify both Lynne and Mr. Whitington's wife of what had happened, before telling anyone else. He had a lot of 'splainin' to do!

Tweedy didn't point out this wasn't the same or it was still over 10 months before the first primary.

He probably also didn't bother to point out that JK didn't SHOOT ANOTHER MAN IN THE FACE WITH A GUN!

[whometense]

30. Fascinating story on Salon today

about the Armstrong connection.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/02/15/cheney/

Shoot first, avoid questions later

The White House's secretive response to Cheney's misfire cannot be understood apart from the society of Texas royalty.

By Sidney Blumenthal

... About an hour after the shooting, an unidentified traveling aide of the vice president's called the White House Situation Room, which put him in touch with Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Why a call would be routed through the Situation Room, which receives and transmits only national security information, rather than the very capable and secure White House switchboard, remains mysterious. Card was deliberately misled, told only that there was an accident in Cheney's party, not that Cheney was involved. The vice president's staff obviously felt no need to inform the president's chief of staff of the true facts of the matter. Why Card was deceived is also mystifying, except insofar as it reflects the vice president's instinctive view of him as someone to be routinely stepped over and around. Card, acting responsibly, promptly called President Bush, who as a result was momentarily kept in the dark. Confusing Card was a way of managing Bush, and yet ...

Enter Rove. Within minutes of the call to Card, the president's chief political advisor and deputy chief of staff spoke with Katharine Armstrong, an old friend of his, who told him that Cheney had shot Whittington. Who initiated this conversation is unknown. In any case, Rove, not the duped Card, informed the president of what had actually transpired...

...Armstrong's account blaming the victim bore the mark of a classic Rove-engineered statement. No one at the White House had yet to say a word. The president, though he was well aware, made no query that would have ensured that in this extraordinary event the White House was operating properly and according to the letter of the law. Whether ignorant or informed, he remained passive, deferring to Cheney and Rove...

...Both the vice president and the deputy chief of staff, as it happens, owed their previous, lucrative jobs in the private sector to their relationships with the Armstrong family. Anne Armstrong, Katharine's mother, was on the board of Halliburton that made Dick Cheney its chief executive officer. Tobin Armstrong, Katharine's father, had financed Karl Rove & Co., Rove's political consulting firm. Katharine herself is a lobbyist for Houston law firm Baker Botts, a major Texas power broker since it was founded in the 19th century by the family of James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state and close associate of George H.W. Bush's...