But unless he does so, and makes a good showing of it, he will be damaged goods for the remainder of the Bush presidency.

You mean he wasn’t “damaged goods” already, what with the Halliburton stuff and all? Even before any of this happened, it was a foregone conclusion that he would have next to zero chance of winning the Presidency in 2008 even if he intended to run. Next to all the baggage Cheney was already carrying, this looks like a bag full of feathers, and a pretty small one at that.

You’re all complete idiots if you don’t see the many ways in which this story helps the White House. One, it brings up the gun issue, which has always been a winner for conservatives, two, it makes Cheney look like that much more of a tough guy. You think that Senate will still want to investigate him. Bring it on.

Ha, funny joke. I love this type of subtle humor.

But looking at your blog, I think you may actually be serious. Please convince me that you’re not.

Pretty please!

It is always 100% your fault if you shoot someone while hunting.

I hunted quite a bit as a teenager with my uncle. You never even point your gun anywhere except right in front of you.

No one except a complete nimcompoop (sp) would whirl around 180 deg. and fire a gun.

I have no idea what she is talking about with announcing yourself. I’ve never heard of anything like that.

later in the NYT piece, she says the victim (forgot name) was doing just fine and cracking jokes. —But he is still in ICU for the 2nd day. I don’t know what your ICU’s are like but here, you’ve got to be pretty bad off to hang around in ICU.

I can’t find the where I read it, but there are quotes about DC doing “nothing wrong” just bad luck, etc.

The whole thing doesn;t pass the smell test to me. Why the 18 hr lag (maybe to clear BAL)? Why did the Secret service block the sheriff from talking to Cheney? How did this really happen, is Dick really that clueless with a gun? or did he fall and have the safety off? I know it was an accident, it just seems their first inclination is to stonewall.

I don’t have high hopes for the blockquoting below, but here goes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021200524.html

Whittington “came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn’t signal them or indicate to them or announce himself,” Armstrong said, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/politics/13cheney.html?ei=5094&en=ef5d2efe3efde24c&hp=&ex=1139893200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1139871849-KjccbOFTy41spwKSVOhrQw

“This all happened pretty quickly,” Ms. Armstrong said in a telephone interview from her ranch. Mr. Whittington, she said, “did not announce â€â€? which would be protocol â€â€? ‘Hey, it’s me, I’m coming up,’ ” she said.

“He didn’t do what he was supposed to do,” she added, referring to Mr. Whittington. “So when a bird flushed and the vice president swung in to shoot it, Harry was where the bird was.”

As someone who took hunter’s safety and a member of a family of very avid hunters, I will agree, Cheney’s partner probably should have announced himself. However, when you pull the trigger, it’s ALWAYS your responsibility to know what’s in your line of fire and not pull the trigger if you are not absolutely sure that no person is in your line of fire. The #1 rule of hunter’s safety is always know your target and beyond.

What’s “something like this”? The Vice President shooting someone? Doesn’t Aaron Burr ring a bell? :)

I see someone already updated Wikipedia’s page on Aaron Burr:

“In 2006, Richard Cheney, while on a hunting trip in Texas, became the second Vice President to shoot a person while in office.”

Didn’t take long…

When you shoot some directly behind you, it is your fault, period.

Once again, they lie when they don’t have to. And that creates a problem. Although with the current press corp, I doubt a big one.