More trouble for Cheney?- Page 8

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 10:50am

Vultures? I don't know, DG... I doubt that anyone truly wishes Mr. Whittington anything worse than he's already been dealt at the hands of his friends. Friends who quickly resorted to the "blame the victim" strategy to save their own asses, might I add. The carcass I'm circling is that of Cheney, not Whittington. And if that makes me a vulture, so be it.

[DG]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 10:53am

iflit - I wasn't referring to the scenario on the board at all, but rather the one unfolding in the public eye. And I believe there are vultures over every part of the playing field, as far as I can tell.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 10:54am

I think the ugliest vultures in this scenario are those friends of Cheney's who jumped to blame the victim in order to make the VP look better.

That behavior was DISGUSTING.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 10:54am

you were warned, dg.

dottie, this situation actually favors the administration. dick cheney's already seen as the devil himself, nothing's going to change that. everybody's going hog wild on this story so no one's talking about anything else. this event will not bring down the administration (please, a hunting accident?), nor will it do anything much in the end except maybe allow them to swap out cheney for a live vp. it does allow for some great jokes at the vp's expense and it gives those who hate the administration already more fodder for conspiracy theories and to show ignorance of hunting (something that a lot of folks in the country do), call for bans on hunting (always good for those dems who are trying to pick up swing voters) and revive calls for gun control (another big swing voter issue).

it was a hunting accident. they happen. if you think the administration isn't content to let this play across the front pages for as long as it can, you're deluded.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 10:57am

If would not necessarily hurt the Administration if they did not stall and withhold info from the Press Corps. All it does is add to the feeding frenzy and the impression that the White House fails to disclose information as a matter of course (you think?).

And yesterday, they started comparing the info to how they handled information and its response to Katrina.

That cannot be good.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:03am

papa, I agree that this is a hunting accident which do happen regularly. However, if he was drinking, that is another issue.

I find Cheney's silence insulting to the American public. He is the freaking VP and he shot someone! Tell the people the elected him what happened!!!!

[Plum]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:10am

Papa, yes, it's ahunting accident. One that commonly happens when people shoot while drunk. You're not the least bit uncomfortable with knowing the veep is reckless enough to do that kind of stuff while in office?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:14am

until i see evidence that he was drunk, it's just speculation. i know around here it's already decide that he was. but then i happen to disagree with a lot of the cw around here.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:15am

True enough. In that case, he was just being a bad hunter and inadverdantly provided those of us who love him with a lovely metaphor.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:32am

Cheney will give an interview at 2 PM...to Fox News.

Well, THAT ought to clear up EVERYTHING!

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:39am

I saw that, PJ.

It even inspired one of my better quips:

Cheney finally has something in common with his lesbian daughter...softball.

[DG]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:47am

Robbie - that really IS very funny

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 11:54am

And it took me NO TIME to come up with it...my friends at work enjoyed it! I normally don't toot my own horn...but TOOT TOOT!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 12:36pm

Here's something almost funnier from Fox News:

CAVUTO: This is a Fox News alert. The lawyer accidentally hit by Vice President Dick Cheney suffering a mild heart attack this morning. Doctors say he’s doing just fine and could be released in a week. Meanwhile, the White House press corps again beating a dead horse as it tries to find out why they were not told right away about the Vice President’s hunting accident.

Not one person bothering to ask, in the meantime, how Dick Cheney’s feeling about all this. After all, he’s a human being and injuring someone else in an accident can take a huge toll.

With us now someone who knows the Vice President pretty well. Ron Christie is a former Cheney advisor and author of Black in the White House. Good to have you back my friend.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 12:39pm

As Dick would say, "I'm fine! F*ck You!"

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 1:47pm

Okay, remember those initial reports about the hunting trip including an unidentified woman? This rumor from Sirius Radio and the HuffingtonPost:

===

Sirius radio's Alex Bennett just broke a rumor that the delay in reporting the news that Cheney shot an old man in the heart was due to an effort to hide or spin Cheney's female companion.

Pamela Willeford, ambassador to Switzerland and -- yes -- Liechtenstein, was part of the hunting excursion with Cheney and Whittington. And according to Willeford's account, Cheney and the ambassador were side-by-side when the shooting of Whittington took place.



The vice president's Secret Service detail had to decide what to do with Willeford by way of perhaps covering up her relationship with Cheney, and thus the delay in reporting the news.

The rumor goes that Lynn Cheney isn't happy with Cheney's close relationship with Willeford.

Again, just a rumor.

UPDATE: For more details and analysis, read RJ Eskow's latest article at the link

Cheney's Chappaquiddick II: The Real Story Emerges

Updated On: 2/15/06 at 01:47 PM

[mominator]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 1:59pm

Yes accidents happen, but umm shouldn't there be some sort of punishment for shooting someone even if by accident?
I mean birds fly, and this guy was shot in the face and chest.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:00pm

The lede from the above-linked story:

===

The real story is already emerging, if you're willing to do a little digging. Cheney and Whittington went hunting with two women (not their wives), there was some drinking, and Whittington wound up shot. Armstrong didn't see the incident but claimed she had, Cheney refused to be questioned by the Sheriff until the next morning, and a born-again evangelical physician has been downplaying Whittington's injuries since they occurrred.
Neither the press nor law enforcement seems inclined to investigate.

Before the right-wing commenters howl - there's documentation for all of these statements. ...

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:09pm

I loved how they said originally that Whittington was joking during the first part of his stay at the hospital. Ummm, if I had ___ pellets in me, I doubt that I'd be joking around and laughing about it.

[mominator]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:16pm

and wasn't he in the ICU?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:23pm

of the 30 hunting accidents documented in texas last year, 1 was alcohol related.

10 of them, a third of the accidents, occurred when the "victim was covered by shooter swinging on game outside of his safe zone of fire."

huh, sounds kinda like this one, eh?

of course, you know those bushies, they probably already doctored this report from the texas parks and wildlife department.
2005 texas hunting accident report (pdf)

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:29pm

Cheney finally has something to say. And to whom is he going to say it? Why, in an EXCLUSIVE interview with FOX, scheduled to occur shortly. Someone explain to me again how this isn't being handled in a really shady manner.

This isn't Liza choosing to tell Barbara about her disasterous marriage. This is the freakin' Vice President of the United States, who in the typical M.O. of the Bush administration that we have all come to know, if not to love, thumbing their noses the rules which would apply to everyone else.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:32pm

Isn't Cheney's press policy something like, "Never apologize, never explain"? He's just following his philosophy.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:32pm

From a friend in DC:

===

Was Dick Cheney drunk? It’s a reasonable question to ask two days after he accidentally shot a companion while quail hunting. The press and the police were kept in the dark for almost 24 hours after the shooting. Why? Was it just typical, Cheney-esque, knee-jerk secrecy or did the VP need time to sober up? A breathalyzer test is mandatory in most states following an accidental shooting, but it would be rendered meaningless if it were administered so long after the incident. Similarly, it’s not uncommon for a hit-and-run driver to turn himself/herself in to the police 24 hours after the incident to avoid additional alcohol related charges. Cheney has two DUIs on his record and still has the reputation around DC as a heavy drinker.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 2:33pm

don't get too excited, flitty, the interview, while being taped even as we speak, isn't going on until 6pm tonight.

will dick cry? is this the event that will humanize the man of stone?