I’m glad to hear that according to the NY Times the press is in an uproar over the 24-hour delay in announcing that Buckshot Dick had plugged one of his hunting companions. The shooting happened on Saturday and apparently it wasn’t even until Sunday morning that Bucky got around to thinking about releasing the information to the press:
In an interview, Ms. Armstrong said that it did not occur to anyone in the hunting party to make news of the shooting public immediately, but that no one, including Mr. Cheney, had called for holding it back. She said Mr. Cheney participated in discussions on Sunday morning about disclosing the incident, agreeing that it should be made public but deferring to the Armstrong family on how to do so.
So you’re the VP. You just shot somebody. Yet you give no thought till 24 hours later that the world might want to know what you’d done?? Come on! And the following is a lu-lu too:
The shot heard round the world, er, at least Corpus ChristiOn Sunday morning, Ms. Armstrong tipped off her local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, to the story. It was later picked up by national wire services and confirmed by Mr. Cheney’s office.
So let’s say you want to be able to say you released a story to the press while still burying it so it’ll get little or no coverage–at least for another couple of hours, thereby buying you additional time in the race to stifle a very embarrassing story. Of course you release it to the small local paper that no one pays attention to (except Corpus Christi residents).
We all knew that these guys managed the news and bought it when they couldn’t manage it enough. Here’s yet another example.
The Times also reports that at a meeting today with Cheney, Pal Georgy warned him the press would join the meeting at its end. Guess who scurried out the back door like a fraidy-cat? That’s right, ‘ol Buckshot.
did you see who won 2 awards at the JIB’s?
http://lgfwatch.blogspot.com/2006/02/winners-and-losers.html
I am missing the conspiracy here… it was a bird shot for G-d sakes… while I don’t hunt myself, I know enough from personal experience that bird shot from a moderate distance is painful, but certainly not life threatening.. sometimes I am shocked that they could ever kill a bird.
At the end of the day, it’s up to the “victims” family to release the info on the event as a matter of personal privacy.. as much as you guys on the left attack the current administration for invasion of privacy, I thought you might actually be supportive of the privacy that was given to him.
Oh well, sometimes you just can’t win.
I put this comment up on a regional blog and thought i would share it with Richard and this community, since unfortunately Whittington went into A-fib today and got a cath. Turns out the 5mm shot penetrated the heart muscle, became inflamed, released enzymes, and now he’s got the risk of a migration embolism. This is turning into a nightmare for the victim. Here’s my post:
My sense is that hunters instinctively know that when they shoot someone they immediately take the blame, absent some criminal liability exposure.
I think the most prophetic question at the WH press conference yesterday was the seemingly bizarre question from a female reporter asking if Cheney had offered his resignation. McClellan answered with “absurd” or a word to that effect.
From my rustic view shooting your hunting partner accidentally compares to accidentally hurting your spouse landing her in the ICU. Not taking the blame immediately (leaving the witnesses and victims to assess blame) is to brand yourself a coward.
The October rumors of resignation of the VP will be on again. It makes sense politically because of Plame. I’d say we’ll have a new VP and clear heir to the R nomination in short order.
Well, I agree to a point. Allow me to first say I am no big Cheney fan (trust me on that one), but if this silly thing is what takes him down then I don’t know what to say.
As for the nomination, he was never going to get it anyway. The only reason he is VP is because the “old guard” wanted one of their own with Bush (because Bush has always been known to go with feeling rather than logic).
My guess is that it’s either Rudy or Condi getting the nod (I say this as a long time ‘insider’ in the Republican party BTW).
Tovya: Duger did not mean to say that Cheney was likely to get the Republican presidential nomination. His career is finished. He meant to say that if Cheney resigns that the person replacing him might become heir to the nomination.
You’re being hasty in labelling this incident “silly.” A victim with shotgun fragments in his heart muscle has moved this story from the “silly” to the “extremely serious” category right quick. You apparently haven’t kept up to date with today’s serious health developments.
When you say it’s up to the victim’s family to release news of the incident you’re missing two major points. This is the vice president of the United States. This isn’t a cut and a scrape on a fishing expedition. A VP does not do things as you or I would. He has a public obligation to be candid and open about matters such as this which are far more than mere private matters as you contend. When the vp shoots someone this is a major national story and the American public wants to know about it. If Cheney ducks behind the fence and refuses to tell us what happened that only leaves the field open to all those who suspect the worst of him.
Second, Cheney did not, as you suggest should have happened, leave it to the victim’s family to release the information. He left it to the host. And they are long time Republican lobbyists with extremely close ties to Cheney. All this leaves the impression of insiders trying to manipulate the story for damage control. Problem is a serious story like this shouldn’t be manipulated. It should be exposed to the full light of day so that everyone knows everything as soon as Cheney knows it. That’s not what happened & he will pay for it.