Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured his friend, 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington, during a quail hunting trip over the
weekend in South Texas. Weekend bloggers got to the story first --
many blogs that only post during the week missed out on early coverage
of the breaking news story. Cheney now has two of the top five Technorati
searches and two of the top five "hot tags." Some of the focus in the blogosphere is on the fact that the story was not reported for nearly 24 hours. Others note that the injured lawyer is still hospitalized after being shot by Cheney in the face, neck and chest. There are also so many jokes in the blogosphere, including comparisons of Cheney and Elmer Fudd, that the late night comics may
have difficulty coming up with original material on Monday night. There are many well wishes for Mr. Whittington as well.
A Media Cynic post mentions the the quail hunting scene in Wedding Crashers. The Media Cynic also writes:
Yeah, I've heard of accidents like this happening, but only when everyone in the hunting party has had a few too many cocktails. After all, if you're sober and in broad daylight, a quail breaking cover from the ground and a 6' tall white guy don't look much alike.
Notice that a) the story wasn't reported until 24 hours after the accident
occurred and that b) Ms. Armstrong's statement blames the victim. But anyone
who's taken a hunting safety course knows that if you have a weapon it is your
job to know where your fellow hunters are at all times."
Michelle Malkin says
it is very bad news for the White House: "I'm very thankful Whittington is doing fine. Unfortunately, this is very bad news for the White House--and not just because of the inevitable late-night jokes that will inundate the airwaves over the next week. The Dems will exploit this accident to smear Cheney as incapable of being trusted, weak of mind, etc. The
resignation rumors will fly again. And the biography of a man who has served this country so well and so honorably for so many years will be overshadowed by a single, ill-fated hunting mishap."
A Daily Kos entry on
the incident has over three hundred comments.
Judeopundit downplays the incident: "Anyway, Malkin's concern is laudable, but this doesn't sound like such a big deal to me. Maybe Cheney could buy the guy a new orange vest."
Blogs for Bush blogs
that lefties are "bound to have a field day" with the news.
Waveflux:
"Whittington 'broke away'? How far did he go, and for how long? And to do what? Look for quail? Take a leak? Where was he in relation to Cheney? If he really didn't announce himself to the group upon returning, why not? Why wasn't Cheney keeping tabs on the location of others in his party, as you'd think a responsible hunter should?"
Al Franken has a post about Cheney's accidental shooting of his fellow hunter.
Raw Story reports that Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, was the third member of the hunting party.
Frank James at The Swamp (Chicago Tribune) blogs what he thinks will be the main question the press asks the White House on Monday: "How is it that Vice President Cheney can shoot a man,
albeit accidentally, on Saturday during a hunting trip and the American public
not be informed of it until today? That will likely be the main question asked of the White House about the apparent accidental shooting of a 78-year-old man during a Texas hunting trip by the vice president."
UrbanGround blogs about the event being politicized: "I dont' know why this is such a big story though. It's an accident, not an incident. There are no political angles here. But that won't stop both sides of the aisle from making it into one (mostly the Left side making fun of Cheney for it, and then the Right coming to Cheney’s defense and reacting to the idiocy from the Left)."
Political Cortex: "So, what we have is an event shrouded in secrecy for almost twenty-four hours which, when disclosed, was accompanied by a fawning statement by a Bush apparachik exonerating Cheney from any and all blame and/or liability.Thus, this appears to be yet another example of the Bush Administration attempting to manipulate the press and perhaps hide the truth."
Left Coaster: "Leave it to Greg Mitchell over at Editor and Publisher tonight to ask how can it not be a big story when the Vice President shoots someone, even accidentally? And yet, if it hadn’t been for the ranch owner calling her friend at the local paper this morning and letting him know about it, this story wouldn’t have even come out today because the White House was willing to let it go unreported until the local paper went with it. The local sheriff was willing to let the Secret Service sweep this under the rug, like a Jenna and not-Jenna chugging contest."
Davezilla shows the difference between a hunter and a quail.
Oblogatory Anecdotes: "This will undoubtedly re-ignite the gun debate in this country and I’m sure Sarah Brady and the anti gun forces will take full advantaging of it. They have been waiting eagerly for a high profile incident like this to make their case that guns must be banned, because they can accidentally hurt people. The problem with this argument is that many things can hurt people that we do not ban." (via Publius Rendezvous)
Talking Points Memo blogs about the time delay from the White House and how shooting accidents are the shooters' fault not the victim's fault.
