Cheney incident provokes strong reactions
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14—The 78-year-old lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident over the weekend suffered a minor heart attack early Tuesday caused by birdshot lodged in his heart, hospital officials in Texas said.
The lawyer, Harry M. Whittington, was moved back into the intensive care unit at Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Tex., to be monitored for up to a week in case the birdshot shifted or additional pellets in his body moved into other organs, the officials said at a televised news conference. Dr. David Blanchard, the emergency room chief, estimated that Mr. Whittington had more than 5 but “probably less than 150 to 200” pellets lodged in his body.
“Less than 150 to 200 pellets,” remarked John Hinderaker of the award-winning Pajamaline blog. “I think that’s the key to this MSM frenzy right there. If Cheney had been trout fishing and a companion had walked behind him as he started to cast, so that he inadvertently snagged his friend 150 to 200 times, resulting in a hospital visit, would we have seen this kind of frenzy? I don’t think so. I think we’re seeing, among other things, the press corps’ innate ignorance of, and hostility to, firearms coming through.”
Cheney’s friends and associates seemed to agree that the incident has been overblown by late-night comics and critics of the Bush Administration.
“Dick Cheney is one of the most skilled shots I know, and they’ll make fun of it forever,” said Alan K. Simpson, a former Wyoming senator who is a longtime friend and sometime hunting partner of the vice president.
“That’s quite true,” said a former aide to Simpson. “You shoot just one guy in the face and send him to intensive care where he has a heart attack, and people don’t stop to average out your shooting accuracy over your lifetime. It’s completely unfair. Just like nobody ever forgets that one time in 1990 Senator Simpson told Saddam Hussein, ‘I believe that your problems lie with the Western media and not with the U.S. government. . . . The press is spoiled and conceited. All these journalists consider themselves brilliant political scientists. They do not want to see anything succeeding or achieving its objectives. My advice is that you allow those bastards to come here and see things for themselves.’ And no one ever remembers all the many times that Alan Simpson did not say this to Saddam Hussein.”
Some reporters have suggested that Democrats could overplay their hand by exploiting the incident for partisan gain.
“Democrats, too, have engaged in these luxury canned-hunting exercises,” said the Washington Post’s Deborah Howell. “Furthermore, Democrats have shot at animals, or asked lobbyists to direct buckshot to animals. So we regard this as fundamentally a bipartisan scandal.”
Other commentators disagreed about the extent of Democrats’ involvement in the shooting. “John Kerry would never have had the guts to do something like this,” said former Georgia governor Zell Miller. “John Kerry would have fed those quail a yes no maybe bowl of mush that would only encourage animals and confuse our friends. At least when a friend shoots you in the face, you know where he stands.”
Oh that Hindraker, he exaggerates so. It was nothing so severe as what he describes; it was more like when you shake hands with someone on a cold, dry day, generating a shock of static electricity. Could happen to anyone. Nothing to it.
And the press covey, I mean gaggle, honestly, have you ever seen such alarmists? So no one was allowed to interact with the Veep until he had a solid ten hours sleep, three cups of coffee and a bowl of menudo. What’s the big deal? Nothing the least bit fishy about that.
Posted by on 02/15 at 08:49 AMA bowl of menudo? So either you’re saying that the Vice President was hung over, or that the Vice President is into Puerto Rican boys under 16.
Though I gather that this isn’t an either/or kind of blog.
Posted by on 02/15 at 08:59 AMYou know, if this had been Clinton, the press wouldn’t be in such a frenzy. In fact, they wouldn’t even know about it, since Hillary would have had all the witnesses killed and the victim’s mind would have been erased with her mind-control laser beam.
Posted by on 02/15 at 09:44 AMGood point, alwsdad. When Gore shot that guy in 1994, we never heard a word.
Until, of course, Gore got on the campaign trail in 2000 and began exaggerating about how many people he’d shot while in office.
Posted by Michael on 02/15 at 09:51 AMYou bed-wetters can carp about regrettable but inevitable collateral damage that comes from battling the quail menace near the Texas/Mexico border. We don’t want the smoking gun to be in the form of a mushroom quail-egg omelet.
Posted by norbizness on 02/15 at 10:05 AMThe lawyer Whittington approached the Vice President from behind holding aloft the quail he’d just bagged. As the Vice President turned he noticed the treacherous possum-playing quail purse his beak to spit bird flu on the unsuspecting Whittington. The Vice President fired without thought or hesitation, killing the evil bird, foiling the nefarious plot, saving his friend’s life and preventing an outbreak of avian flu. Can we talk about something else?
Captcha – party, as in hunting party, the party of personal responsibility, the party party.
Posted by black dog barking on 02/15 at 10:16 AMCheney May Migrate to Heart of Press Conference
“The White House hopes the story will fade in a couple of days. If it doesn’t, one Bush adviser said, “Cheney should think about having a press conference early next week.”
Or maybe a sit-down with Oprah, if he can spare the time. Or the Crocodile Hunter, at the very least.
Posted by on 02/15 at 10:26 AMNow they know how many holes it takes to fill the Whittington Hall. I’d love to turn you on. (Thank you. I’m here all week. Tell your friends.)
Posted by on 02/15 at 11:05 AMOr the Crocodile Hunter, at the very least.
Now, I’ve got a guest today who’s bagged a pen-raised quail that’s just gorgeous. And he’s quite a little devil himself! Say g’day to Dick Cheney, everyone.
Watch it! This nasty bugger bites. He’s one of the most fearsome predators in the world, this one.
Posted by on 02/15 at 11:10 AMCan anyone explain how Alan Simpson became Crotchety But Loveable?
Posted by on 02/15 at 11:38 AMSimpson’s always been crotchety. He didn’t become lovable until he left office. Or maybe it was after his cameo in Dave.
Posted by on 02/15 at 01:37 PMUntil, of course, Gore got on the campaign trail in 2000 and began exaggerating about how many people he’d shot while in office.
That was a complete media fabrication and no one took it seriously.
It was the stuff about inventing Kevlar and being the role model for Reservoir Dogs that really did him in, I think.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 02/15 at 02:02 PM"Can anyone explain how Alan Simpson became Crotchety But Loveable? “
I think it was the episode when he was vying for the affection of the widow Bouvier with Mr. Burns.
Posted by on 02/15 at 02:38 PMOh man that’s good snark. Wow. Woah. Have you ever, like, really looked at your monitor before? I’m getting nachos.
Posted by on 02/15 at 02:57 PMAs my taxi driver said this morning, “Man, why bother to cage up 500 birds to shoot at when you can just get drunk and shoot your friend instead?”
Posted by Ancrene Wiseass on 02/15 at 04:33 PMI have to say it in this thread, but I *have* to say it.
CJ wrote in another thread: “And how dare you not underline your hyperlinks - more leftist subterfuge.”
They teach you how to underline in college. Michael, if you are committed to the New Civility, just underline the fuck scenes for Mr. Horowitz.
Posted by on 02/15 at 04:45 PMAs fun as this story is to opinion about please try to keep the following in mind.
Cheney and company have done a wonderful job keeping this story front and center in the press - Why?
Because no one is currently talking about the important story. The story that begins with the question “Did Cheney authorize Libby to release classified information?”
How can the opposition party focus the debate if they are so easily distracted by shiny and irrelevent objects. The “Cheney secretive and alof” story is merely a distraction from the “Cheney plays politics with classifed information” story. The difference being that one story, in the long run, does not sway voters and the other one does.
Posted by evolvedreason on 02/15 at 05:28 PMSo the cover story for an act of treason they’re essentially getting away with is to shoot a 78-year old man in the face? Rrrrrrrrright. Wouldn’t it have been easier to start with a dog and if that didn’t work THEN shoot a 78-year old man in the face?
Posted by on 02/15 at 05:41 PMNo. People love dogs.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 02/15 at 05:48 PMIt’s obvious that the left doesn’t actually care at all about the 78-year old man; after all, he was a Republican. This false bipartisan “concern” fools no one, and I, for one, find it absolutely reprehensible that anyone would play politics with an unfortunate incident like this.
Posted by bitchphd on 02/15 at 05:58 PMTonight on Hannity and Colmes, Sean will repeatedly shoot Alan in the face with a shotgun just to show how harmless this sort of thing is and how the kool-aid drinking liberal media has once again surpassed itself in vicious America-hating viciousness.
Posted by amblongus on 02/15 at 06:52 PMI think all this talk about distractions is distracting us from the real issue at hand, namely, the General’s magic BB theory.
Posted by on 02/15 at 06:56 PMAnn Coulter only regrets that the New York Times editorial board weren’t standing next to Mr. Whittington.
Posted by on 02/15 at 07:05 PMTonight on Hannity and Colmes, Sean will repeatedly shoot Alan in the face with a shotgun
God I hate reruns.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 02/15 at 07:24 PMSteve Irwin, LOL!
Posted by on 02/15 at 08:37 PM"So the cover story for an act of treason they’re essentially getting away with is to shoot a 78-year old man in the face? Rrrrrrrrright.”
JDC,
You will have to excuse me for not including all of the details in my previous post. It was my mistake for assuming that all of the people who frequent Michael’s blog have had either the political experience or the intellectual background to fill in the blanks. That obviously not being the case let me answer your question and help you to understand my larger point.
No, this is not some ill conceived plot to evade treason. The accidental shooting by Cheney was an actual accident. However, the need to change the subject (from treason) and the strategic sense to use this accident to accomplish this necessity is the political point that I was making. The more important point being that the opposition party allows this distraction from the real subject (in this case treason) to occur.
If you still feel, even after this more detailed explanation, that my subject still sounds a little too “conspiratorial” then just ignore my last two posts and go back to playing with those shiny little objects.
Posted by evolvedreason on 02/15 at 09:08 PMI’m thinking: if people out in the world actually are willing to say in public that the Vice President would rather you focused on his shooting someone in the face than on certain other things, then this administration has officially jumped the shark.
At this point, I’m waiting for the first 40-page single-spaced typed one-paragraph submission to come in to Earth Island Journal detailing how Cheney could not possibly have inflicted that much damage on Whittington, and claiming that it therefore mut have been an act of controlled demolition.
Posted by Chris Clarke on 02/15 at 09:14 PMSpecial to Fox News
Chris Clarke of the Earth Island Institute claims in a recent blog comment that “Cheney could not possibly have inflicted that much damage on Whittington” and that Whittington’s injuries were the result of “an act of controlled demolition.”
Mr. Clarke is known to have mentioned Howard Dean in the past.
Here’s our Big Story for tonight: why is Howard Dean promoting conspiracy theories? have the Democrats become completely unhinged? We turn for expert analysis to political commentator Michelle Malkin.
Posted by Michael on 02/15 at 10:00 PMAnother typical, unhinged liberal lie. Why do you promote the ravings of Howard Dean immediately after Clarke utters them, while weeks go by without you printing the Danish Cartoons?
We’re waiting....
Posted by Michelle Malkin on 02/15 at 10:09 PMI’m thinking: if people out in the world actually are willing to say in public that the Vice President would rather you focused on his shooting someone in the face than on certain other things, then this administration has officially jumped the shark.
By “in the world” Chris must not be talking about the MSM and Congress, right??
“While the public attention has been very focused on his shooting accident, Vice President Cheney has been using the time to wage a vigorous, behind-the-scenes defense of Bush’s domestic surveillance program.
The AP reports Cheney has been playing “the role of point man in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program in the war on terror.” And the Washington Post claims Cheney is winning the argument by lobbying conservative critics of the program:
[Senate Intelligence Committee members] attributed the shift to last week’s closed briefings given by top administration officials to the full House and Senate intelligence committees, and to private appeals this week to wavering GOP senators by officials, including Vice President Cheney.”
and the captcha word: i just “saying”
Posted by on 02/15 at 10:48 PMSpeaking of printing “the Danish cartoons.” Michael, I don’t know if you caught this, but The Daily Illini’s editor totally got busted for doing that.
Apparently, the new-ish editor made a unilateral decision to print “the Danish cartoons,” without consulting the editorial board. The substance of his response to this charge was that he mentioned it, no one said anything, and it wouldn’t matter if they had.
Just thought I’d share. Also, wanted to type “the Danish cartoons.”
Captcha: “reason.” And I don’t have a good one.
Posted by on 02/15 at 10:49 PMHi again, Michael--I just tried making a trackback to this post from my blog, but HaloScan says your server won’t accept my ping.
What, my ping’s not good enough for you?
Posted by Ancrene Wiseass on 02/16 at 02:42 AMI think the more interesting aspect of this is how the Cheney accident reinforces rather than undermines several memes important to the Administration and its base:
(1) Eliminationist violence. The fact that Cheney shot a man in his face in some aspects is re-assuring to the Movement. They thrill at the Romantic idea of violence and the elimination of the Other. The only detracting aspect of the incident is that it was ‘accidental’—although Cheney recovered ground somewhat by staunchly defending his refusal to be forthcoming.
(2) The Leaders are more exalted than the Masses and should not be accountable. Here, the deference meme kicks in again (laid in place by years of AgitProp stressing hierarchy, obediance, belief, authority,etc.)
It is entirely possible that another 4 years of this Administration via its bastard offspring of a McCain/Allen/Lieberman fusion ‘National Unity’ government, the ritual slaying of a ‘dissenter’ at a rally—to get the pre-approved crowd in the swing of thing is not unimaginable.
A casual mockery of this regime and the state of America today? Maybe not so much. “Truth in your mirror is closer than you think”.
Posted by Leo Strauss on 02/16 at 10:20 AMAm I the only one deathly afraid that Cheney may have to resign over this? Esp. if this old dude kicks it? I sure as shit don’t want Rice or McCain sitting up at the Observatory when ‘08 rolls around.
Posted by Roxanne on 02/16 at 10:26 AMOh, and Chris:
I don’t think you’ll have to wait for that screed to show up at your office. You’re likely to see it in print next week in some bay area publication. Try one of the dozens of newsracks at 16th and Castro.
Posted by Roxanne on 02/16 at 10:33 AMevolvedreason,
My original reply to your response was bit heavy on invective so I killed it. Then I started writing a more thoughtful reply but it was too time consuming and, ultimately, pointless so I killed it. So anyway, James, bugger off and learn to write both clearly and without condescension. You just might be able to resuscitate that moribund blog.
JDC
Posted by on 02/16 at 12:35 PMWhat, my ping’s not good enough for you?
It’s always good enough for me, Ms. Wiseass. But the trackback thingy on this here blog is awfully touchy. I don’t really know why. I ask for a security code for trackbacks, because otherwise I get deluged with the casinobots, but it seems to work for some people and not for others. Sorry bout that.
Posted by on 02/16 at 01:40 PMI think the story of Dick’s little accident encapsulates this entire administration.
Hunting at an exclusive ranch w/ wealthy political donors is obvious. The hunt not being some people walking in the fields looking for wild game, but a canned hunt, where the farm raised quail make easy targets, stands in for the select crowds W and his buddies address and claim as representative of the people. Accidently shooting a fellow hunter, incompetence at it’s best. Denying access to Dick by the local police for twelve hours typlifies the administration’s cavalier attitude toward the media and the American people’s right to know what’s going on. And the supine attitude of the police to being dissed is similar to how the MSM has handled the last 5 years. And finally coming “clean” only on Fox speaks for itself.
I’m sure one could extend this analogy on and on, and it still hasn’t played out fully, but you get my drift.
Posted by on 02/16 at 02:10 PMDear Michael,
I ask for a security code for trackbacks, because otherwise I get deluged with the casinobots, but it seems to work for some people and not for others.
Ah well, you know, sometimes it just isn’t meant to be. I guess I just look like a cheap, trampy casinobot to your server, and that’s just not it’s type. Alas.
And please, for goodness’ sake, call me Ancrene. At least, that is, unless you want to call attention to my being especially wiseass-ish by deploying my pseudo-last name. Which would have been entirely warranted during this last exchange, of course.
Posted by Ancrene Wiseass on 02/16 at 11:32 PM
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