VP Cheney cant tell the difference between bird and human...

[Hawk 34 0]

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

 

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Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

 

He was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

 

Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon on Saturday.

 

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.

 

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president met with Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday. Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," she said.

 

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until the day after it happened.

 

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

 

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

 

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

 

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

 

Whittington has been a private practice attorney in Austin since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics. He's been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

 

McBride did not comment about why the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident until the next day. She referred the question to Armstrong, who could not be reached again Sunday evening.

 

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic.

 

"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

 

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

 

Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual hunting trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks.

 

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

 

"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

 

The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential south Texas family since the turn of the last century. Katharine is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He died in October. Cheney was among the dignitaries who attended his funeral.

[KingPK 0]

Network news shows actually LED OFF with this "news" when there is a friggin' blizzard right in NYC, where most of these networks have their home bases. Talk about a slow news day. And this happened YESTERDAY to boot.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

An attempted murder plot directly involving the Vice President of the United States is less important than fucking chilled water?

[SuperJerk 0]

REPUBLICANS WANT TO KILL OLD PEOPLE!!!!!![/Democratic Party hack mode]

[Gary Floyd 0]

I just can't wait for the paranoid conspiracy theories involving aliens and "reptoid" pedophiles.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

This is kinda funny.

 

 

 

We need to hear from the Dalek on this matter.

[CBright7831 0]

[SuperJerk 0]

[Slayer 0]

Aaron Burr would be proud

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Aaron Burr would be proud

 

Funny, Howard Dean called Cheney Aaron Burr today on Meet the Press or one of those shows.

 

Didn't have anything to do with this, though.

[Carnival 0]

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

 

Is road hunting illegal in Texas? It is in Nebraska.

[Hawk 34 0]

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

 

Is road hunting illegal in Texas? It is in Nebraska.

 

Like the law applies to Dick Chaney.

[Eclipse 0]

I woke up from sleep, and the first news of the day I see, whilst half asleep was this. I totally misunderstood the news, and I thought it said that Cheney had been shot. O RLY? YA RLY! NO WAI!!!

 

But then I re-read it, and it said he shot someone, which made me die of laughter...

[Art Sandusky 0]

It was at a distance of 30 yards, no wonder the man needs glasses.

 

It's funny that the media was cheesed about not knowing it had happened, but none of them wanted to say what the implied reason is for doggedly plugging at Scott McClellan for answers. Not that I believe he shot the dude on purpose, but if the news had gotten out sooner none of these thoughts would even cross our minds. It'd be another "haha, material for a 'Presidential Goofs' special on TLC in a few years" thing.

[AndrewTS 0]

Maybe it wasn't an accident...?

 

http://www.bushisamoron.org/du/dick_cheney_penguin.jpg

 

OH NOES, his cover is blown!

[MrRant 0]

CHENEY SAYS SHOOTING OF FELLOW HUNTER WAS BASED ON FAULTY INTELLIGENCE

02/12/2006

 

Believed Shooting Victim Was Zawahiri, Veep Says.

 

Vice President Dick Cheney revealed today that he shot a fellow hunter

while on a quail hunting trip over the weekend because he believed the

man was the fugitive terror mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri.

 

Mr. Cheney acknowledged that the man he sprayed with pellets on Saturday

was not al-Zawahiri but rather Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old

millionaire lawyer from Austin, blaming the mix-up on "faulty

intelligence."

 

"I believed I had credible intelligence that al-Zawahiri had infiltrated

my hunting party in disguise with the intent of spraying me with

pellets," Mr. Cheney told reporters. "Only after I shot Harry in the

face and he shouted 'Cheney, you bastard' did I realize that this

intelligence was faulty."

 

An aide to the vice president said he believed that the American people

would believe Mr. Cheney's version of events, but added, "If he was

going to shoot any of his cronies right now it's a shame it wasn't Jack

Abramoff."

 

A DOD spokesman announced that as a result of Mr Cheney's accurate

shooting, he would be awarded the Army's Basic Marksman Medal. "We know

he regrets that those 5 deferments prevented him from serving," said the

spokesman.

 

At the White House, President George W. Bush defended his vice

president's shooting of a fellow hunter, saying that the attack sent "a

strong message to terrorists everywhere."

 

"The message is, if Dick Cheney is willing to shoot an innocent American

citizen at point-blank range, imagine what he'll do to terrorists," Mr.

Bush said.

[Guest The Spike]

I woke up from sleep, and the first news of the day I see, whilst half asleep was this. I totally misunderstood the news, and I thought it said that Cheney had been shot. O RLY? YA RLY! NO WAI!!!

 

But then I re-read it, and it said he shot someone, which made me die of laughter...

 

That was exactly what I thought too.

[Red Baron 0]

I guess the guy he shot (a lawyer) had a mild heart attack as a result from Cheney wild shooting.

[Guest jenzie]

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

This will never be NOT funny.

[CBright7831 0]

In all seriousness, what would happen if this man dies?

 

Would anything be done to Cheney?

[Red Baron 0]

In all seriousness, what would happen if this man dies?

 

Would anything be done to Cheney?

 

 

I don't about Cheney, but CNN would have up to the minute facts and special analysts that will analyze the situation in great detail about the spread of bullets and what should be the legal limit of a bullet calibur. Etc...

 

THIS IS THE SITUATION ROOM!!! DUN DUN DUN

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I find this whole media/political sensationalism of this incident absolutley ridiculous. Yes, I hope the guy Cheney shot doesn't die of a heart attack (if he does die they say Cheney would be investigated by a grand jury for any wrongdoing but c'mon it's a clear accident) but the way the media and the Democrats are playing this is crazy.

 

Everyone is like "we should've known sooner" but may I ask WHY that's important? I mean, is it an issue of national security that Dick Cheney accidentally shot a guy? People are acting like this is part of a major cover up operation or something and Hillary Clinton bashing Cheney for being secretive is quite laughable to tell you the truth.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Well hey, when Bush busted his ass on a bike or choked on a pretzel, we knew about that stuff immediately. Even the press secretary was publicly expressing puzzlement at why it didn't get out for 24 hours. Shit, no one outside the EMS crew knew about it until the ranch owner called the local paper. Again, I doubt there's anything more to this, but they wouldn't have had to answer any questions if they'd just released a little press statement on Saturday night.

 

It's also kind of a slow news week, unless another exciting (meaning no one fuckin' cares) murder story or watching Saddam yell in a courtroom tickles your Alabama crab dangle.

 

EDIT: This odd coverage and line of questioning only supports what I said in the 9/11 conspiracy thread: THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE THAT WE TRUST

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I kinda hope the guy he shot dies. Really. But then again Im naive on two different fronts.

 

1) The White House will spend whatever money it takes to keep the guy alive for 2 more years.

2) Even if the guy dies, nothing will happen to Chaney despite lots of outcries from everyone.

 

I do believe that the whole thing was nothing more than an accident, but if I was a hunter and accidently shot and eventually killed someone...guess who'd be going to jail..

[KingPK 0]

Nah, if you accidentally shot and killed someone that way and it was proven to be an accident, the most you'd get is involuntary manslaughter and probation. At least, that's what years of Law & Order viewing has taught me.

 

Now he's taping an interview that's going to be on Fox News tonight. What the fuck? This thing will last five minutes.

 

Reporter: "So, what happened?"

Cheney: "We were out hunting, I heard a bird, didn't know the guy was behind me so I accidentally shot him."

Reporter: "Thank you Mr. Cheney. Up next, 14 hours of coverage on Neil Entwhistle (or, as he's known now, 'The British Scott Peterson')."

[Art Sandusky 0]

Yeah, that's another thing that has some raising their eyebrows after the methodical pace of releasing information. I know Cheney's not one for public statements and all that, but at least say something to the press if you shot a guy, "the press" being everyone, not just good ol' safe Fox News.

[KingPK 0]

So now we're going to rip the guy for what network he uses?

 

I hate politics. It isn't anyone's fucking buisness that he accidentallu shot a guy except Cheney's and the guy he shot. The fact that the media (and Democrats) are treating this like some attempted murder conspiracy reminds me why I abhor what passes for "political discussion" these days and why I would love to see Bush re-elected 8 more times just to see how pissed off everyone gets.

[Ripper 0]

If it comes out that they were hunting with two black guys named Ray and Claude, I am going to start to suspect something.

 

Ripper - telling that joke for his own entertainment since he will probably be the only one to get it.

[Art Sandusky 0]

So now we're going to rip the guy for what network he uses?

Okay, ignore where I said it would have been better to do a general statement. The point in all that I've said is that everything that's going on with this just fuels skepticism even more.