Seems to me that there is less to this story than meets the eye.

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

He was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon on Saturday.

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president met with Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday. Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," she said.

* * *

"It broke the skin," [Armstrong] said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

So we are dealing with really minor injuries here -- though this could have been a much more serious situation had the range been closer.

But what exactly happened?

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

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.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

In other words, this was not the result of Cheney being unsafe in his conduct -- rather it involved his companion failing to follow standard safety practices in this sort of hunting.

So why the major coverage? Well, I think this indicates why the press has a burr up its ass.

McBride did not comment about why the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident until the next day. She referred the question to Armstrong, who could not be reached again Sunday evening.

Why wasn't the press notified? Because this sort of accident is really not a big deal. But when you consider that the MSM wants a press release every time a public figure has a bowel movement, you had to get the obligatory "why weren't we notified" bitching from the press.

Personally, my favorite line has to be this one.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic.

One would certainly hope so.

Michelle Malkin quotes this little gem from a reader.

Reader C.T. writes: "I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy ."

Quite true.
UPFATE Great article at the Washington Post, with more details.

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Posted by: Greg at 04:04 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 "In other words, this was not the result of Cheney being unsafe in his conduct -- rather it involved his companion failing to follow standard safety practices in this sort of hunting."

Umm, you are obviously not a hunter. The cardinal rule of hunting is that whoever pulls the trigger is responsible for whatever happens. When hunting anything--but especially quail because of their unpredictability--you are responsible for knowing where other people in your party are.

I have hunted in that same area of SE Texas and there is no way a fellow hunter could not be seen if he's wearing the requisite clothing. The mesquite brush is relatively short and any trees around would also be small and spread apart. You can see quite easily.

What probably happened was that he got so focused on the bird, that he ignored everything else in his view. Regardless, unless you deliberately jumped in front of your partner's gun, there is NEVER a scenario where the shooter is not responsible for his actions.

This is clear recklessness on the part of Cheney.

It will be interesting to hear Whittington's rendition of the event. It will also be interesting to read the local police investigation.

Posted by: Kilp at Mon Feb 13 07:35:30 2006 (5Zer4)

2 Ordinarily, I would agree with your statements on hunter safety. But there is information here that leads me to place a large part of the responsibility on Whittington.

If you read the report cited at the beginning of the article,along with the Washington Post article (which is excellent), you will see that Cheney was aware of where everyone in the party was -- or at least where they were supposed to be. It appears that Whittington moved from where he said he would be. While it is not quite "jumping in front of the gun," it is clearly at least as much a case of lack of caution on Whittington's part as on Cheney's part.

Assuming the reports are accurate, Whittington came out of a direction no one was expecting, because he had told his companions where he would be. He then unexpectedly approached from behind, which is a blind spot, coming from lower where he could not be seen to higher ground.

As for you descritpion of the terrain, I have some questions as to its accuracy. SE Texas is a big place, with a variety of flora and fauna. I'm not familiar with the Armstrong Ranch, but I do know that the nearby King Ranch has multiple habitats, most of which do not meet with your description of the terrain. I therefore respectfully question your assertion regarding the area where the incident happened.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Feb 13 08:36:44 2006 (6IgSr)

3 You're right with regard to the variability of terrain in Kenedy County--most of my experience hunting quail has been in Jim Hogg County, which is pretty close.

I base my comments on some of the pictures shown on Fox today--admittedly not the best source of data regarding the local terrain. Judging from the pictures, however, it looked like classic southeast texas Mesquite Blackbrush brush which will have sideoats grama that the birds love to hang out in.

It would help if we knew whether they were hunting for scaled quail or Bobwhite. I would think Bobwhite since it is a bit more prevalent in that area although rare. The Bobwhite loves itself sideoats grama and leatherstem--generally stuff without a bunch of large trees around.

The other reason it seems like it was a lightly-wooded area and, hence, space for better views was because of Armstrong's description. She claimed to be in a vehicle and saw the whole thing transpire,meaning there could not have been a bunch of trees around to obscure her view. This begs another question--if indeed she see Whittington approach Cheney from behind why didn't she yell or something as the covey started flying toward him to alert Cheney?

Regardless, assuming her story is correct this still doesn't get Cheney off the hook. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KNOW WHERE YOUR HUNTING PARTNER IS BEFORE YOU DISCHARGE YOUR GUN!!! This is hunting safety 101! Because quail hunting is potentially dangerous hunting parties should be small. Normally you hunt quail in pairs. The fact that they had three people with guns should have made them extra-sensitive to the location of each member of the party.

It has been weird that the Cheney's office has not been forthcoming about the circumstances surrounding the expedition--especially how many people were involved. Since he nor his office won't talk to the press about the details and it wasn't until late this afternoon that we learned the name of the third member of the hunting party, it is difficult to piece together what happened.

The fact that Cheney and Pam Willeford aren't talking coupled with the fact that local law enforcement wasn't notified until the next day makes me less than confident in Armstrong's account.

Also, I've been a hunter for 30 years and I have always understood the hunter's credo to be one of accepting individual responsibility. Yes, accidents can happen--although they are EXTREMELY RARE. In the event of an accident, blaming it on the victim--which what Armstrong and the White House have been doing over the past 24 hours--is simply insulting.

In this type of political climate the gun control lobby is going to jump all over this. Essentially, Cheney is emodying the gun control line of argument--i.e. that guns are the problem, rather than irresponsible users.

Posted by: kilp at Mon Feb 13 11:19:24 2006 (5Zer4)

4 An update--I was correct in my speculation regarding the terrain. The Smoking Gun has a copy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Report on the shooting. They say that the topography was flat, light cover, and it was sunny.

Armstrong's ability to give such an authoritative description, however, remains puzzling.

Posted by: kilp at Tue Feb 14 02:17:55 2006 (/qZ1B)

5 My reading of it is that she was watching the whole thing unfold from the car -- and add to that any discussion with her guests, and she would be in a great position to provide a reasonable account of what happened.

And thanks for the terrain update -- it is appreciated.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Feb 14 03:52:17 2006 (qm26c)

6 It is ALWAYS the fault of the shooter. Don't blame the lawyer on this one. Further, if three people are hunting and one of them drops a bird, the others are obligated to help that hunter retrieve his bird before they start looking for more. But, what do I know. I've only hunted birds for more than 60 years and, unlike our Veep, I have successfully completed a hunter's safety course.

As an aside, I read a post on another site that went like: "What kind of samn fool hunts a lawyer with a shotgun?"

Posted by: clark groseth at Tue Feb 14 09:48:47 2006 (4W7tY)

7 I was told last night that Cheney had been put in charge of a federal program to reduce the number of lawyers in the US.

The source of the joke was one of the lawyers who teaches in the same legal education program that I do.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Feb 14 10:10:51 2006 (fI2Yv)

8 Ok, this is getting weirder--I havent yet seen the entire footage of Cheney's interview with Brit Hume, but I was re-reading one of the early accounts of Katherine Armstrong which makes her viability as a witness extremely suspect.

According to the AP story: "Armstrong said she saw Cheney's security detail running toward the scene. "The first thing that crossed my mind was he had a heart problem," she told The Associated Press."

Ok, if she actually saw the event transpire, the "first thing that crossed" her mind wouldn't be Cheney's heart problem--but rather the fact that someone was just shot! If she actually just saw Cheney shoot Whittington you would immediately understand the reason his security detail was running toward the scene!

This doesn't wash. She is a discredited witness. It will be interesting to see if Hume actually asks him significant questions, or whether he just gives him a free pass on this.

Posted by: Kilp at Wed Feb 15 09:19:47 2006 (5Zer4)

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