Guns Don't Shoot People; Dick Cheney Shoots People

The gang that couldn't shoot straight takes its act on the road, and the most dangerous man in Washington DC shows he is also the most dangerous man in South Texas:

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a prominent Austin, Tex., lawyer on Saturday while the two men were quail hunting in South Texas, firing a shotgun at the man while trying to aim for a bird, a member of the hunting party said.

Mr. Cheney, a practiced hunter, shot the lawyer, Harry Whittington, on an outing at the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas. Mr. Whittington, 78, was taken by helicopter to Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit on Sunday, according to Michele Trevino, a hospital spokeswoman.

The Times even provides a motive for the attempted assassination:

In 1999, George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, named Mr. Whittington to head the Texas Funeral Service Commission, which licenses and regulates funeral directors and embalmers in the state. When he was named, a former executive director of the commission, Eliza May, was suing the state, saying that she had been fired because she investigated a funeral home chain that was owned by a friend of Mr. Bush.

The suit was settled in 2001, but the details were not disclosed. Mr. Whittington still serves in the position.

If I. Lewis Libby had not been forced to resign, Dick Cheney would not have had to get his hands dirty with this.

More background on the Texas Funeral Service Commission here.

UPDATE:  Some coverage of the cover-up. 

Comments

[topsecretk9]

Maybee

I agree, but, I also understand the delay. I think the number one reason the delay occurred was the mans age and no definitive knowledge of the condition. A blanket wire "Veep involved in hunting mishap" would set off a fire storm of misreporting mayhem, can you imaging the questions "WHY did you say mishap WHEN YOU KNEW THE MAN WAS IN ICU???" let alone the headlines?

The mans age really is a factor. My grandmother went into the hospital a week after her cat scratched her with blood poisoning. And also his elderly wife? Hello...would not you want to get Mrs. Whittington notified and with her husband before the friggin Gregory's of the world started pounding on her door (Think Grandma Alito)

Now, soon, is the time for Cheney to address publicly, but 18 hours -- PART OVERNIGHT SLEEPY SLEEPY time--- is no great crime.

[topsecretk9]

BTW, if 18 hours had passed before they notified local authorities? Now then we'd have to wonder.

[Gary Maxwell]

By the way I just read an interesting comment elsewhere. When Vince Foster died it took the Clinotn Whilte House 30 hours to comment on the suicide note left. I did not verify this but if true, that would be almost twice as long as here. Remember any firestorm from the press? Me neither.

[maryrose]

Lawrence O'Donnell is on Scarborough saying his question for the White House is "Was he drunk?" What a moron ODonnell is. Tucker says Cheney is not a boozer.Thank God Deb Orin is on now-the voice of reason.

[MayBee]

TS-
I agree, and all of your points make sense. I just wish he would have done it not because I support the circus the media creates, but because there is no denying it exists. Of course, the speculation about alcohol, etc, would still be flying around.

Lawrence O'Donnell needs to go read the police report that says no alcohol was involved. Nah...why bother. It's all a coverup.

[maryrose]

Too bad Nora O'Donnell gets caught up in all this NBC hoopla on the MSNBC network. She seems intelligent and personable so I hate see her spouting dem talking points and getting sucked in by all spin they put out.

[maryrose]

Well David Gregory got what he wanted ; Scarborough is interviewing him now and it looks like he has a ton of makeup on his eyebrows. They are really pencilled in. He actually called MCClelland a jerk today because Scott said he was grandstanding. What a poseur!

[Sue]

I think comparing how the WH would handle a terrorist strike to Katrina is also stupid. The WH would not wait for the local government to do their job, as they did in Katrina. They would do what they did when General Honore came in. Take charge. I keep wondering how Clinton's presidency would have turned out had he spent the entire 8 years with 3 24 hour cable news channels, internet and bloggers riding his a$$. It would have been one he!! of a ride...

::grin::

[clarice]

Nora is beautiful and stupid. When she started out on national tv she regularly mispronounced every three syllable word. Empty head.

[topsecretk9]

I just wish he would have done it not because I support the circus the media creates, but because there is no denying it exists.

Yep you nailed what I'd been thinking. I admire and wonder at the same time the tact the Veep and "P" are taking vs. their staff. I'm endeared and don't blame the Veep and "P" for taking the attitude ---Press? Huh? Wha? They have needs? Kiss My B ...BUT the internet is the factoid the geezers ain't gettin. My personal temptation would be very similar - tell Gegory to take an ambien and kiss this, but when with fire-DOG-lady and various "dig-it-be" blogs whose sole purpose is not to engage but to create nuggets of fuel in order to maintain "fitz" comments, their tact isn't cutting it.

[clarice]

Hillary has no shame or thinks we have no memory:
"WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton thinks White House delays in disclosing Dick Cheney's shotgun mishap are evidence of a vast West Wing conspiracy to stonewall journalists and voters. Clinton told reporters Tuesday that the nearly 24-hour lag proved the White House has a "disturbing" tendency to "withhold information" no matter what the issue. "http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ushill0215,0,7221891.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

(30 hours to report Foster's deathat her orders which her staff had earlier denied to the Whitewater gj)

[maryrose]

Hillary is the pot that always calls the kettle black. She criticizes others for her own sins-it's called projection ,Clinton her life revolves around it.

[topsecretk9]

Clarice
What reporter do you think -A- does not know this and/or b- cares?

It is not about the story, the story is SOLEY to GET Cheney, nothing else, nothing more. If Mr. Whittington gets worse or dies, they get the story they've been gunning for.

[clarice]

Pathetic, isn't it?Wish I were a writer for SNL--Would I do a WH presser!

[richard mcenroe]

Sue — Gee, I kinda like the image of a likkered-up Cheney hanging out the window of a Benz blasting Texas highway signs... it's got the popular touch.

[MayBee]

Was Cheney caught moving three boxes of documents from Whittington's office after he shot him? Because now that would be withholding information.

TS is right, reporters know it and don't care- they are on to the next scandal.

But Hillary should just shut up. She was doing such a good job there for a while.

[larwyn]

Able Danger hearing is finally
on CSPAN.

This is in regards to the DIA
trying to discredit Lt Col. Shaffer
and prevent testimony from him
and the others.

I was lost in other reading and
missed the opening statements that
some of the Dems members made.

They are really really really
protecting whistleblowers - so they
can then compare ________ &_______
and all the rest of the NSA and
CIA PRISONS leakers with these
real whistleblowers.

Boy are they fooling us!

[MayBee]

Wouldn't Hillary have been smart to say something like this:

"Dick Cheney is a public official, but this accident happened on his private time and even public officials deserve some privacy. Nobody abhors more than I politicians using the private pain of others to manufacture scandals. So long as Mr. Cheney is cooperating with Texas investigating and legal authorities, I suggest we focus on the issues truly affecting the American people: x, y, and z."

Isn't any presidential candidate that digs into this as a 'scandal' just inviting pain for themselves in the future?

larwyn- I wish I could see the CSPAN hearings!

[larwyn]

Caught Jon Stewart - he slowed way
down on the Cheney angle and they
did a skit of a WH reporter saying
"We finally got them! For 5 years
they were lily white - but now we
got them!"

He said "How do we know if it wasnt
47 guns firing one pellet each? Looks like a cover-up!"

Stewart took the head shaking, this guy is nuts role - so joke was
on the WH PRESS CORP.

He is not as far gone as most, perhaps.

[MayBee]

oh clarice- I can't get your link but in addition to not reporting the death, she waited to tell the president about the suicide note.

[larwyn]

MayBee,
You'll have to scroll down thru the Weldon Press Conference which
is worth the read - can't figure out how to get the link to each post on this site.

UPDATE: Kucinich (sic) just had
Russel Tice read the Fourth Amendment and then went into the
government going after the NSA
leakers
AbleDangerBlog

Vi is posting audio from the hearing here, for those who missed it. The first file includes the opening remarks of Weldon and Shaffer on Able Danger. Shaffer was trying to fit a lot into his statement. Overall, there was not a lot new today for those who have been following the Able Danger story, but it was still important for Shaffer to finally get to testify publicly and explain the need for an independent body to investigate retaliation against national security whistleblowers like him.

Several of the other witnesses kept saying "I agree with the Lt. Col." which was interesting. Not sure if Shaffer's wife was at the hearing, but I hope they are enjoying a happier Valentine's Day today, now that he's been able to publicly deny the ugliest of the false rumors spread against him by some nameless bureaucrat.

THIS IS A WHISTLEBLOWER HEARING -
TICE IS ALSO THERE.
So they are playing this for pre-clearing the NSA & CIA prison leakers.

Liveblogging the Committee on Government Reform's National Security Subcommittee Hearing on National Security Whistleblower Protection

I am now liveblogging this hearing here.

[MJW]

Italics, bye bye.

[MJW]

Another try.

[MJW]

Please, pretty please, if you're going to use HTML tags, use PREVIEW to make sure they're correct.

[Lew Clark]

The latest: Cheney was drunk. How do we know he was drunk? Because he can't prove he wasn't. Which is leftist legal logic.

But, yes we can prove he wasn't drunk! Being a well known political figure, if he was drunk he would have climbed in his car and driven his "date" into Corpus Christi Bay and drowned her. Because that's what drunk political figures do!

[maryrose]

Any reporter who spreads a rumor without the facts to back it up should lose his job and be liable for a slander suit.

[clarice]

MJW, Sorry. I think this is the cite--it's to amemo released after her staff had testified that Hillary had nothing to do with the delay which shows she held up notification about Foster's death for 30 hours and kept the FBI out of his office while they cleaned it up.

Hillary

[AB]

I LOVE watching Repubs apologizing for lawbreakers and incompetents. I beleive that's what all you sycophants are for - to sit on blogs all day and make excuses why no one in this admin has any responsibility for anything they do...EVER. It really saves the brain cells when you know the conclusion of every argument.

Question: When did "conservatism", which once was comprised of principles (fiscal responsibility, limited government, etc.) come to mean NONE of those things and turn into an Authoritarian Cult? Basically, the new definition of "liberal" is "doesn't belong to the Authoritarian Cult".

You're turning into cartoons.

[maryrose]

Clarice:
Someone needs to refresh Mrs. Clinton's memory. She needs to take the plank out of her own eye before she casts aspersions on others. People like her that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

[AB]

Yes, we need you moral "conservative" apologists to tell everyone how to behave. Your leaders are such paragons of virtue.

I mean, I knew Cheney and the like were cowards when it came to fighting for their country, but the one thing I always assumed is you gunworshipping bozos knew how to handle a damn gun! Hunting maimed, captive quail from a car with two women, neither of them your wife, and then shooting 200 hundred pellets into an old geezer's face (and liver and heart)...Man, you guys really can't do ANYTHING right, can you?

But the bowing and scraping from the Sycophantic Chorus is never a surprise.

[clarice]

Maryrose, she's still operating under the old rules, where if Pinch and Donald are your friends you can say what you want without ever being called on it.

[AB]

As opposed to the NEW rule: It's OK If You're a Republican?

[JM Hanes]

AB - Man, you guys really can't do ANYTHING right, can you?"

Only if you don't include actually winning elections.

[kim]

I kinda like Dennis the Menace.

AB, rant on about gambling next. We're human, even liberals.
================================================

[cathyf]

No, no, no, no, NO, AB, you don't get it at all. Cheney is carrying through with the Christers' secret plan to take over the US with eminent domain. First he tried the "velvet" approach by schmoozing with Scalia, but that crazy Tony double crossed him and dissented on Kelo with a dripping ascerbic opinion. So now the iron fist has come out of the velvet glove and he's started shooting prominent ED opponents.

Scalia should be counting his blessings that he didn't end up full of birdshot...

cathy :-)

[Lew Clark]

AB was funnier when he was burning Ronald McDonald in Pakistan. Now he's just sadly deranged.

[AB]

Lew Clark = Exhibit A of the Authoritarian Cult. Since conservatives now have absolutely no principles, and in fact now have as their record the OPPOSITE of most formerly conservative values, they have only ONE connective tissue - membership in the Authoritarian Cult where we all "trust" Bush. And what does "liberal" mean now that conservative means nothing? Simple, as Lew Clark just showed you, liberal means voicing any opposition whatsoever to the Authoritarian Cult. In other words, laughing at the hilarious spectacle of yet another administration vaudeville routine of incompetence followed by cover up is equivalent to anti American hatred and rioting.

Seriously - you're all Cartoons!

[kim]

Was Miers chauffreuse, and Roberts and Alito invited or is that scurrilous?
===============================================

[Appalled Moderate]

AB:

This Cheney thing is a Rove plot. The admin knew those new Abu Gharib pictures, and that Katrina report was coming out this week. So he asked Cheney to do something -- distracting.

You fell for it. Your kind always does. Bwu hahahahaha!

(Note: Even if this isn't a Rove plot, by concentrating on mean spirited personal matters rather than the policy disasters of this administration, the lesser lefty bloggers and big hair media are crowding out the genuine scandals for ephmera.)

[maryrose]

ab
wHAT LAWBREAKERS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE. tHE DEM REP FROM lOUISIANA ABOUT TO BE INDICTED? mARC RICH -FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE-OH YEAH-HE WAS PARDONED- hILLARY BROTHERS AND THEIR SCAM ARTISTS FRIENDS-GEE PARDONED AGAIN- ROGER cLINTON OH WELL HE IS A RELATIVE AFTER ALL...

[AB]

It's pure comedy gold, Moderate Cultist.

And laughing my ASS off at "focussing on meanspirited personal matters" - coming from a wingnut! Do you people seriously have the memory span of peanuts? Your very own wingnut media invented that!

[kim]

I'm feeling your amusement, AB.
================================

[Cecil Turner]

And laughing my ASS off at "focussing on meanspirited personal matters" - coming from a wingnut!

Heh. The self-parody can't get much better than that. I'm still betting on SNL to be funnier than the media, but it looks like it's gonna be close . . .

[Gary Maxwell]

Most of synaptic connections just fried. Just how far out on the moonbat left do you have to be to call Appalled Moderate a wingnut( ie bafflegab from a moonbat always needs to be interpreted, i.e. he means right winger).

AB I heard it was just a dress rehearsal. Next week Cheney is going to invite Justice Stevens on a quail hunt.

[Sue]

Cecil,

It does seem to be a parody, doesn't it? Sadly, it probably isn't.

[Appalled Moderate]

General rule on the fringe. One is only a moderate if one agrees with you half-heartedly, takes about six paragraphs to vacillate before coming around to your point of view, and never, never displays a flash of humor. (Moderates are too wimpy for irony.)

[larwyn]

As you are all over here, I'll double post my venting:

My head is pounding in frustration
that there are House people droning on about Katrina on CSPAN
- CNN, CNBC (Matthews & the "Money
Honey"((a Soros A--Kisser)) complaining about what they don't
know about Cheney's accident.

What we don't know about 911 and
what we don't want to know about
the CLINTONS are least of our worries.

This is exactly like the parody
on the "Daily Show" last night,
that I posted.

NOW CSPAN HAS PELOSI'S GANG ON
ABOUT KATRINA!
@4:26EST - PELOSI STILL ON!

4:19 - CAFFERTY REFERS TO "THE
F-WORD NETWORK" TWICE.

At 4:18EST TIME - MY HEAD IS
EXPLODING!

BRIAN LAMB SHOULD HAND HIS HEAD IN SHAME!

~4:03 CNBC (Olympics on MSNBC)
Matthews has a list of what they don’t know about Cheney
on CNBC - DON’T CARE ABOUT WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW
ABOUT 911 AND THE CLINTONS!

Posted earlier:
It is 3:55pm EST and CSpan channel that covers the House
is showing presser regard Katrina report.

Have not even seen a reference to the Able Danger Hearing
going on in their “capital news” captions.

They’ll show it in wee hours of the morning to make sure
it can be filtered thru the LSM.

CSPAN, THE NEUTRAL (ha!) wouldn’t want to hurt the
Dems or the Clintons.

This is just sick!

[Extraneus]

It's kind of amazing how deep the hatred is for Cheney, isn't it? I find it hard to fathom, considering he's such a sweet old guy with a bad ticker besides, but I tried to understand the whole BDS mindset right after the last election, when they were front and center with their Post-Election Stress Disorder. Try as I might, the thing I could never quite grasp was how they could be so completely devastated by Kerry's loss, when there was never any evidence that they thought much more of him than us wingnuts do. At any rate, I think I'd be embarrassed to harbor such ill will at someone's sick old grandfather, even if he was an evil mastermind from the dark side.

[JM Hanes]

This is really a hunting accident that shouldn't have happened. Intimating that Whittington himself is somehow to blame for "not following protocol," is more than simply ungracious. Everything about this operation sounds sloppy, starting with the hostess herself who should have made sure her guests had the proper permits.

Putting three shooters on the ground at the same time is just begging for trouble. It makes it tough for the dog handler to work his dogs or control his hunt, and the hunters inevitably end up shooting across each other. Even managing two hunters when you're dealing with V.I.P.'s can be plenty hard enough. Letting one of them wander off by himself to retrieve a bird is a dangerous practice, but there is just no acceptable excuse for swinging around and taking a shot when you don't know where your companion is -- especially with pen raised birds which fly low and slow.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a telling difference between saying "I didn't realize that Whittington was there," and saying "Whittington didn't tell me where he was," and it doesn't redound to Cheney's credit. Indeed, nothing about this incident, including how he has (not) handled it, does.

[Concerned citizen]

Now here is a conspiracy theory for you,the reason there was a delay in notifying the press was that there were two old men who needed medical help,one with a gunshot wound and the other with a heart attack.

[clarice]

JM Hanes--except Cheney never said that. He said it was all his fault. Ms. Armstrong explained the protocol when she described the incident to the press.

Larwyn..It could be that today's hearings are largely in secret session.

BTW teo more unions--the laborers and the operating engineers just announced they're leaving the AFL-CIO which will surely leave less money for the Dems..another special interest ATM goes bust.

[Sue]

The only thing Cheney could say that would shut the press and the left up momentarily is he was slobbering drunk, turned and thought Whittington was Saddam and pulled the trigger. Nothing else short of a a 'true' confession will be enough. I was in the bunch who thought the VP should just have the presser and get it over with. Now, I'm starting to think why bother?

[topsecretk9]

HAH

Question: When did "conservatism", which once was comprised of principles (fiscal responsibility, limited government, etc.) come to mean NONE of those things and turn into an Authoritarian Cult? Basically, the new definition of "liberal" is "doesn't belong to the Authoritarian Cult"

oh brother, well from this statement we can safely assume AB is practicing his special brand of cultism by accepting his marching orders from Gleen Greenwald to go out tell conservatives they are a "authoritarian cult" , because you know they are the authority and all.

HEH

BTW
Saw where Cheney pissed in the liberals wheaties again, by um taking responsibilty...Libs hyperventilate, did the firedog lady have an aneurism? oh well libs, suck to be you

[Cecil Turner]

Intimating that Whittington himself is somehow to blame for "not following protocol," is more than simply ungracious.

I disagree. It was an attempt to explain what was otherwise inexplicable. Nobody suggested it was anybody's fault but Cheney's, nor should anyone listen to them if they did. And I've hunted in lines with ten or more shooters; it's still perfectly controllable as long as you know where the line is. Obviously in this case it broke down, and it's worth noting why it did. Doesn't relieve the shooter of the absolute responsibility for where his shot goes.

One is only a moderate if one agrees with you half-heartedly . . .

Yeah, that was apparent. I thought "policy disasters of this administration" was a pretty good clue where you were coming from. Musta been a little too subtle.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice
"except Cheney never said that"

No he didn't. He let Mrs. Armstrong speak for him, and said nary a word about it, didn't he? I'm sure he'll officially take responsibility at some point; he can hardly do otherwise if he actually talks about it in person, can he? And he'll look like a bigger guy for not mentioning any purported culpability on Whittington's part, won't he?

In the meantime, Whittington's supposed infraction has gotten far more play than it merits from folks who mostly have no idea what a proper quail hunt looks like, let alone what's protocol and what's not.

[JM Hanes]

Cecil
"And I've hunted in lines with ten or more shooters..."

Not shooting quail though, were you now?

[larwyn]

Clarice, you wrote:
Larwyn..It could be that today's hearings are largely in secret session.

Not true. AbleDangerBlog shows
that broadcasting on Pentagon channel, some internet feeds, and
a sister to AbleDangerBlog is
"live blogging".

My point is that CSPAN filled this
afternoon with pressers and rebroadcasts that could have been shown later vs going to the ABLE
DANGER HEARINGS LIVE.

You see, had they done that, the LSM would be forced to mention it.
As ABLE DANGER will hurt the CLINTONS/DEMS - they'll play it in
the wee hours of the morning - but
I am really expecting them to replay the Katrina hearings - that
can make the Repubs look bad.

We may have until some AM this weekend to see it.

Very normal "neutral" CSPAN coverage.

[maryrose]

Cheney did a good job with Brit Hume and answered any questions I jad about the matter. Enough said ,time to move on...

[cathyf]

In this case, if either Cheney or Whittington had not screwed up, probably no one would have gotten hurt. Interesting thing about accidents -- most of them are a whole collection of screwups made by more than one person. While the guy who ran the red light was certainly at fault for the accident, the guy who would have slammed on his brakes if he wasn't distracted by his misbehaving children could have prevented the accident if his kids weren't being rotten. While the electrical fault may have caused the fire, the person who called 911 and gave the wrong address could have prevented the building from completely burning down by not screwing up. A person momentarily loses control of his car while driving, or backs up without looking, but there are no other people, vehicles or obstacles there, he regains control, drives on, no harm.

All of us screw up occasionally, and we are saved from catastrophe because just random chance means that we often have other people around us who are not screwing up at the same time. Or in other circumstances it's ok because the other people aren't in the exact spot that is the problem. And sometimes we are the diligent ones who save the day when it's somebody else who is screwing up.

There is a certain subset of humanity who are obsessed with blame. They can never even start to solve a problem until they have assigned blame, and seen the guilty punished. If the people around them prevent them from punishing the guilty (or those that who blame-obsessed imagine are guilty) then the blame-obsessed will do everything within their power to disrupt any and all problem-solving with their outrage. These people are absolutely driven around the bend by accidents. Here is a case where more than one person could have single-handedly prevented the accident, so the blame-obsessed becomes discombobulated trying to figure out who to pin guilt upon. And when anyone tries to use something as an object lesson about how prudence and care can prevent other people's screwups from causing catastrophes, they get castigated as somehow letting the guilty "off the hook."

I've had enough contact with these people to have the opinion that they are mentally ill. As opposed to the people who feign their outrage for political effect, who are simply assholes.

cathy :-)

[larwyn]

ABLE DANGER BLOG reports
that Public Session ended at 5:50PM.

I don't think CSPAN has any excuse
except bias for not covering this when they cover every minute of 911
Omissioners' sneezes.

Yeah, I am P.O.'d - have looked forward to today since it was announced.

UPDATE: Cambone just said he can wait, but it sounds like they only got another ten minutes as a result. Then they are going to closed session.

Public testimony ended at 5:50pm. According to Vi's live blog of the hearing, the first panel, where Cambone was the only witness called to testify, lasted from 2:50pm to 4:38pm. The second panel, with the three other witnesses, lasted from from 4:39pm to 5:49pm. Combone got one hour and forty-eight minutes, while the others got one hour and ten minutes. In addition to Vi's blog, which provides an in-depth running summary, a streaming audio recording of the hearing is available here.
posted by TopDog08 @ 5:21 PM Comment (0) | Trackback (0)

[clarice]

cathy f-brilliant post.

Larwyn, I'll write that CSpan thing up if you want to draw attention to their scheduling.

[JM Hanes]

cathy
"In this case, if either Cheney or Whittington had not screwed up, probably no one would have gotten hurt."

Well, yes. It's the implied equivalence between the two that I find irritating and frankly think misplaced. In general, however, I agree that the refusal to acknowledge the fact that accidents do actually occur is all too common.

While the press has certainly been playing their usual self-absorbed games with this story, I do think it's surprising that the Vice President didn't personally give the Prez a heads-up, don't you?

[maryrose]

Excellent post Cathyf- You summed it up nicely especially your closing statement. Matthews can't get over how Cheney can control the info flow and cherry-pick how he gets the story out. I say when you get elected and re-elected that gives you a lot of power.If Cheney wants to take some of that firepower{wrong choice of words} away from the press I say more power to him.

[topsecretk9]

Dems and the press, YET AGAIN, overplayed their hand. Cheney said it, DO YOU THINK THEY CARE WHAT I SAY? Nope.

They really don't give a rat-ass what Cheney has to say and frankly their hissy fits are an insult, because the mere suggestion that they would alter their Cheney hate because Cheney text messaged them on scene is S T O O O O P I D!

So now, the WAPO, is having to address their dumb-ass reporters cal trans outfit. BRILLIANT.

[larwyn]

Clarice,
"I'll write that CSpan thing up if you want to draw attention to their scheduling."

Think someone has to call them on
what they do. My health probs have me on sometimes irratic schedules - so I watch a lot of CSPAN - and shake my head every time Lamb is interviewed regarding
the leaning of CSPAN.

Just check the schedule of what was broadcast yesterday and today
and the times involved. Unless,
you are an insomniac or have TIVO
you are going to miss most of the hearings that benefit the Repubs.

I swear they give full coverage to
anything that Pelosi/Durbin/Reid and the gang feel like spouting -
but we still haven't seen yesterday's Curt Weldon presser.

We did see the president of the Urban League's talk on Katrina twice last evening, and also 2 Tony
Blairs and 2 Gordon Brown (is it?
to be NEXT UK PM) - THAT WAS ALL
MORE IMPORTANT THAN ABLE DANGER!

Hope you will take a look at what
they do broadcast - only limited
coverage of CPAC - but compare to
every little State level Dem meeting.

Sorry, this does RILE ME!

[MayBee]

Sue:I was in the bunch who thought the VP should just have the presser and get it over with. Now, I'm starting to think why bother?

I still do wish it, but it is absolutely true that there was no way to handle it correctly. The story itself is just so out of the norm, and Cheney is such a lightning rod- it was always going to be something.
*Not enough information about the shooting, whenever it was issued.
*Why did he contact the press person he did contact (whomever it would have been?) Why did he not contact xxxx? And why doesn't he ever have a press conference?
*Investigation of the people he's with: lobbysts. Women, no wives. Hmmm...
*Comparison of justice poor people receive in accidental shootings
*Drinking? Drunk. Maybe drugs. Former DUIs-- is he an alcholic?
*We've be led to believe he was at undisclosed locations for his safety. But is he always just out sporting around with donors? Why is he so secretive anyway?
*The ever present unanswered questions

[Lesley]

The need to assign blame is as old as civilization itself.

"Scapegoat - part of the ancient ritual among the Hebrews for the Day of Antonement laid down by the law of Moses (Leviticus 16) was as follows: two goats are brought to the altar of the Tabernacle and the high priest cast lots, one for the Lord and the other for Azazel. The Lord's goat was sacrificed, the other was the scapegoat, and the high priest, having, by confession, transferred his own sins and the sins of the people to it, it was taken to the wilderness and allowed to escape." Brewer's

Politicians, the people and the press still seem to desire the Old Testament catharsis of blame and confession. Guess we're really not so far removed from our ancestors.

[larwyn]

AND CAFFERTY SHOOTS HIS MOUTH OFF!

Hugh Hewitt picked up the latest
example of the famous Jack A-- wit:

From CNN's Jack Cafferty this afternoon:

JACK CAFFERTY: Well, I obviously didn’t see it because it hasn’t been released in its entirety yet. But I would guess it didn’t exactly represent a profile in courage for the Vice President to wander over there to the “f-word” network for a sit down with Brit Hume. I mean that’s a little like Bonnie interviewing Clyde, ain’t it? I mean, where was the news conference? Where was the access to all of the members of the media? I don’t know, whatever.

Wolf: Do you still think he needs to do a full scale news conference, invite all the cameras, all the reporters and ask whatever they want?

Cafferty: That's never going to happen. But I mean running over there to the Fox Network to do it, i mean talk about seeking a safe haven. He's not going to get any high hard ones from anybody at the f-word ntework, I think we know that."

How bitter at cable eclipse can you be? The Veep went on the most watched network likely to give his interview a complete airing. He was interviewed by the most respected and experienced anchor in America right now by the people who care about professionalism.

CNN makes moonbats proud.

[JM Hanes]

I've always wondered who decided to hand Jack Cafferty a mike and obviously tell him to say whatever the hell he feels like saying at will. The guy is uniformed opinion incarnate with an obnoxious demeanor to boot.

Interestingly enough, Keith Oberman (sp?), of all people, checked out Cheney's interview history, and to that host's credit reported that (of the few appearances Cheney's actually made) he's been interviewed on the usual MSM channels more often than he has been on FOX. Not by much, but cetainly by more than a lot of folks assume.

[larwyn]

JMH,
This tops his comments on GW's
summer reading list which included
the "World History of Salt".

He did his snide superior laugh
and said "Isn't that what you put on potatoes?". Wooooof said he thought it was S.A.L.T., the treaty
with the Soviets. Ha! Ha!

First and last time I ever sent him an email to inform the fool. Response must have been something as ~5 minutes later with
Ali, Cnn's new star know it all.

Wooooof was stammmering and
Jack A-- said "Well, what do I know".

Knowing very little doesn't
stop him, and the Huff's are promoting him to get a whole hour
prime time show to "tell it like it
is". Yes, I am crazier and less
informed and more radical than Chrissy and Keith - that should get
great ratings!

[clarice]

Here's a good one
http://www.jessicaswell.com/MT/archives/002201.html

[JM Hanes]

LOL! Made my day, Clarice!

[clarice]

Hugh Hewitt mops the floor with Larry O'Donnell. http://www.radioblogger.com/

[MayBee]

HH is so methodical. He leaves no room to wiggle out of the exact question he's asking.

[MayBee]

This part is weird:

LO:.. Listen, there's a different standard for posting. This is a posting on the Huffington Post, okay? I had no substantive facts on the matter of the Vice President's sobriety. I would not have written what I wrote in the L.A. Times or the New York Times. I wouldn't do that. But in a post on a website that is a blog, this is exactly the kind of question you're supposed to ask, and you ask those questions so that the media will read that, it'll provoke them to ask the questions,...

---
weird, because I thought bloggers were trying to gain credibility in the eyes of the press. A press which tends to blame the blogs for not fact-checking. And here's O'Donnell basically saying, I threw out this wild-a$$ guess because it was jut a blog and that's what blogs are for.

[clarice]

He's a pig.
So's Bill Press.
I'd better stop naming press whores before I use up all TM's bandwidth

[MayBee]

It's too bad O'Donnell can't just say he was drunk when he wrote that post. I could excuse that.

[maryrose]

Odonnell is looking for new attention and notoriety because his show West Wing isn't being renewed. On the McLaughlin show he made more asinine remarks and Tony Blankley said "this isn't an episode of West Wing Larry".

[kim]

Mr Dillon. Mr. Dillon.
========================

[clarice]

larwyn--just for you. http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=4472

[kim]

Well, C, you've found a surefire way to get me to go read a link. Larwyn is rightfully worked up. We are seeing the tip of the iceberg on Clintonian blitheness. What was Berger stealing?
==============================================