Take your best shot!

[davefoc]

I just saw the press conference with hospital where Whittington is being treated.

four areas they refused to comment on:
1. exact details on course of treatment. no surprise there, possibly to protect whittington privacy, but also probably to prevent public second guessing of their treatment decisions.

2. Was there a BAC test? hmm, maybe to protect whittington privacy, maybe to protect law enforcement detail relevant in official investigation.

3. How many pellots hit Whittington? Once again maybe to protect law enforcement detail relevant to official investigation.

4. Lead or Iron pellots. Can't see why they would no comment this. Why wouldn't this just be answered in straightforward way? The rest of the answers in the press conference seemed to have been answered in a straightforward, candid way. The shot pellot size and type of shotgun have been released.

 

[Kopji]

Cheney's supposed to be on Fox News tonight to explain how we've all blown this out of proportion and he is the real victim etc etc.

Not quite as good as the Muhammed ones, but...
http://cagle.com/news/CheneyShoots/main.asp

We now have a nice 'hunter' caricature for Cheney that can be reused. This could be extra fun if he really goes off about it with no sense of humor about himself.

 

[Mark]

So...the message from Cheney is:

Yes, I, the Vice President of the United States, shot a friend in the face with a shotgun; but, really, where is the story here?

The Bush Administration: Love 'em or hate 'em, they are never boring.

 

[Kaylee]

Cheney would be at fault if he shot inside the hunting line. Outside the line is where the shooting happens and that's where Whittington wandered.

That doesn't make sense to me. Its OK for a hunter to shoot anywhere in a 360 degree circle? Why bother to have hunting lines then?

The sheriff cleared cheney of any wrongdoing.

Well I would expect that. I have no hunting experience but as per my post above -- and hey Cylinder who does have hunting experience agreed with me! -- it seems that both Cheney and Whittington were at fault.

As polarized as the country has become and as hated as Cheney is by his opponents... It just goes with the territory. If you are a huge political target, expect any incident to be blown out of proportion. I don't have any sympathy for Cheney on this one.

I'm not a Cheney fan by any means and yeah, public figures do become public targets for just about anything in a democracy. But I still rather he get shot down (bad pun, I know) over more important VP job related issues.

 

[Cylinder]

Here is the transcript of the Cheney interview.

It's in south Texas, wide-open spaces, a lot of brush cover, fairly shallow. But it's wild quail...

There were three of us who had gotten out of the vehicle and walked up on a covey of quail that had been pointed by the dogs. Covey is flushed, we've shot, and each of us got a bird. Harry couldn't find his, it had gone down in some deep cover, and so he went off to look for it. The other hunter and I then turned and walked about a hundred yards in another direction...

Away from him -- where another covey had been spotted by an outrider. I was on the far right...

I'm out there -- but bird flushed and went to my right, off to the west. I turned and shot at the bird, and at that second, saw Harry standing there. Didn't know he was there...

He was dressed in orange, he was dressed properly, but he was also -- there was a little bit of a gully there, so he was down a little ways before land level, although I could see the upper part of his body when -- I didn't see it at the time I shot, until after I'd fired. And the sun was directly behind him -- that affected the vision, too, I'm sure.

 

[peptoabysmal]

That doesn't make sense to me. Its OK for a hunter to shoot anywhere in a 360 degree circle? Why bother to have hunting lines then?

The line is the line of hunters. You try to stay shoulder to shoulder at a distance and shoot only in the angle ahead of you. A somewhat straight line, not a circle. Same thing at a target range, you don't move towards the target until you hear the all clear signal after "cease fire". Rules vary depending on state and so forth but are similar, indoor ranges usually don't allow you beyond the firing line ever, not even to bend over and pick up a spent brass cartridge.

Well I would expect that. I have no hunting experience but as per my post above -- and hey Cylinder who does have hunting experience agreed with me! -- it seems that both Cheney and Whittington were at fault.

Well, if Cylinder agrees with you, how can I possibly dispute that?

I'm not a Cheney fan by any means and yeah, public figures do become public targets for just about anything in a democracy. But I still rather he get shot down (bad pun, I know) over more important VP job related issues.

You want a VP who's doing a rotten job? Or do you just want this one to get caught at something? I would prefer that he is at least considered innocent until proven guilty. And if it is revealed that he is doing a good job as VP, how is that bad for the country?

Now for what I said as to who's fault it was:

That being said, In my opinion, the shooter always has the responsibility to check beyond the target before pulling the trigger. Always.

The rest of what I said was regarding how easy I think it is for this kind of accident to occur.

And Cheney's thoughts on the matter:

"You can't blame anybody else," Cheney told Fox News' Brit Hume, in an interview that aired Wednesday night. "I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend," he said.

He refused to make excuses about the accident.

"You can talk about all of the other conditions that exist at the time but that's the bottom line, and it was not Harry's fault," he said.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060215/cheney_hunting_060215/20060215?hub=CTVNewsAt11

Am I good or what?

 

[peptoabysmal]

Here is the transcript of the Cheney interview.

It looks like the story I quoted had selectively quoted without putting in elipsis to indicate so:

Well, ultimately, I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry. And you can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. And there's no -- it was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. And I say that is something I'll never forget.

That's what really irritates me about the news services these days.

 

[Cylinder]

It looks like the story I quoted had selectively quoted without putting in elipsis to indicate so:

That's what really irritates me about the news services these days.

Me too. I probably should have indicated as well that the quote I provided was one that I pieced together for continuity.

 

[davefoc]

I am not a hunter but based on Cheney's statement it seems like the main mistakes were made before Cheney aimed his gun. It seems like at the time Cheney leveled the gun at a bird given the conditions almost anybody would have hit Whittington.

A. the sun is low
B. the sun is behind whittington
C. Cheney is focused on a bird. At this point one's ability to see other details are very limited.
D. Both Cheney and the victim are old and their hearing might have declined enough that neither one was likely to hear the other when they were walking nearby.
E. Quail are low flying birds. If you're going to shoot them at all they are going to be near bushes and near the ground.

I'm actually feeling very sympathetic towards Cheney over the situation right now. Probably the only chance to avoid this accident would have been to have made sure that all members of the party were accounted for before even taking aim. I would think something like that would be standard procedure and Cheney's only error may have been not doing it. But if the parties had agreed to shoot from different areas and somebody just wandered back into Cheney's area it seems at least conceivable that from Cheney's perspective the accident was unavoidable.

 

[zakur]

I'm actually feeling very sympathetic towards Cheney over the situation right now. Probably the only chance to avoid this accident would have been to have made sure that all members of the party were accounted for before even taking aim. I would think something like that would be standard procedure and Cheney's only error may have been not doing it. But if the parties had agreed to shoot from different areas and somebody just wandered back into Cheney's area it seems at least conceivable that from Cheney's perspective the accident was unavoidable.

As much as I hate to admit it, I, too, am feeling somewhat sympathetic toward Cheney over the actual shooting. It's the behavior afterward that has me scratching my head. Why try to quash the story for so long? This may have very well been a run-of-the-mill hunting accident (exception being that the VP was involved), but not coming forward right away gives the appearance that there was more to the story and they were trying to cover something up.

 

[Mark]

As much as I hate to admit it, I, too, am feeling somewhat sympathetic toward Cheney over the actual shooting. It's the behavior afterward that has me scratching my head. Why try to quash the story for so long? This may have very well been a run-of-the-mill hunting accident (exception being that the VP was involved), but not coming forward right away gives the appearance that there was more to the story and they were trying to cover something up.

Because that's what these people do.

Btw, while I think this incident again shows what utter morons these people are, even I am not saying this should go any further than it has. He didn't violate any laws (that I know of), he's just stupid.

 

[Orwell]

 

[zakur]

Whittington Apologizes

Yes, the guy who got shot in the face is sorry. Very sorry.

The man accidentally shot by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney said the quail hunting incident was nothing more than an accident and he apologized to Cheney and his family for causing a ruckus.

[...]

"My family and I are deeply sorry for all that Vice-President Cheney and his family have had to go through this week. We send our respect to them as they deal with situations that are much more serious than what we've had to deal with this week."

 

[WildCat]

Whittington Apologizes

Yes, the guy who got shot in the face is sorry. Very sorry.

He'd better be. Otherwise, he'll be in a worse "accident".

 

[shecky]

Whittington Apologizes

Yes, the guy who got shot in the face is sorry. Very sorry.

I dunno... Whittington didn't sound very sincere to me.

 

[Cylinder]

Wow. Bob Woodward just stated on Larry King Live that the fact the Cheney would swing his shotgun around to shoot a poor bird was "bizzare and disturbing." That quite nicely sums up my sentiment toward today's media.

 

[peptoabysmal]

Wow. Bob Woodward just stated on Larry King Live that the fact the Cheney would swing his shotgun around to shoot a poor bird was "bizzare and disturbing." That quite nicely sums up my sentiment toward today's media.

Human nature. People fear what they don't understand.

 

[peptoabysmal]

I just saw the press conference with hospital where Whittington is being treated.

four areas they refused to comment on:
1. exact details on course of treatment. no surprise there, possibly to protect whittington privacy, but also probably to prevent public second guessing of their treatment decisions.

2. Was there a BAC test? hmm, maybe to protect whittington privacy, maybe to protect law enforcement detail relevant in official investigation.

Interesting questions. I'd like to know too, escpecially about the BAC test.

3. How many pellots hit Whittington? Once again maybe to protect law enforcement detail relevant to official investigation.

They should have known right away with an XRay.

4. Lead or Iron pellots. Can't see why they would no comment this. Why wouldn't this just be answered in straightforward way? The rest of the answers in the press conference seemed to have been answered in a straightforward, candid way. The shot pellot size and type of shotgun have been released.

I'm guessing lead. There is an evnironmental stigma to using lead shot.

 

[Cylinder]

Human nature. People fear what they don't understand.

I see your point. It just strikes me that before he actually commented on something like this that he would do some basic research. I guess in My World, everyone has at least seen someone shoot a clay pigeon.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Cheney's not noted for his precision, is he?

"I know where the quail are. They're in the area around the Armstrong ranch and Texas and East, West, North and South, somewhat..."