NEWS: Dick Cheney Accidentally Shoots Hunting Partner

This is nothing more than an unfortunate accident, and the national media getting all huffy because they weren't the first to be notified. Well, contrary to their belief, they are not the most important group in the world.

The old lawyer was in the wrong, not announcing himself when he rejoined the party. Cheney's reflexes aren't what they were 20 or 30 years ago. Together they add up to an accident waiting to happen.

I had to laugh, reading some of the replies here. "Conspiracy". "Cover up". And the best one of all - "Cheney intentionally shot the man".

And finally, I'm shocked! Shocked! That no one here seems to be concerned with how our VP is doing. He should be having grief counseling after suffering through such a traumatic accident. Let's all send our very best wishes to him, as well as our full support.

jsobecky,
I'm sorry but I have my doubts about the VP needing grief- counsiling since it hasn't bothered the man or his boss to much over all the lives lost in Iraq,... whats one more, even if it is inside the US and done by none-other than the VP himself. My prayers go out to the shooting-victim and his family and prayers for the VP and President that their souls don't burn to fast when their natural-time comes .

Why are we so willing to acept that this WAS an accident? Why isn't an investigation forthcoming? After all, Cheney's staff tried not to disclose this story at all! They didn't even tell Pres. Bush's people about it til the next DAY!!! What's up with that? Hey I thought this was a CONSPIRACY THEORIST'S SITE?!? I am wondering, anywho...

The conspiracy is with the "news media" trying to blow this up into something it isn't.

The other conspiracy is the people that are falling for it.

Roper

heh, so nanna, you don't think there's any difference between accidently shooting a friend in the face and supporting a military action to protect your nation? I don't think he needs grief councling, either, but not because he doesn't mind having shot his friend. Maybe you would consider defending your country and shooting a friend in the face along the same lines, but I don't, and I doubt Dick Cheney does, either.

It's not a conspiracy that people are buying this non-story as much, much more. It's fear. Fear and wanting to have their fears confirmed. Look at these boards for the past 4 years. For many members, Dick Cheney is one of the most feared and hated men in the world. Now, when something like this happens, that fear and hatrid makes it easy to believe that he wanted to shoot his buddy. Not much logic is used there, though, because if Dick Cheney is as evil and horrible as some would have us believe, don't you think he has the power to "disappear" a lawyer who noone had heard of before?

The media recognizes this fear and hatrid of Cheney, and they're trying to spin it so folks start thinking there's some grand conspiracy of Nixonesque proportions. So yes, I agree there's a conspiracy in the media, but the people who are believing that Cheney shot a man just to watch him die are letting their fear allow themselves to be manipulated. They're not getting together and deciding, "ok, we're going to believe this." They're being manipulated.

My apologies to Ox, I obviously mistook that post. I tried to edit, butt should have taken more out than I added. Looks like it was me talking out my behind to some extent on that one.

It amazes me to see some members (jsobecky) continuing to blame the victim in this incident. Perhaps you should join your partisan buddies on the sidelines for the rest of this one? No offense, of course.

I'm still not convinced it was an accident. Quail tend to flush and fly away from dogs and guns, not toward them, and the fact that Whittington approached from behind the party, and Cheney swung all the way around before shooting him, makes me suspicious. If you have ever hunted quail before, you would know this scenario is unlikely, at best. Although it could have happened that way, I suppose. The delay in and handling of the reporting of this incident don't make it look too good, either. Smells like collusion on a cover-up of what really happened to me.

Maybe it went something more like this:

Whittington knocks down another one and goes to retrieve the bird from the first covey, Cheney misses again and is getting frustrated. Whittington comes up behind Cheney and Mrs. Ambassador as another covey flushes and Cheney misses again, swearing at the fleeing birds. Perhaps the Ambassador even knocks one down this time. Whittington laughs and says something like "Dick, you shoot lick a one-eyed tick on a broke-down hound dog's behind! You're getting out shot by a woman! You probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that thing!" Cheney loses his cool and lets him have it.

You never know, for life is truly stranger than fiction. They certainly wouldn't have told the truth about what really happened if it was anything other than an accident.

[edit on 15-2-2006 by Icarus Rising]

Icarus Rising, do you live or have you ever lived in a rural area? If not, let me impart some wisdom that could, actually, save your life. If you're driving down a road and a deer jumps in front of you, you slam on your brakes. You don't try to swerve, because the behavior of the deer is unpredictable. They are just as likely to try to double back and jump right into your swerve as they are to stay in place or take off continuing running forward. Your best chances of making it through such an event is to just hit your brakes for all you're worth. This could save your life because what would be minor injuries in a car accident in a city can be life threatening when you're unable to contact anyone due to no cell phone reception, no one finds you for a long period of time because the road's so rarely traveled, and even after you're found, the nearest hospital is a long drive away and often the doctor on staff is not an experienced surgeon.

Making an assumption on the behavior of an animal convinced (correctly, in this case) that something is coming to kill and eat it, while typically true, does not apply to the whole, nor is the typical a 90% likelihood or anything. How often have you seen a dog chase ducks on a shoreline when they all take off, double back, then turn in a completely different direction? Can you predict what you would do if you could fly and this snarling and barking beast 10 times larger than yourself came charging at you? What if you had the intelligence of a Quayle...er quail?

It's easy to pain scenarios and say "this is how it probably went down". That doesn't make them true. It doesn't even make them likely.

I am sorry if this has been asked, but only skimmed the 9 pages...

Why wait so long to report the incident?

was he drinking?
were they waiting until there was no chance of alchohol in his system before making it known, so that he couldn't be held on involuntary attempted manslaughter?

drinking and hunting go together far more than they should.

Icarus Rising, do you live or have you ever lived in a rural area?

junglejake,

I grew up on an 80 acre ranch in the High Desert area of SoCal, and subsequently lived on an island off the coast of SoCal that has 56,000 acres of wilderness area for 20 years, and I have hunted upland game birds and deer and wild boar extensively in the past (prior to a disabling series of back injuries), so the answer to your question is yes, I have.

Only once in all my hunting experience has a quail flushed toward me. It flew between me and my brother, who was 10-15 yards away, and we both swung on it, and held our fire, until the bird passed by us, then we both let loose at it. It escaped by some miracle. My brother said it must have been "walking on BB's" as it flew over the rise to our rear (which had a hillside behind it, on the other side of a small ravine, to provide a safe backdrop for our shots).

I said, "I suppose it (the incident) could have happened that way" (the way it was reported), and it could have, I just think, based on my experience, and the way most politicians (especially this one) are such liars, that its unlikely. I offered an alternative scenario, mostly in jest. It could have happened that way, too.

I am not a supporter of our current federal government, GOP or Dems, and if it had been any other doofus, lying politician, like Gore or Kerry, who had done this, I would feel the same way. Would you?

What should concern the defenders of Cheney here, for one, is the fact that this guy and the other cronies in the administration are so bereft of manhood as it relates to standing up and being accountable for his/their behavior. It reflects a pattern of their pathology of hiding the truth and denying reality when their policies explode in their own faces. The first thing most boys are taught about being men is to take responsibility for their mistakes.

I mean, what a pussy. He shoots this guy in the face and fails to stand up and make a public apology or publicly show his personal concern for the guy's health. It's no longer about politics or party affiliation. It's really shameful. Cheney, you're a pussy.

[edit on 15-2-2006 by seattlelaw]

What stumps me is the location of the shot.
You can faintly make out the injury area on the diagram in this incident report... alt.coxnewsweb.com...

A quick Google image search for quail hunting ( images.google.com... ) shows clearly that quail hunters almost always shoot at least 45° up from the horizon.

Cheneys shot was very close to level with the horizon.

Just FYI, Cheney will be speaking to Brit Hume about the accident today at 1400 EST on FOX.

Then again it's Brit Hume, so most of the questions will be like, "Why are you so awesome?"

And it's FOX so don't be surprised when Hume and others spin Cheney as the savior who's responsible for this guy surviving the shooting. And Cheney will likely allude to his buddy's error in sneaking up behind him. Spin, spin, spin.

Was He a Drunk Dick?

•'Beer quote' pulled from MSNBC Cheney hunting party article
•Chene y, "A Beer or Two," and a Gun

Oh That Poor Dick?


Watch how many intellectually challenged morons started parroting this load of crap about feeling sorry for Cheney in order evade the real issue of responsibility.

Confessions of a Dick





Now reflect back on these posts and see who was trying to blame Harry.
Makes you wonder if they can grasp the concept of "Deny Ignorance"?







[edit on 15-2-2006 by Regenmacher]

Originally posted by seattlelaw
And it's FOX so don't be surprised when Hume and others spin Cheney as the savior who's responsible for this guy surviving the shooting. And Cheney will likely allude to his buddy's error in sneaking up behind him. Spin, spin, spin.

"It's easy to complain about the press -- I've been doing it for a good part of my career. It's part of what goes with a free society. What I do is try to focus upon those elements of the press that I think do an effective job and try to be accurate in the portrayal of events. For example, I end up spending a lot of time watching Fox News, because they're more accurate in my experience, in those events that I'm personally involved in, than many other outlets."
Dick Cheney

Ok.. So this thought hit me today..

Dont all hospitals have to report ALL Gun shot wounds and stab wounds to the authorities? Who was this reported to? Or was it? If it was who kept it hush hush? and if it wasnt reported, then does that mean Cheney and the government are above the law as they would have everyone believe they are?

Just another question as well..

If the guy dies.. and Cheney faces charges of.. Negligent Homicide.. lets say... and is impeached by congress.. Can he be pardoned? If so I have NO doubt that bush will wave his little magic wand and do so..

Originally posted by thepuncher

Originally posted by Icarus Rising
Ox, I'm sorry, but get a clue! Why don't you stand up there and get shot at 30 yards with a 28 gauge shooting a 7.5 load, much less a 12 gauge, and tell us how irritated you are. You are talking out your butt...

Ox has more than a little point... As Alex Jones says, if he was such an accomplished hunter, he would never have shot behind himself...

I agree with both of these statements.

But Icarus Rising is correct. You've got Buckley's of getting me to stand 25 metres in front of you and letting you shoot me with a hunting (ie long-barreled) 12 gauge loaded with buckshot. Sawn-off shotguns spread, they are designed to, they are short-range weapons. Game-keeping shotguns do not. Ever watched skeet (or trap) shooting events?
Different types of pump-action shotguns spread differently. Hunting ones have the same patterns as double-barreled shotguns, "law-enforcement/military" shotguns have shorter barrels and consequently more spread. On a city street you want spread, you want dissipation, not multiple deadly force, but inside a bank building you want deadly force, get a sawn-off pump.

In the bush/forest/scrub/brush where your target is small and moving you need the range and spread and accuracy and penetration, so you get a long-barreled, but smoothebore, gun firing pellets. Hello shotgun.

The vice president has admitted that he was drinking on the afternoon of the incident. He claims it was only a beer, according to the transcript of an interview with Fox New Wednesday. But the whole discussion about how much drinking took place on the day of the fateful hunt has been evolving rapidly since Katherine Armstrong, the wealthy Republican lobbyist who is a member of the politically connected family that owns the ranch where Cheney blasted his hunting partner, initially claimed that no one was imbibing before the incident.

Armstrong later acknowledged to a reporter from the NBC investigative unit that alcohol may have been served at a picnic Saturday afternoon on the dude ranch where Cheney shot Harry Whittington.

Continue d at Yahoo News....

They did not react quick enough to stamp it out, and now Cheney was forced to admit it.

If this goes from one beer to a couple, or more I would like to see.

HowlrunnerIV..

I would just like to clear something up.. It's the shell, the load that makes the spread, Not the shotgun itself.. True.. Some buckshot loads can be loaded with the shot in a single file such as skeet shooting... But bird shot.. Well some bird shot, spreads.. But.. As the shot leaves the barrel.. dont forget it's also spinning.. (I'm going to assume you're Australian by your use of "Buckleys".) I'm Aussie too and here's my point, Remeber history class on the first settlers and their musket rifles and pistols.. A good 25 metres away and the rounds spins right by you.. the arc of the spin increases with the distance from the shooter.. Same principle.. The buck is coming out spinning and will eventually spin in such an arc that even if SOME shot did hit you, it might tear the skin.. and yes maybe hurt a little but it certainly wont kill.

And secondly.. It sure as hell WONT enter your blood stream, move through your blood stream totally unaffecting your body and THEN! lodge itself in your heart valves and cause a heart attack.. There's no way that the bearing could not clog a vein or artery and then block a valve..

Just a quit edit.. It was a 28 gauge shotgun he got shot with, not a 12 gauge HowlrunnerIV, much smaller shot.


[edit on 15-2-2006 by Ox]