Just for the record, any reservations I had about thinking that markus was concerned with anything other than manufacturing memes, has now been eliminated. Future posts by said person will be read with that in mind.

Ah, but it was made public the next day. After all the facts were know, after the guys family were informed, and after the police had questioned everyone at the ranch.

Sonds reasonable to me too… if I’m not a much maligned VP who is considered evil by many people and has a problem with everyone looking for any excuse to make me look bad. Again, I’m not saying it was wrong to wait, only that it betrays yet further evidence of the Administration being bad at dealing with PR issues proactively.

Debatable. Whittington left the hunting party, and hadn’t rejoined the hunting party. So, Cheney was the ‘end man’

Not debatable. If you are not the end man, you are not the end man, you don’t get to change up just because someone broke the line for a minute. The reason everyone is given clear direction on which area they can shoot in is to prevent exactly these sort of incidents. If Mr. Cheney had stayed within his area, he would have been fine. He made a mistake. Honestly, I’m rather surprised because he’s got a good reputation as a hunter, so it was likely just a brief lack of judgement on his part… but still his fault. Any seasoned upland hunter will likely tell you the same thing.

’sun being in his eyes’

This was only added as a contributary factor

No, if the sun is in your eyes, you can’t clearly see the target, the surrounding area or your backstop. Ergo, if the sun was in his eyes he shouldn’t have taken the shot. If you can’t clearly see what you’re aiming at, you don’t shoot.

Cheney owned up, fully, and without reservation. He did what was required at the scene, medical care, and police notification.

I agree completely.

In the end, the press is the one that looks bad.

Why, because they were following a completely vacuous story that had no real bearing on any of their viewers? What news do you watch? That seems to be the normal fare from all the tv news/newspapers/etc that I’ve been able to find.

Unless, Brittney Spears’ baby, some Brit that shot his wife and kid, and the occasional car chanse in LA apply to you in some specific manner

Face it, the news media is and has for some time been irrelavant and blogs aren’t much different. The dearth of communication technology has given us the ability to share important information, but, in reality, there’s just not that much important information that concerns all of us. So were left with a tidbit of useful information and 23.75 hours of tripe.

The media looks bad to those of us who consider ourselves somewhat intelligent. But, do you really think that the hoards of mindless zombies that claim american citizenship care?

Hell, I’m not sure the majority care about WMD’s, Oil-For-Food, Abramhof scandals or Cheney’s hunting accident, except in that it gives them something to watch before Lost comes on. But then, I’ve come the the conclusion that we maybe should never have climbed out of the trees

Ah, but it was made public the next day. After all the facts were know, after the guys family were informed, and after the police had questioned everyone at the ranch.

Seems very reasonable to me.

B) “Mr. Cheney wasn’t the ‘end man’”

Debatable. Whittington left the hunting party, and hadn’t rejoined the hunting party. So, Cheney was the ‘end man’

C) ’sun being in his eyes’

This was only added as a contributary factor, not an excuse. On the police report I think it also says the sun was setting in the west. Well, DUH, that’s were it normally sets. So if Cheney was shooting to the west, he would have been shooting into the sun, at some angle.

The full context of your quote would be:

“Whittington had stepped away from the hunting party to search for a downed quail and was within 30 yards of rejoining Cheney and another hunter, but had not made his presence known, when a second group of quail flushed, Armstrong said.

Cheney had picked out one of the quail, followed it with his gun and shot, inadvertently spraying Whittington with shotgun pellets, she said. She added that the sun was in his eyes.”

Sounds to me like she was stating what happened. Not trying to make excuses for what happened.

Cheney owned up, fully, and without reservation. He did what was required at the scene, medical care, and police notification.

In the end, the press is the one that looks bad.

Anyway, I think the Left and the media are being their normal idiotic selves.

That said: I am a hunter. I have hunted since I was a child, deep in the hills of Southeastern Ohio. My Grandma missed my wedding because it was the last day of deer season and she hadn’t got her deer yet (she got a nice Buck that day though).

There were a number of mistakes made (from the report that has been publicized). Mr. Wittington and Mr. Cheney (in fact the whole line) should have been in constant communication. Mr. Wittington moreso, because he had broken from the group, but Mr. Cheney also, since his side man wasn’t directly beside him.

When one goes hunting with my Grandma, lack of communication will get you smacked upside the head.

Secondly, in a line there are strict rules about who gets the shot. if you are on the end, you can shoot within a 90+ arc to your free side and a 45 degree arc from directly in front. If you are in the line, you should get an area about 45deg +or- for you shooting area. Since Mr. Cheney wasn’t the ‘end man’, his turning and firing was bad. If he turned and fired, it was not his bird and not his shot.

Shooting outside your range, would get your gun confiscated for the day by Grandma.

Third, we’re told Mr. Cheney didn’t see his friend, in one statement it was due to the ’sun being in his eyes’. One of the most important rules in hunting is to A) SEE your target clearly, B) See your backstop (what you’re gonna hit if you miss the target)and C) see anything between you and your target.

Shooting at what you can’t see, would get you banned from ever hunting with Grandma again.

And whoever stated earlier that they hunt and people get shot with birdshot all the time… I think you need to find new hunting buddies. No one should ever get shot by accident, its not cool, its not funny and its not safe. There are bastards out there just waiting to take our guns and anything other than personal responsibility makes us look more the fool. Mr. Cheney, to his credit has publicly acknowledged that he was the one responsible.

However, this is a great example where making excuses (because he’s the VP, or because you’re closing party ranks or whatever) is harmful, not helpful.

Ted sure thought he was exempt. For longer than Cheney and he killed a woman. LOL.

****

A piece of shot migrated towards the heart and caused an irregular heart beat. After every doctor that had seen him said that he was in good, stable condition, and they were not removing most of the shot from his body.

How Cheney handled the shooting incident has nothing to bear on what occured after the fact.

I agree though that “no one shines here,” but have much more understanding for Cheney, not wanting to make a mountain out of a molehill (as it stood Saturday evening, all day Sunday, and all day Monday)

The left is jumping off the deep end, again. And the average person is going to wonder what all the fuss was about. Cheney had a hunting accident, big deal.

no argument there. in fact, i’ll give you a shiny new dime if you can find where i claimed it was.

but i know that no matter what the weapon, I wouldn’t turn 180 deg and shoot level with the ground, not knowing exactly where everyone in my party was. maybe that’s SOP for canned quail hunters, though.

I’m sure the mainstream media, and the usual suspects will be howling about this.

********

US Vice President Dick Cheney was expected to break his silence about a weekend hunting mishap in which he shot a man in the face, neck and chest, his office said.

Cheney was to make his first public remarks on Saturday’s shooting in an interview with Fox television to be recorded at 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) and broadcast four hours later, according to a spokeswoman, Jennifer Mayfield.

“The vice president wanted to talk to the American people about this issue, and we thought an interview was the best way for him to do so,” she told AFP by telephone.

Cheney has not spoken publicly about how he came to wound prominent Texas lawyer and developer Harry Whittington, and his office has refused to provide an official account of the incident.