Vice President Cheney's Hunting Accident - NOT Attempted Murder

Okay, so he goes hunting at the well known Armstrong ranch in Texas for a weekend of R&R. No biggie, right? Until the media got wind that he accidentally shot a fellow hunter and friend, the millionaire attorney Harry Whittington, wounding him in the face, neck and chest.

Ordinarily, this would not even have made it into the news (hunting accidents do occur from time to time) unless, of course, you're the vice president, a Republican, or both. The media wasted no time jumping on this and trying to make it into something that it isn't: news. When I watched the local news (KTVU-Ch.2), they aired footage of the press gallery that questioned the Vice President's press secretary. One member asked the stupidest of all questions, "Is this a criminal offense that would warrant his stepping down?"

Sheesh, wouldn't THEY, the liberal media, just LOVE to see that happen? Why don't other people who have committed the same "offense" get fired from their jobs or be put before a firing squad? I mean, for crying out loud, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! If anything should be a criminal offense that would warrant a person's stepping down are the media that purport to cover the news.

A non-story becomes a news story and they're crying for blood because they didn't know about it immediately. Well, spank everybody for just trying to take care of the accident and leave them be in peace!

The Vice President's medical staff, who followed him, provided medical care for Mr. Whittington until he was transported to Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial in Corpus Christi. From other reports, Cheney was apologetic for the mishap and even visited Whittington in the hospital before returning to Washington, D.C.

From what was understood, Mr. Whittington had gone into the tall grass to retrieve his quarry and failed to let the Vice President know. This is a cardinal rule for hunters: KNOW where everybody is. The news account from Yahoo! can be found here.

I wish I had linked the news story from the previous day, but that already fell out of the queue (or was it removed in favor of this one which has the more inflammatory headline of 'Cheney Violates Cardinal Rule of Hunting'?).

The reason why he didn't make the statement himself was that Katharine Armstrong, owner of the property where the group was hunting, said that she would make the statement to the local paper for him, and he agreed to that. Also, when you read the Yahoo! news story, it also states that the head of the local Secret Service office contacted the sheriff's office to report the accident, they came out to interview the Vice President on Sunday morning, the day after the shooting incident.

There was no cover-up, as much as the media and liberals would love to claim. This was simply and unfortunate and, obviously, embarrassing accident. But, because Dick Cheney is the Vice President and a public figure, he will always be under more scrutiny than the average Joe Schmoe. Of course, even MORE so because he's a Republican.

The media should be taken out to those same fields and see how much better they fare in the same situation...me, I think they should just be shot.