The media's Cheney hunt

Once it was clear that the man sprinkled with birdshot would survive, Vice President Cheney's hunting accident was widely expected to become a late-night comedian's bonanza, a frenzy like Wal-Mart shoppers scrambling for $29 DVD players.

As "Today" replayed the comedian clips on Tuesday, NBC's Matt Lauer asked, "Had a feeling that was coming, didn't you?" Katie Couric replied: "Well, I mean when you heard the story you just knew they were gonna go crazy with it, so they did."

With apologies to the Cheney friend who received the pellet facial, the incident was funny. Now we learn the vice president received a warning citation from a Texas Ranger for not buying a $7 hunting stamp in advance. As a friend e-mailed me, "Where else can you shoot a lawyer in the face with a shotgun and get off with just a warning?"

What really shocked people was the way our Cheney-hating press corps went crazy with it. The Big Three networks aired 34 stories in the first 48 hours of evening and morning newscasts.

They treated this not as a mishap, and then a punchline, but as a brewing national scandal. The 18-hour delay in alerting the media! The failure to pay a $7 hunting stamp! "Questions remain"! "White House under fire"! "Growing political fallout"! The focus of the story quickly shifted from an embarrassed Cheney to the shamelessly egotistical press corps.

Look no further for a poster boy for egotism than NBC White House reporter David Gregory, who was captured in an untelevised morning "gaggle" in the briefing room Monday morning yelling at Bush spokesman Scott McClellan. First, he accused the spokesman of "ducking and weaving," leading McClellan to quip that he should emote later, when the cameras were on.

"Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras!'' Gregory shot back. "Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question!'' McClellan said, "You don't have to yell," and Gregory replied, "I will yell! If you want to use that podium to try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that's wrong!''

In how many ways is this a joke? These reporters take shots at McClellan and the rest of the administration on a daily basis, in the briefing room, and in their news coverage. Some of those shots are quite personal. But how dare the president's spokesman lecture them! The incivility of it all!

Then came the televised briefing on Monday afternoon. It's been a while since the cable networks aired one live, but it's not every day that the vice president caps his friend, so they made an exception. In retrospect, I bet they wish they hadn't.

These reporters looked like a "Saturday Night Live" skit with the goofy questions they asked. They started with huffing and puffing about their own territorial prerogatives, that the survival of America is hanging by a thread, and that thread is the press, which must be updated minute by minute.

Terence Hunt of the Associated Press insisted, "Isn't there a public disclosure requirement that should have kicked in immediately?" (Quick answer: There is no "requirement," period.) Gregory protested, "The vice president of the United States accidentally shoots a man and he feels that it's appropriate for a ranch owner who witnessed this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper, and not the White House press corps at large, or notify the public in a national way?" Several questioners fussed over how it was not "appropriate" for a "private citizen" to alert the media.

The outrage was palpable. How dare the Corpus Christi Caller-Times get the scoop before we did! We are the national news media, and we must not be overlooked on a major breaking story on quail hunting. The divas were denied, and they were cranky.

From there, it just got sillier and sillier, with questions like: "Is it proper for the vice president to offer his resignation, or has he offered his resignation?" And: "Scott, under Texas law, is this kind of accidental shooting a possible criminal offense?" By this time, you just wanted to buy McClellan a beer.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, former vice president Al Gore went to Saudi Arabia and denounced the U.S. government for committing "terrible abuses" against Arabs after 9/11, that Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. Gore made no mention of the "terrible abuses" the Saudi tyrants commit, perhaps because it would be unseemly to insult his host on his home turf. So instead he used his host's home turf to insult his own country. No one asked about that at the White House. Most media outlets had no time or space for it. They were too busy covering the far more important Dick Cheney Quail Shooting Scandal.

I haven't been able to find a link on Fox News. They're just talking about the interview tonight. All I have is info that the Doc said it in his medical update. If I find out more, I'll let you know.

Thanks -- just heard it confirmed on ABC radio news at 2pm EST.

NOT that I automatically believe ABC News. But they played an audioclip of the spokesman for the hospital saying exactly what you said.

Must've killed ABC News to have to play that, heh.

If Cheney had called David Gregory on his cell phone five minutes after the shooting, would the public have heard about this incident any sooner? No, in most cases. By the time the story hit the wires, it would be Saturday evening, a time when few people are paying attention to the news. The story would have broken on Sunday morning for most people, which is exactly when it DID break. And did the public suffer any harm by not having this information late saturday night? Again, no. So this is much, much ado about nothing.

That's along the line of what I was thinking! When he (Whittington)is much better, they could do a press conference, or interview, etc.. The VP could turn and say something like: "Well, let me introduce my friend Mr. Whittington. You do remember him, don't you? Yeah, that poor 'hunting victim' that I 'nearly killed'!". Or: "See, it's a miracle, isn't it?".

"My dream is Dick Cheney holding a press conference on the matter with the "elite" White House Press Corps and standing there with his .28 shotgun pointed at them the entire time."

I was just going to post the same thought! And the VP would look right at that Gregory-NBC-idiot and say, "Do you have a question for me, punk? Well, do ya?"

84 posted on 02/15/2006 12:17:40 PM PST by Polyxene (For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel - Martin Luther)

To state the obvious is not to invade his privacy.

Therein lies my problem with your thinking ER Doc.. No one has the right to his private medical information. You shouldn't have the total picture. You are not entitled to it. What all these TV announcer and medical experts pronounce and analyze may seem obvious to you, but you and others are just guessing. Just discussing the potential complications and listing what and if's because of Mr. Whittington's age.....this could happen and that could happen. Inappropriate, unprofessional. Mr. Whittington's right do not disapear just because his wounds were inflicted by his friend who happens to be the VP.

Slugs always an option with the rifle sights; accurate to 100 yards with a rifled slug barrel.

I've always found it funny that a tactical shotgun has front and rear sights.

For birds, front is all you need. For tactical purposes, a bit more helps.

My current shotgun, a Remington 1100, has a fiber front and a mid-bead. The fiber is great for my tired old eyes. I've thought about putting a ghost-ring rear on it. I've tried a few Benelli's with ghost rings and really like them.

I shoot a 3-gun match once a month, for steel targets, my current setup is fine, on longer shots requiring a slug, I would appreciate the ghost ring.

"In a shocking display of arrogance, protecting the reputation of the Vice President was more important than waiting for a complete medical evaluation of the injured lawyer."

Exactly. There is nothing Cheny could have done to satisfy the press. They hate him and will spin anything against him.

The good thing is that the public gets to see how petty, unprofessional, biased, and untrustworthy these "reporters" really are. Keep it up!

Or just hide Whittington (if he is willing to go along) in some tropical paradise for the next ten years, and tell the liberal media and their Dems that there is not enough intact DNA to determine the species of the remains much less it's identity.

Tell them that Cheney inadvertently (due to the effects of consuming a 12 ounce bottle of 3.2 beer with his tamales)armed himself for either elephants or terrorists in tanks instead of quail.

The Media and the left will be so elated for an opportunity to shred Cheney and the Bush Administration, that they won't suspect a thing until the tanned and healthy 88 year old Whitington, guests on the Fox network in February of 2016.

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