I first read an associated press article today that said:
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.
He was described as in stable condition by Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus
Christi.
I immediately thought...."stable condition." Wow, must be pretty serious. 13 paragraphs later, the article says:
"It broke the skin," she 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."
"Stable condition," and, "it broke the skin," are hardly the same!
*(&%$#* media!
A friend of mine called the hospital trying to check on a friend that she had been told had died in the hospital. Couldn't get them and she asked the receptionist for a report on the lady's condition. The receptionist said, "She's stable." My friend said, "Well I heard she was dead."
Receptionist replied, "Well, can't get much more stable than that." !!???!!!???
I know that the WSJ opinion online has been running this riff on Yassir Arafat for months . . . but it happened to my friend first.