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.”
So they drive around until they find some quail to shoot at? Hunters can do their thing, I’ve got no problem with it for the most part. One thing I do expect though, is that the hunters aren’t sitting in a heated SUV until they spot something to shoot at.
Incidentally, when Cheney goes fishing, I hear he uses dynamite instead of a pole.
I wonder if alcohol was involved?
Probably not with Dick “Heart of Mush” Cheney.
He can’t be out in the cold for long…but his urge to kill is just too strong. So they cart him up to something he can kill…classy!
This is like bitchin’ at golfers for using golf carts. This is such a non issue.
Have you ever seen the movie the North Dallas 40(Nick Nolte and Mack davis? In one seen they are driving around hunting from their car drunk off their butts. Sounds like Cheney lives it.
Was that the one about football where Nolte is an aging receiver?
Right – golfers are hitting a ball. Golf club – rifle…how many people died last year from head shots after a golfer failed to shout out ‘FORE’?
Driving the relic up to an animal so they can get out and kill it…that’s reminicent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre…when grandpa is wheeled in, they hold the victim over a big metal bucket and hand the guy a hammer, you know…letting the old guy get a few more licks in before he goes away for good.
In the movie, grandpa can’t hit her with it…he keeps dropping the hammer, too weak.
Chris,
What is the RSS feed to your blog?
Right – golfers are hitting a ball. Golf club – rifle…how many people died last year from head shots after a golfer failed to shout out ‘FORE’?
The answer to this matters just about as much as this non-story. Cheney didn’t kill anyone.
Driving the relic up to an animal so they can get out and kill it…that’s reminicent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre…when grandpa is wheeled in, they hold the victim over a big metal bucket and hand the guy a hammer, you know…letting the old guy get a few more licks in before he goes away for good.
Next you’ll be pissed that deep sea fishermen use boats to “cheat” by using them to get out to sea. A real sportsman would swim out 40 miles and real in a marlin with nothing but a needle and thread. Non-story, non-issue. More Bush bashing via Cheney. Sad.
That’s a ridiculous comparison. First of all, he milks the fact that he hunts for every bit of political gain that he can, and pretends to be hard-core even though he’s traveling with a medical staff at all times. He busted on Kerry for going out hunting during his campaign.
All I’m pointing out is that he’s not as hard core as he makes himself out to be. If it’s not the hunt, but merely the act of pulling the trigger and watching the bird fall to the ground that excites him, then why not shoot at clay pigeons?
Native Americans considered the hunt to be a sacred ritual. My understanding of the practice evolved over the years into a true appreciation for the spiritual value of the act. Deer hunters who track their kill for hours/days…that’s hunting.
There’s a karmatic quality to this story. What those men were doing is wrong. It disrespected their prey, as they didn’t earn the spiritual right to pull the trigger. When hunting is romanticized by the NRA (I’ve seen every annual meeting they’ve held for 5 years straight on CSPAN), this scenario doesn’t come up at all.
Right, politically you find nothing wrong with this, but how many times have you had to go out and kill dinner or go hungry? That’s the origin of game hunting, and that’s the tradition cited by those who are into it. This here is the opposite.
The man was sprayed with buckshot because of how they were going about it. It’s immoral.
That’s a ridiculous comparison. First of all, he milks the fact that he hunts for every bit of political gain that he can, and pretends to be hard-core even though he’s traveling with a medical staff at all times. He busted on Kerry for going out hunting during his campaign.
When did this happen? I don’t knwo where you get this milking political gain stuff. Kerry was truely a fraud, he was trying to craft an image that Cheney has naturally. I’m surprised Kerry didn’t shoot himself, probably because there was no purple heart to gain.
All I’m pointing out is that he’s not as hard core as he makes himself out to be. If it’s not the hunt, but merely the act of pulling the trigger and watching the bird fall to the ground that excites him, then why not shoot at clay pigeons?
When did Cheney pass himself off as hardcore? The guy has a bad heart, bad veins and bad health. I think this is one of those things the left creates just to tear down. Cheney was never advertised as Rambo.
There’s a karmatic quality to this story. What those men were doing is wrong. It disrespected their prey, as they didn’t earn the spiritual right to pull the trigger. When hunting is romanticized by the NRA (I’ve seen every annual meeting they’ve held for 5 years straight on CSPAN), this scenario doesn’t come up at all.
Right, politically you find nothing wrong with this, but how many times have you had to go out and kill dinner or go hungry? That’s the origin of game hunting, and that’s the tradition cited by those who are into it. This here is the opposite.
The man was sprayed with buckshot because of how they were going about it. It’s immoral.
This departs from my area of knowledge. I am not familiar with native american religion or historical hunting practices. I feel hunting is an extension of the 2nd Ammendment, whether I hunt to eat or not, so I don’t see how morality hits into this at all.
The best part about this story is that not only did the VP lie about how badely his companion was hurt, he is still in the ICU, but the VP’s office did not announce that it happened for almost a day.
These people are so used to lieing it is their first instinct.
These guys(cheney and Bush) are just buffoons.
I wonder if the reason they delayed reporting this incident was to give the VP time to sober up, or for everyone to get their story straight.
Most of us if we accidentely shot someone would contact the police immediately, and if we didn’t they would probably contact us.
Why is this case being handled differentely?
Most of us if we accidentely shot someone would contact the police immediately, and if we didn’t they would probably contact us.
I would say that being constantly surrounded by the Secret Service counts as contacting the police. Being one of the top law enforcement agencies in the U.S. it stands to reason that the Secret Service had everything under control. Is there a new mental disorder developing now, Cheney Derangement Syndrome?
Right:
Are you saying that the secret service is part of the cover-up? The plot thickens.
Seriously why didn’t Cheney talk to the sheriff when they came to the property. He was drunk? maybe the old guy pissed Cheney off so he blasted him?
Are you saying that the secret service is part of the cover-up? The plot thickens.
You know too much, please proceed to the re-education camp nearest your home. Your tracking device will monitor your progress.
Seriously why didn’t Cheney talk to the sheriff when they came to the property.
Why would he?
He was drunk? maybe the old guy pissed Cheney off so he blasted him?
This is Dick Cheney were talking about, not Howard Dean.
I thought of this first:
The L.A. Times is edging closer to the most likely reason for the 18 hour delay in reporting that the Vice President of the United States shot someone:
“This was a hunting accident,” said Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy of the Kenedy County Sheriff’s Office. “There was no alcohol or misconduct.”
How do we know there was no alcohol? Cheney refused to talk to local authorities until the next day. No point in giving him a breathalyzer then. Every lawyer I’ve talked to assumes Cheney was too drunk to talk to the cops after the shooting. The next question for the White House should be: Was Cheney drunk?
I have never gone hunting with ultra-rich Republicans on a Saturday afternoon, but I have seen them tailgating at Ivy League football games, so it’s hard for me to believe that any of their Saturday lunches are alcohol free.
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If he wasn’t hammered, he would have cleared that question up by reporting this the appropriate way.
Think about it. If you and I were out hunting and I shot you, hid out for a day, then met with the cops…
He screwed the pooch on this one, and probably would have been able to squirm out easier if this White House’s track record wasn’t what it is.
Say they were straight forward about Iraq, say they actually caught Osama Bin Laden, say they reacted appropriately to Katrina and didn’t lie about when they first learned of it…then the lapse wouldn’t be part of this pattern that 60% of the country had enough of already in 2005.
Bush’s approval at 36%…part of it is his inability to do the job, and the other is how they are so obviously full of shit when things go down, yet never seem to realize or care that everyone watching knows full well that they’re full of shit.
Cheney on Brit Hume…yea, that’ll make everything all better. What a joke this guy!
The best part of the Brit Hume interview is when Cheney Said “Shooting that guy was the worst day of MY life” It was a worse day for the guy who got shot.
The latest conservative talking point goes something like, people get peppered all the time when hunting. If that were true the ICU’s would be full most of hunting season and everyone would be walking around with buckshot in them.
Chris:
Are you goig to get your kids their own deadeye dick rifle set for Christmas?
I noticed that also…it’s incredible how someone like Cheney can get so set in their ways that it’s practically impossible to shake who they are when the camera is pointed at them.
He still tilts his head to one side when he’s lying.
That right-wing talking point is par for the course.
It was an accident, and I’m sure Cheney feels sorry for it. That aside, hunting farm raised animals is about as dispicable as it gets for human beings as far as I’m concerned. To say, this animal is not bred for sustinence, but to be shot at…say the bird gets away, what happens then? They can’t survive in the world, having been raised in cages…dead or alive, when the religious right goes on about ‘playing God’, how come they’re not paying attention to this sort of thing?
All it does is play to the man’s image…a vile, heartless person, to whom life and death are nothing more than debits and credits on a spreadsheet.
Yep, Bush Derangement Syndrome has mutated in to the new, more virulent, Cheney Derangement Syndrome. Just in time for the 2006 election cycle and an effort to blunt a possible Cheney run for President in 2008. You guys sure get an early start, I’ll give you that.
I’m disappointed that there wasn’t an Abramoff/Ollie North/G Gordon Libby connection in your stories. Could Cheney have been the shooter on the grassy knoll? And what is Rove’s connection to the Bermuda Triangle?
Chris:
I think you hit the nail right on the head with Cheney, he is essentially heartless, He enjoys killing animals becuase it is fun. He probably enjoys sending troops into combat without body armor. When he had a chance to fire a gun at someone who could fire back, he did everything he could to avoid it.
I don’t get the hero worship that goes on in some places with regards to Cheney. The whole “I feel good” with this guy in charge seems like misplaced patriotism.
But on a positive note as far as we know Cheney has not killed anything in a few days.
I’ve read about 50 letters to the editor and various ‘hunter opinions’ regarding the Cheney affair, and it’s pretty much unanimous that what he did was the epitome of reckless.
The NRA (if I remember correctly) has rules concerning this, and you never fire unless you’re absolutely certain. Aside from that, if you’re blasting away birds, why not let them get a few feet in the air before shooting your load?
I’m not even reading the political comparisons to Iraq as much as I’m thinking about specifically what he was doing out there. The ‘game’ he was involved in is something that makes me sick!
Nature deserves SOME respect at least…this guy is as close to Mr. Burns as we’ll probably see in our lifetimes!
Chris:
If you can find it their is a book called, Inside the animal underground. It is pretty shocking how much abuse takes place at these hunting ranches. Maybe something good will come of the Cheney incident in that people will realize what goes on at these game ranches.
I’m going to look into it, because people need to know what’s ‘legal’ down in Texas these days. Because if this is legal, then cockfighting might as well be too!