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It's just so funny, watching the parroting of the lies that Mary Matalin concocted for Cheney to spew about this incident.

First, it is time to cease spreading Cheney's fiction that Katharine Armstrong was an "eyewitness" to the shooting. By her own admission, her first reaction to the commotion was that Cheney had suffered a heart problem. She did not see the shooting. Her ever-changing account of events should not be relied on.

Second, it is highly likely that poor old Mr. Whittington was between 15 and 20 feet from Cheney when Cheney whirled 180 degrees (or more) and shot and nearly killed him. Tests conducted with the same gun and load Cheney used show the shot pattern is much more expanded at 90 feet (30 yards, as Cheney desperately wants us to believe the distance was) than the damage pattern on poor old Mr. Whittington's body.

Third, the morally bankrupt Cheney persists in sending out surrogates, including the victim himself, to place the blame on poor old Mr. Whittington. It is incumbent on anyone wielding a loaded weapon to ensure that he does not shoot another person. The quail-hunting community has weighed in with a resounding affirmation of that protocol. We don't know precisely why Cheney violated that protocol of the hunt. However, he certainly did.

Fourth, Cheney badly needs to offer a credible explanation for waiting overnight to tell the world that he had shot poor old Mr. Whittington. It wasn't to get all the facts together and release them. That did not happen, and it still has not. It was not to allow the "eyewitness" to tell the story. Katherine Armstrong was not an "eyewitness"; it is most likely that she simply relayed the story that Cheney, Rove, and Matalin cobbled together. It wasn't in deference to comforting poor old Mr. Whittington. He did not do that Saturday night. Rather, he went to the Armstrong ranch for roast beef and a cocktail.

Fifth, I would like to know precisely who, in the hunting party, drank what alcoholic beverages after noon on Saturday, February 11. We have heard at least three different accounts, two of them from Katharine Armstrong, the reliable "eyewitness," herself.

That's not all that does not add up with regard to the ever-shifting Cheney storyline of the past seven days. But, it's enough. When our vice president shoots poor old Mr. Whittington, we, as American citizens, our entitled to the plain unvarnished truth.

All we've been told so far is a bunch of hoo-ha with so many discrepancies and inconsistencies that it would be foolish to believe any part of the tall tale.

You did, of course, check out the shot pattern on the body cut-outs on that Texas fish and game form didn't you?

Did you ever wonder how it was that a Game Warden's form was right there, available, to be completed and filed with authorities concerning this shooting?

The obvious answer is that there was a state game warden doing his job ~ he brought over the form ~ it was completed, and Texas law enforcement authorities were notified immediately. Someone had best ask the Secret Service guys who called in the game warden.

The "newsies" keep looking for the sheriff's involvement. Obviously he need not have been involved in this since it was a state matter and had been taken care of.

Now, regarding the shot pattern and how far away the victim was from the firearm, this was birdshot, and it was presumably NEW birdshot, made out of steel, not lead!

It doesn't go as far as lead. Still, it has superior penetration because it's sharper than lead birdshot. You can learn all about this on the internet BTW. Lots of new stuff out there on the varying characteristics of the newer steel shot, and you'd best learn those differences before you kill yourself out in a field somewhere. I had no idea it was so different ~ turns out it's better than lead.

Cheney also used a .28 caliber barrel, not a .410, and the shot pattern would be a bit tighter. I gather he only likes to shoot one bird at a time!

Well, anyway, if you looked at the shot pattern shown on the 4 cut-outs on that form, it's consistent with steel birdshot patterns at about 30 yards as fired from a .28.

There are no BBs in this stuff.