Cheney with a line of native beaters hunting giraffe in South Dakota
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.
Harry Whittington, 78, was “alert and doing fine” after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.
“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.”
This is why I hunt alone.
Actually, Whittington is the head of the Texas Funeral Service Commission.
The guy was probably a democrat 😉
Greetings from South Dakota, where Dick Cheney goes “hunting” from time to time. He hunts on game farms that are overstocked with birds so heavily that it’s not sportsmanship at all, more like shooting fish in a barrel or small animals in cages. Locals say he shoots 70 or more birds a day. It’s not a hunt, it’s a shoot ’em up slaughter. Bwana Cheney, great white hunter. It’s not surprising that the daft old bugger sprayed his pal, given how many shots he must pump out in a day. We could use this skill in Baghdad! We could use this example! Dickeroony, saddle up with your favorite firearms and toodle on over there for a two-year hitch like the SD National Guard gets! Show ’em how you can shoot!! Stay there until the job’s done!!
Oh, the irony 😛
“Actually, Whittington is the head of the Texas Funeral Service Commission.”
So is he responsible for his own funeral if he dies???
I bet that guy had no weapons of mass destruction either…
Why all the fuss – its not like he killed a rich person.
I bet Lenos and Lettermans writers are in ecstasy. Sorry the poor guy got peppered. Wasn’t Aaron Burr the last VP that shot a guy?
Gerald Ford used to get shot-at a lot…
Maybe he thought it was Scooter Libby.
from the CNN.com write-up:
“The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came.”
Imagine that, Heart-Attack Dick Cheney has an on-call ambulance ready and waiting. Whodathunk?
Too bad Cheney’s not a little bit younger. He coulda taken Dumbya’s place during the VIet Nam war.
I saw a picture of the poor guy, I guess he looks “kinda” like a quail…
Freakily symbolic of what the neo-cons have done to the whole country.
Safety starts with Management.
Why the heck didn’t Cheney KNOW where his hunting partners were BEFORE he was shot?
I wonder if this was Bush’s fault too?
Pat,
If you read the account of what happen Cheney did know where is hunting party was. Whittington moved from were is group was supposed to be to pick up his bird he shot. This took him close to were Cheney was. When you do this you’re supposed to annouse yourself so the other hunters know you’re there. Whittington didn’t do this. I’m not saying Cheney is total blameless but it was not like he was totally careless either.
Christ! – the guy was rich!
What is this country coming to?
Jetfire
They are both lucky it was small shot. If it had been something larger then Wittington might not be recuperating as nicely in the hospital.
Cheney must be heartbroken over this. After all, he spent the whole of the VietNam War arduously avoiding any possible circumstance where he might harm another human being with a firearm.
Mano a mano, that is.
I understand that Cheney dipped his handkerchief in the man’s blood and drank it. It was supposed to give him two more weeks of life.
G
17 – (Jetfire) What you say is just another example of people twisting the truth and not taking responsibility for their own actions when a serious mistake is made. That has become so habitual with this government that it is used in ALL cases… “Let’s say whatever makes us look less imcompetent, regardless of how false or misleading it may be.”
For once I would like to see someone in this administration accept that they Fu#$%d up, and admit it publicly, instead of making dumb excuses for everything (and it is everything) that they have done in the past 6 years. And it would be nice if people like you would just stop parroting those excuses and think for a change.
From the Texas Parks and Wildlife “Shooting Safety Rules”:
6 – Know your safe zone-of-fire and stick to it.
Your safe zone-of-fire is that area or direction in which you can safely fire a shot. It is “down range” at a shooting facility. In the field it is that mental image you draw in your mind with every step you take. Be sure you know where your companions are at all times. Never swing your gun or bow out of your safe zone-of-fire. Know the safe carries when there are persons to your sides, in front of, or behind you. If in doubt, never take a shot. When hunting, wear daylight fluorescent orange so you can be seen from a distance or in heavy cover.
Original link:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/hunter_education/shotsafe.phtml
And by the way… this is a local police matter, yet the Secret Service is keeping the local police from investigating the incident. Above the law even for non-official duties?
I hear he was trying to get information from the suspect, and after shooting him, he was heard saying’Get me a hacksaw.’
Mike, I like your liine of thinking.
G
Heh heh. I like how the spoekshole explained it. “He got a little to close to Cheany, he was behind you, Cheaney turned around and just fired and well he got sprayed.
Since when do you just turn and fire low to the ground without looking?
Another example of “I’m not responsible” government.
Oh come on!! Cheney only shot an attorney, we have lots more attorneys left…and right, and front and behind…
Two birds with one stone maybe….??? Get rid of Cheney and an attorney at the same time…
Awake
Thank you for the response. You did a much better job on this then I could explaining the Gun Safety point.
BTW, Apparently Cheney had his non-resident Texas Hunting License. He had not obtained the proper stamp to hunt quail though. But they are only going to warn him I think either the wildlife officer saw what a F-16 can do or somebody called in a favor.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0213061cheney1.html
Actually they have it all screwed up again.
He shot Dan Quale with a “potatoe” gun
Apparently there is some confusion about why it took almost 24 hours to report this to the press.
Mrs Armstrong, the ranch owner, reported it to the local Corpus Cristi newspaper. In her account, She had not “…coordinated with the Vice Presidents office…” before calling the paper. TheV-P’s office account said Cheney and Mrs Armstrong did discuss reporting this to the paper.
When asked about this later, Scott McClellan said there was no discrepancy, they discussed it. When asked if Mrs Armstrong was lying McClellan said to ask Armstrong. Armstrong has said there was no discussion.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602130008
I have some questions for Scott McClellan
Question #1 Why did it take so long for the media to find out about this?
Question #2 Why would Mrs Armstrong instead of the V-Ps office report it?
Question #3 Why would the V-P’s office and the WH say that the V-P and Armstrong were in cahoots about reporting it when Armstrong says there wasn’t any discussion?
Question #4 Would there have been any repercussions to Armstrong if she didn’t report it to the media.
Question #5 Was this incident classified by the NSA and Armstrong’s leaking the information has put us all in danger because now the terrorists know what size gun Cheney has?
Sounds like there’s a new war on lawyers… The guy shot was also a lawyer. Didn’t the administration say that they hate trial lawyers?