Cheney and Whittington and the Press
The MSM has lost its collective mind. Are these people serious? Are they behaving like normal adults?
Here is what we know about the Vice President's shooting of his friend, Harry Whittington.
1. It was while they were hunting quail.
2. They were using shotguns and birdshot.
3. Hunting birds may not be a sport that many of the MSM engage in -- witness many of the comically uninformed reporting -- but it is a fairly normal activity in much of America, including Wyoming and Texas, where Mr. Cheney has spent much of his life.
4. Mr. Whittington's injuries, while significant, particularly to a 78 year-old man, are not life-threatening, and by all accounts he will pull through this just fine. (As to his "minor heart attack," my reading of the reports is that it was a very, very minor cardiac event, amounting to an irritation of the heart muscle by a piece of birdshot, that did not cause him any heart attack symptoms such as severe pain, sweating, etc., but only showed up as an event at all because they had him on a heart monitor as a precaution.)
5. All of the eyewitnesses report that it was an accident that occurred because Mr. Whittington was rejoining the hunting party unannounced, which is a no-no in hunting. (This does not absolve Mr. Cheney, but it certainly mitigates any conclusion that he was negligent.)
6. The Texas authorities investigated and concluded that this was a routine hunting accident.
7. There are, in fact, a lot of hunting accidents in Texas and elsewhere. They are unfortunate. But they happen.
8. Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, not applicable here, people do not have any legal jeopardy for hunting accidents. (I.e., for you moonbats on the Left, there is no crime here.)
9. The accident happened on Saturday evening at 5:30 pm in Texas. That's in the central time zone. By the time an ambulance got to Mr. Whittington, it was probably at least a half an hour later or (probably) more, meaning that it was after 7:00 in the Eastern time zone, where the White House is and the national press corps lives.
10. People... even people in the White House have lives. Saturday night is not necessarily the best time to rush out with a story, particularly when, at that point, no one knew what the facts were.
11. The morning after Saturday is generally called Sunday morning. Many people sleep late; other people go to Church. Again, people... even people in the White House... have lives of their own outside of work.
12. The story was reported early Sunday afternoon.
None of these facts would remotely constitute a story, much less a scandal, but for the fact that Cheney is Vice President. Because he is, it is, in fact a story. But it still isn't a scandal, and wouldn't be but for the irrational hatred much of the media apparently has for Cheney and the Bush White House.
In a normal world, without BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome), the appropriate responses would be, "Wow, that's a terrible story, do we have any details about how Mr. Whittington is doing? How is his family holding up? Mr. Cheney must feel very sorry and sad that he was involved in his friend being injured... how is the Vice President holding up?"
Look, Dick Cheney is a highly successful man who has devoted much of his life to public service. He apparently has a very good marriage to a serious adult woman; he apparently has been a good father; he apparently is a good friend. He has never been indicted for or convicted of a crime; he hasn't been divorced; he doesn't still beat his wife, etc. What exactly has he done that makes him so hateable by the lefties in the press? Why can't any of them summon a concern for the human beings involved here?
The reaction of the MSM shows a lot more about them than it does about him.
UPDATE: Here is the report of the Texas game warden on the incident. What strikes me is that the form the report is filed on has explicit categories for exactly what happened here: "Victim covered by shooter who was swinging on game." That shows that the incident, while unfortunate, is not exactly a unique occurrence.
Here is what we know about the Vice President's shooting of his friend, Harry Whittington.
1. It was while they were hunting quail.
2. They were using shotguns and birdshot.
3. Hunting birds may not be a sport that many of the MSM engage in -- witness many of the comically uninformed reporting -- but it is a fairly normal activity in much of America, including Wyoming and Texas, where Mr. Cheney has spent much of his life.
4. Mr. Whittington's injuries, while significant, particularly to a 78 year-old man, are not life-threatening, and by all accounts he will pull through this just fine. (As to his "minor heart attack," my reading of the reports is that it was a very, very minor cardiac event, amounting to an irritation of the heart muscle by a piece of birdshot, that did not cause him any heart attack symptoms such as severe pain, sweating, etc., but only showed up as an event at all because they had him on a heart monitor as a precaution.)
5. All of the eyewitnesses report that it was an accident that occurred because Mr. Whittington was rejoining the hunting party unannounced, which is a no-no in hunting. (This does not absolve Mr. Cheney, but it certainly mitigates any conclusion that he was negligent.)
6. The Texas authorities investigated and concluded that this was a routine hunting accident.
7. There are, in fact, a lot of hunting accidents in Texas and elsewhere. They are unfortunate. But they happen.
8. Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, not applicable here, people do not have any legal jeopardy for hunting accidents. (I.e., for you moonbats on the Left, there is no crime here.)
9. The accident happened on Saturday evening at 5:30 pm in Texas. That's in the central time zone. By the time an ambulance got to Mr. Whittington, it was probably at least a half an hour later or (probably) more, meaning that it was after 7:00 in the Eastern time zone, where the White House is and the national press corps lives.
10. People... even people in the White House have lives. Saturday night is not necessarily the best time to rush out with a story, particularly when, at that point, no one knew what the facts were.
11. The morning after Saturday is generally called Sunday morning. Many people sleep late; other people go to Church. Again, people... even people in the White House... have lives of their own outside of work.
12. The story was reported early Sunday afternoon.
None of these facts would remotely constitute a story, much less a scandal, but for the fact that Cheney is Vice President. Because he is, it is, in fact a story. But it still isn't a scandal, and wouldn't be but for the irrational hatred much of the media apparently has for Cheney and the Bush White House.
In a normal world, without BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome), the appropriate responses would be, "Wow, that's a terrible story, do we have any details about how Mr. Whittington is doing? How is his family holding up? Mr. Cheney must feel very sorry and sad that he was involved in his friend being injured... how is the Vice President holding up?"
Look, Dick Cheney is a highly successful man who has devoted much of his life to public service. He apparently has a very good marriage to a serious adult woman; he apparently has been a good father; he apparently is a good friend. He has never been indicted for or convicted of a crime; he hasn't been divorced; he doesn't still beat his wife, etc. What exactly has he done that makes him so hateable by the lefties in the press? Why can't any of them summon a concern for the human beings involved here?
The reaction of the MSM shows a lot more about them than it does about him.
UPDATE: Here is the report of the Texas game warden on the incident. What strikes me is that the form the report is filed on has explicit categories for exactly what happened here: "Victim covered by shooter who was swinging on game." That shows that the incident, while unfortunate, is not exactly a unique occurrence.
posted by PDB at 9:08 AM
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