The Vice President Shoots Some Dude

[Monte Smith]

You don't fuck with Dick Cheney.

Cheney accidentally shoots hunting companion
CNN.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a 78-year-old man while hunting for quail on a ranch in Texas, U.S. television networks reported on Sunday.

Cheney's hunting companion, Harry Whittington, was "alert and doing fine" in the hospital after being shot on Saturday with shotgun pellets, CNN reported ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said.

Armstrong, the owner of the ranch where the weekend hunt took place, said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial hospital, the network reported.

CNN said Cheney spent time at the hospital on Sunday with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin.

[Scott Dolan]

Sweetness!!

That motherfucker obviously had it coming.

[bluenoter]

"Accidentally." Yeah, right.

[Pete C]

We can't have a poor shot next in the line of succession. I say impeach.

[Monte Smith]

Don't assume, Pete. He mighta just been shooting to wound.

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by Pete C

We can't have a poor shot next in the line of succession. I say impeach.

I didn't know you were a Dennis Hastert fan.

[Mingus]

This is WAY too easy.

Ready. FIRE! Aim.

[Gentle Giant]

Just remember: Guns don't hurt people. Vice presidents hurt people.

Why couldn't this have happened on one of his hunting trips with Scalia?

[patricia]

If Mr Whittington had been the one with the nervous trigger finger and Cheney had been the one, unfortunately, wounded, or accidentaly killed, heaven forbid, impeachment of the puppet would make more sense and be a little less scary.
The way it is now, if Bush were impeached, Cheney, the frontier man of the woods would be President.

I'm just sayin'

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by patricia

If Mr Whittington had been the one with the nervous trigger finger and Cheney had been the one, unfortunately, wounded, or accidentaly killed, heaven forbid, impeachment of the puppet would make more sense and be a little less scary.
The way it is now, if Bush were impeached, Cheney, the frontier man of the woods would be President.

I'm just sayin'

Bush is as likely to be impeached and convicted as you are of making a campaign contribution to George Allen in 2008.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

Bush is as likely to be impeached and convicted as you are of making a campaign contribution to George Allen in 2008.

Well, there you go then. Much like The Mob, the top people always have their underlings fall on their swords for them. Pity.

[Solo Jazz]

I am cracking-up over here; with apologies to Mr. Whittington. Noting the comment, "why couldn't this have happened on a trip with Scalia" (aka: the quack quack, Justice).

One has to wonder what would have happend to Whittington if he'd 'accidentally' SHOT Cheney. Leg-irons and fifty years hard labor? ...inquiring minds....

Note to Self: if you should find yourself hunting with the V.P., duct (not duck) is the operative word!

[Dr Dave]

Ordinarily, a shooting accident like this is investigated--however cursorily--as "negligent homicide." Needless to say, that is not going to happen here. Negligent homicide is for girly-men. The Vice President is a Real Man.

PS: This does indeed mean that the next time anybody (and you know who you are) brings up Mary Jo Kopechne, I'm going to start braying about the "Harry Whittington coverup." You've been warned! :-)

[Gary Sisco]

Guy's a hopeless incompetent. He could fuck up a wet dream. Just goes to show, once again, that brainpower and having tons of money aren't related matters.

Didn't Alfred E. Dipshit shoot an endangered songbird while dove hunting some years back?

Someone will have to explain to me how Cheney's story adds up because as I've read it, it makes no sense. His partner came up from behind Cheney while he was aiming for a quail and got spattered with 12 gauge shot? How'd he accomplish that? Sounds like the kind of bullshit people come up with when trying to concoct a story to cover their butts.

And who in the world but a hopelessly sedentary cardiac prospect would hunt quail from a vehicle? Hunting from a vehicle at all is illegal here but how (and why) you'd hunt quail from one's a mystery to me. Whatever happened to going out on your own two legs and hunting with dogs? Too much exercise, I guess, judging from the extraordinary number of cardiac surgeries and "incidents" Cheney's had -- all at our expense.

[Brian Olewnick]

Gary, you left out an important part: Whittington came up from behind while imitating a quail. C'mon, get it right.

Dr. Dave, I'm neither a cop nor a lwayer, but I'm guessing someone has to die before there's a homicide investigation, negligent or otherwise.

[Root Doctor]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Someone will have to explain to me how Cheney's story adds up because as I've read it, it makes no sense. His partner came up from behind Cheney while he was aiming for a quail and got spattered with 12 gauge shot? How'd he accomplish that? Sounds like the kind of bullshit people come up with when trying to concoct a story to cover their butts.

Cheney was looped on Pink Ladies. He wants that info on the DL.

[Gary Sisco]

Nope. *Any* firearm wounding absolutely requires a police investigation in the US, Brian. In fact, doctors are by law required to report a wounding to the police. I know a movement doctor who did five years in a federal pen for not reporting one that he treated. The only way this story could add up is if Cheney swung a full right angle to his right or left and fired -- an unbelievably stupid thing to do when hunting. If you can't get a shot off in front of you where you can clearly see, you don't fire, period. Indeed, you don't fire at all in any direction unless you can clearly see *and identify* your target. Unless you're a criminally incompetent nitwit armed with a 12 gauge.

There are no such things as "accidental" shootings. No firearm goes off accidentally. A round has to be chambered, the weapon must be cocked, safety turned off, and the trigger pulled -- all by the human holding the weapon, for one to fire. Firearms don't fire unless all of these things occur. This is a classic example of proving one's incompetence to the point of criminal stupidity. Some people are too (proven by behavior) incompetent to be allowed access to a firearm. Cheney is clearly one.

I'm actually in favor of a new law called criminal and negligent use of a firearm, with a stiff time penalty (no buy outs via fines or "community service"), that would cover these sorts of "accidents" -- and also the very small number of people who fuck up with one. They give the rest of us a bad name and in any case have proven themselves by their own behavior to be dangerous to those around them.

[Brian Olewnick]

Yeah, but not a homicide investigation unless someone dies, correct? Unless the language has changed while I slept.

[patricia]

Even scarier is that the doctor who was the spokesperson for the hospital was on CNN this morning. He said that the incident that we're reading about is COMMON in South Texas!! It would seem that the woods and streams are crawling with yahoos with guns and no brains.

[rollhead]

No doubt that the guys who were carrying his sedan chair are the ones at fault. You just can't get good help on the plantation any more.

[Brian Olewnick]

Originally Posted by rollhead

No doubt that the guys who were carrying his sedan chair are the ones at fault. You just can't get good help on the plantation any more.

Heh heh. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if he conducts variations on "The Most Dangerous Game" down there....

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

Heh heh. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if he conducts variations on "The Most Dangerous Game" down there....

Count Cheney

[Deadlift]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

...PS: This does indeed mean that the next time anybody (and you know who you are) brings up Mary Jo Kopechne, I'm going to start braying about the "Harry Whittington coverup." You've been warned! :-)

Nobody expired when Cheney fired.

[claude]

Originally Posted by patricia

Even scarier is that the doctor who was the spokesperson for the hospital was on CNN this morning. He said that the incident that we're reading about is COMMON in South Texas!! It would seem that the woods and streams are crawling with yahoos with guns and no brains.

I know I wouldn't venture out into the woods around here during hunting season, I imagine Texas is similar.

[Doc Martin]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

There are no such things as "accidental" shootings. No firearm goes off accidentally. A round has to be chambered, the weapon must be cocked, safety turned off, and the trigger pulled -- all by the human holding the weapon, for one to fire. Firearms don't fire unless all of these things occur. This is a classic example of proving one's incompetence to the point of criminal stupidity. Some people are too (proven by behavior) incompetent to be allowed access to a firearm. Cheney is clearly one.

I couldn’t agree with you more Gary.

• If you shoot someone, you are at fault, at all times, no exceptions.
• Do not point a gun (loaded or otherwise, guns have the magic ability to load themselves, it seems) at anything you do not intend to kill.
• Do not take a shot unless you are POSITIVE about what you are going to hit.

Originally Posted by patricia

Even scarier is that the doctor who was the spokesperson for the hospital was on CNN this morning. He said that the incident that we're reading about is COMMON in South Texas!! It would seem that the woods and streams are crawling with yahoos with guns and no brains.

There is almost always alcohol involved, as I suspect was the case with Dick

So does Cheyney still have his NRA endorsement?

OTOH Psychologically speaking, I would imagine once you've invaded a country and claimed all but absolute power over the domestic populace, there's not much thrill in anything other than hunting people for sport. – Just thinking out loud.

[patricia]

I agree Doc. Reverance for life is clearly not one of Cheney's virtues. As if anybody has to be told that.
I can imagine him saying to his 78 year old hunting buddy, "OOPS!!"

[Solo Jazz]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Ordinarily, a shooting accident like this is investigated--however cursorily--as "negligent homicide." Needless to say, that is not going to happen here. Negligent homicide is for girly-men. The Vice President is a Real Man.

PS: This does indeed mean that the next time anybody (and you know who you are) brings up Mary Jo Kopechne, I'm going to start braying about the "Harry Whittington coverup." You've been warned! :-)

Really? It would be investigated as a negligent homicide even if no one died? That's interesting!

LoL regarding the Mary Jo comparison.... sadly Mary Jo died, if memory serves; but I do understand your point.... that situation was an accident as well, and the Whittington incident COULD have ended-up much more tragically (fortunately it did not).

Hey, I hear Cheney is looking/hunting for new HUNTING partners!

Any takers?

Jean Luc

[Enforcer]

People are jumping to all sorts of conclusions, but maybe Cheney was just really pissed off at the guy for distracting him while he was trying to hunt. If you're going to act stupid and try to be a jerkoff, expect to get shot in the face. I love how everyone wants this to be about how the Vice President is some idiot or careless goof. Look, if you don't want to get shot, try shutting the f**k up and mind your own business. This guy obviously stepped out of line and got what he was asking for. Sorry, my heart's not bleeding for this clown.

[Gentle Giant]

Here's a more complete account. I, too, find the story dubious. A guy comes from behind and gets it in the face and chest? And Cheney couldn't see an orange vest at point-blank range?

Where's Dolan to chastise us for bashing the Administration? Don't we know the Yen is fluctuating?


Cheney accidentally shoots hunting partner
US confirmation nearly 20 hours later
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | February 13, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner Saturday in Texas, and the White House did not confirm the shooting until nearly 20 hours later. The victim was described as being ''peppered pretty good" with birdshot and was in stable condition yesterday.

Cheney shot Harry Whittington, 78, a multimillionaire Austin lawyer, spraying his friend and hunting partner with shotgun pellets from head to chest. He was being treated in the intensive care unit at a Corpus Christi hospital.

Whittington, bloodied but still conscious, tumbled to the ground after he was hit. Cheney thought he was shooting at a covey of quail, according to an owner of the ranch.

Cheney is a longtime hunter and delivered the keynote address in 2004 to the National Rifle Association, from which he accepted a rifle as a gift.

The accident happened in south Texas at the famed Armstrong Ranch, co-owned by members of a family long close to Cheney. Tobin Armstrong was a major financial backer of the Bush-Cheney team who died last October, with Cheney attending the funeral. Anne Armstrong, a former counselor to President Nixon, has served on the board of the Halliburton Corp., where Cheney was chief executive before becoming vice president.

Whittington is a longtime friend of President Bush from their days together in Austin when Bush was governor of Texas. He was described in an article published two weeks ago in the Austin-American Statesman as being ''very rich, very stubborn, and very patient."

The Associated Press quoted Katharine Armstrong, one of the ranch owners, saying she watched the shooting from her vantage in a nearby car. She said that Whittington shot a quail and went to look for it in the grass. Cheney then went to search for more quail.

Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun and was about 30 yards away from Whittington, she said. Both men were wearing orange vests.

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 told the Associated Press. ''The vice president didn't see him. 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."

Armstrong said Whittington was injured mostly on his right side, from cheek to chest. Cheney was described as apologetic for shooting Whittington, who was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Kingsville and transferred by medical helicopter to the Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, about an hour away.

The vice president visited Whittington in the hospital yesterday, Armstrong said. Whittington said through a hospital official that he would have no comment out of respect to Cheney.

''It broke the skin," Armstrong said, referring to the birdshot. ''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."

The shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m. local time Saturday and was first reported on the website of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times at midday yesterday, according to a reporter at the newspaper. The White House confirmed the shooting after being contacted by the media.

White House spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride, asked in a telephone interview why the shooting was not announced sooner, referred questions to Katharine Armstrong. McBride said Armstrong talked to ''her local paper and when we were asked about the account she had provided, [we] confirmed that."

Armstrong did not return a call seeking comment on McBride's statement.

After the hospital visit, McBride said Cheney ''was pleased to see that he was doing fine and in good spirits."

Cheney, who suffered four heart attacks before he was elected vice president and has been hospitalized for heart problems while in office, always travels with a medical team. His team treated Whittington before he was taken to the hospital.

Bush, who owns a ranch in Texas, and Cheney, who grew up in Wyoming, are both enthusiastic hunters, a fact they have frequently mentioned during political campaigns. McBride said Cheney has a Texas hunting license.

Cheney's hunting trips have included one with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who went duck hunting in January 2004 with the vice president in Louisiana, a trip criticized because Scalia participates in decisions that affect the administration.

Tobin Armstrong was quoted by the Associated Press in 2000 saying that he frequently went hunting on the ranch with Cheney, who turned 65 last month.

When Armstrong died in October, his funeral was attended by Cheney and former President George H. W. Bush. ''Tobin is one of our dearest and most respected friends," former President Bush said. ''Barbara and I loved Tobin Armstrong."

The 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch was purchased in 1852 by Tobin Armstrong's grandfather, John Armstrong III, who became known for capturing outlaw John Wesley Hardin, according to a profile of the ranch in the Caller-Times.

Whittington has long been active in Republican Party politics and was appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

In the final stages of the 2004 campaign, Cheney mocked the way Democratic presidential nominee Senator John F. Kerry went on a hunting trip.

''He wore a brand new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which makes you wonder just how often he does really go goose hunting," Cheney said, according to a White House transcript. ''My personal opinion was his camo jacket was an October disguise. . . . But, my fellow sportsmen, this coverup isn't going to work because you and I know the Second Amendment is more than just another photo opportunity."

The Houston Chronicle has reported that there were 29 hunting-related accidents in Texas in 2004, with four fatalities.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Solo Jazz

Hey, I hear Cheney is looking/hunting for new HUNTING partners!

Any takers?

Jean Luc

I'd rather give a shotgun to my cat and trust him to have paid attention when the lesson about never pointing your gun at anything you don't intend to kill was given.
An RCMP friend once told me that policeman here, as part of their training, that they are never to draw and point their gun unless they intend to shoot to kill. They are not taught to wound. If the situation is serious enough to have drawn their gun, they shoot to kill.
I think that's good advice for hunters too.

And Larry, remind me never to go hunting with you.