Did the White House cover up the Cheney hunting incident?

[pcs]

For the record I own a .308 rifle and a single-shot shotgun... I went shooting last weekend, and am going to go again this weekend. Maybe I'll even post photos!

 

Good for you. Maybe you also drive your own car, and maybe, just maybe, you've watched an episode of Matlock or two. What you clearly haven't done is gone on a quail hunt.

[bascule]

I shoot at targets, not animals.

[pcs]

I shoot at targets, not animals.

 

Now there's a shock.

[JustStuit]

Good for you. Maybe you also drive your own car, and have watched an episode of Matlock or two. What you clearly haven't done is gone on a quail hunt.

 

Have you? Sorry for FT.

[pcs]

Have you? Sorry for FT.

 

As a matter of fact, yes.

[JustStuit]

And have you ever shot anyone without any responsibilty falling onto you?

[Saryctos]

If I recall, there is a chat function =P

[pcs]

And have you ever shot anyone without any responsibilty falling onto you?

 

All the time.

 

Why not ask a serious question, like have I been in a hunting accident? No. I don't hunt nearly enough. Do I know people who have? Plenty. When you stand and stay in a line spread across fifty to a hundred feet with ten other people, flushing for grouse, pheasant or any other game bird that you really only catch on the up or in the air--and throw some dogs in the picture--safety takes on a whole different meaning. And I'm an inexperienced hunter, period.

[Sisyphus]

Ok guys, just give up. Clearly, when you're hunting quail, it's not important to look at what you're shooting, as any real hunter would know. Not only wasn't there anything done with anything but the best intentions, but Cheney didn't act irresponsibity. In fact, he didn't make a mistake! In fact, neither has any other Republican, ever!

[pcs]

Ok guys, just give up. Clearly, when you're hunting quail,[/i'] it's not important to look at what you're shooting, as any real hunter would know.

 

And clearly, you've developed the capacity to transport yourself through space and time to witness the events for yourself. Bring a video camera next time.

 

None...repeat, none of the participants or witnesses have accused VP Cheney of ignoring safety or otherwise acting irresponsibly. The Kenedy County Sheriff's deptartment within 48 hours came out completely satisfied that they were dealing with nothing more than a hunting accident. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department found nothing afoul other than the licenses of two out-of-staters where not properly stamped under a law that passed last September.

 

No, what we have is a lot of carping, of course, the Washington press corps, the bloggers, and members here--all three of which generally have two things in common: not one of them was there and few if any of them have any experience hunting. A man gets injured--a man, might I add, that Sisyphus never of before Sunday or at least has given no indication that he has during his entire time on SFN--and the best we can do is think of ways to denigrate the Vice President, hunters and Republicans?

 

Come on. Caaaaahm'aaaaahn.

[Sisyphus]

Come on, yourself. Nobody is saying any serious offense was commited. Relax, already. I wasn't "denigrating the Vice President, hunters, and Republicans." I was poking fun at how your kneejerk and humorless need to defend your partisan gods against any and all perceived threats leads to saying pretty ridiculous things. In case you haven't noticed, you're the only one here making a big deal out of this.

[pcs]

Come on, yourself. Nobody is saying any serious offense was commited.

 

Arguing that the VP may have been drunk, and therefore would've nearly committed manslaughter, is pretty damn close. Whether that stems from a knee-jerk, callous disregard for human life where it concerns people who disagree with you--your partisan demons, I should say--is not my call to make.

[bascule]

I liked this. Revprez will have a fit over it, but that's why I keep him on ignore:

 

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/13/23432/4110

[bascule]

And here's just the kind of editorial the DailyKos article predicted:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021401783.html

[pcs]

And here's just the kind of editorial the DailyKos article predicted:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021401783.html

 

Gotta love this bit:

 

The most vivid example is the long delay in informing the country that Vice President Cheney had accidentally shot a man last Saturday while hunting in Texas...

 

...[n]obody died at Armstrong Ranch' date=' but this incident reminds me a bit of Sen. Edward Kennedy's delay in [b']informing Massachusetts authorities[/b] about his role in the fatal automobile accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969.

 

VP Cheney, who was surrounded by law enforcement from the moment of the shooting on, who immediately saw to his friend injuries and safed the area, is now being compared to a Masshole who left a young woman's body in a river for a day before telling anyone. Just goes to show you how incredibly f'ed up some people are in the head.

[pcs]

I liked this. Revprez will have a fit over it' date=' but that's why I keep him on ignore:

 

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/13/23432/4110[/quote']

 

I don't know about this Revprez guy you keep bringing up, but I think you've just single handedly made the case for DailyKos's abject pussification.

[Pangloss]

The Chappaquiddick comparisons are some of the stupidest things I've ever heard in politics in all the time I've been following it.

[bascule]

Well, just saw Cheney's apology. He took full responsibility. That was awesome.

[pcs]

Well, just saw Cheney's apology. He took full responsibility. That was awesome.

 

Apology to who?

[Pangloss]

There wasn't anything "awesome" about that, except in so far as it was a first-rate dive. If Dick Cheney were a boxer every gambler in the country would have just torn up their betting ticket in disgust. That was the most blatantly obvious pandering that I have seen by a politician since "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

 

I don't know which is worse: What it says about Dick Cheney, or what it says about this country. I guess all that matters to some people is that Cheney "take responsibility". I've seen reality shows that were less vapid and senseless. Of all the screwball political shenanigans I've seen over the past dozen or so years since we threw common sense and common ground out the window, this one absolutely takes the cake.

[john5746]

There wasn't anything "awesome" about that, except in so far as it was a first-rate dive[/i']. If Dick Cheney were a boxer every gambler in the country would have just torn up their betting ticket in disgust. That was the most blatantly obvious pandering that I have seen by a politician since "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

 

Did you forget about the New Orleans speech already?

 

If only the media had been there to film the shooting. Then, we would have had outrage by the elderly, prompting Cheney to offer free healthcare for all of the elderly.

[pcs]

I think the VP did pretty damn well. Answered respectful questions, didn't pander a bit, laid it to rest. Of course, I sincerely doubt left-leaning haters are going to see it that way.

[Pangloss]

Did you forget about the New Orleans speech already?

 

 

Umm... Umm... Geez, okay, I got nothin. You got me there.

[silkworm]

So I'm thinking this poor old guy took some buckshot in the face to take attention away from the war budget this year (which is a direct result of how diplomatically inept this administration is) in a sort of a Wag the Dog type move. Any thoughts?

[gcol]

If there was a cover up, it was a damn poor attempt. All the facts appear to have entered the public domain rather quickly. There was probably an attempt to manage the way the episode was released, nothing unusual there. If the poor victim croaks or sues, then you will see some desperate twisting and turning. Nothing that a few million slush fund dollars into his pension fund couldn't smooth away.