Posted on 02/20/2006 5:54:19 AM PST by Kitten Festival
For more than a week now, the press has been beating up on Vice President Dick Cheney for his handling – or, rather, for his mis-handling – of how the accidental shooting of his friend while on a hunting trip in Texas was disclosed. The theme that runs through all this criticism is that the Vice President made a terrible mistake in not arranging for news of the shooting to be disclosed immediately, rather than waiting 14 hours to put out the word.
But what if Dick Cheney hadn’t stiffed the press? Let’s conduct what scientists call a “thought experiment.” Let’s press the rewind button and go back to the very moment of the accidental shooting….
Cheney spots a quail, pulls the trigger—and to his horror Harry Whittington falls to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation the Vice President reaches into his pocket, pulls out his cell phone, and calls NBC News White House Correspondent David Gregory.
Gregory? This is Cheney. I’m hunting in Texas and I’ve just accidentally shot my friend.
When?
Thirty seconds ago, maybe forty. Took a while to find your number.
Is he dead or alive?
Don’t know. But I thought I better call you to get the word out fast.
While this conversation is taking place, another conversation is taking place on television:
Welcome to Hardball, I’m Chris Matthews. According to a new MSNBC poll, the Bush Administration is now the most hated and distrusted Administration in our country’s history. The question is, why. My guests today have two very different perspectives on all this. Nancy Pelosi is the House Democratic leader, and Katrina Vanden Heuvel is the highly-respected editor of the non-partisan magazine, The Nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Time after time, when any event of WH interest occurs, they ask the stupidest questions such as "when exactly did Bush know?" or "is that Cheney's shotgun?".
Clearly they are focused on extracting any damaging point they can trumpet to smear the reputation of this administration. That's all they care about. Truth doesn't even enter the equation. They are after The Story that will catapult them to the front row of Bush Haters Inc.
I'm glad they were stiffed. Let them get their information like reporters actually do, by observing and reporting.
The important thing is it took the focus of the NSA monitoring which was leaked by Rove to ensure Alito got confirmed which was a ploy to shift focus from Scooter Libby which ...never mind.
The top ten questions the WH press corps would have asked...if only they had been there at the moment of the shooting:
10. Were you aiming at his chest or just in general?
9. How many beers did you drink at lunch and were you legally intoxicated by Texas standards?
8. Do you have a gun license and is the weapon registered in your name?
7. Were there any hookers with the hunting group?
6. When did you offically call the president and let him know that you screwed up?
5. If it took so long to notify the state game officials...was there some reason that you were illegally hunting there?
4. If your hunting partner had been a democrat...would it have made any difference?
3. How many people have you shot in your hunting career?
2. Did your medication cause loss of control of your mind?
1. Will you be hunting again next spring and can we tag along with you?
As stupid as these sound...they are likely true questions that the WH press would ask. Sad but true.
"The press will criticize everything this administration does. They might as well STOP trying to appease the press, because it can't be done. Enact your agenda, let the press howl and moan, and at the end of the day, do what Reagan did. Go straight to the American people and make your case."
Bears repeating.
I don't believe he ever called for any professional help or notified the authorities, did he? It's been reported he made 26 long distance calls from his motel room in an effort to help himself and to establish an alibi. According to reports, he was on the ferry the next morning going back to Chappaquiddick when he heard the accident had been discovered. Can you imagine what story he would have cooked up and blamed someone else for if he could have gotten to the folks in the cabin and established his story? He did a job on them, because none of those girls have talked yet! He tried to get his cousin, Paul Markham, to take the blame for him, but he refused. I didn't get this information from the MSM....I had to read Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore.
To the everlasting shame of Democrats, they never sought punishment for their own, but will go to any lengths to ruin a good man's reputation if he happens to be a Republican. I'm sure there are some good Democrats, but they should do something about their leadership and the corruptness in their party!
That's it, no truth, no honor, no principle -- just raw favoritism -- teacher's pet syndrome run amuck. Sooooo charming. (not)
LOL! Maybe that was a bad choice of words on my part. Not that it wouldn't be a thing of beauty to behold, though! :)
denying the pri_ks the power they so desperately desire.
It'd be great if the next big story involving the VP would be given to the local Texas newspaper, bypassing again the press corps
VP Cheney needs to find something else important to break to a small town newspaper. Just for fun.
Perfect. I wish. I wish. They'd have a group tantrum
The press still would have pounced, over-reacted and had a hissy fit about the need to bring Cheney down.
In other words, nothing different.
I agree!
The DUmmies are amazing. They have been successful in fooling some of the people, some of the time.
They can get away with their illegal and immoral behavior only with the help of the old media.
It took Hillary years until she could "find" her billing records that were under her bed. The old media gave her another pass.
The new media is slowly taking over. Which is why the lazy, stupid...Gregory and his buddies are so worked up that they were not handed the Cheney story.
LOL, so true! Some of those questions may actually have been asked. I'll check the transcript again.
Why has no one who was there at the party at Chappaquiddick come forward after 36 years? Fear or loyalty? They all had to be deeply committed to the Kennedy cause to be invited to the party to begin with.
Q Was it Cheney's gun? Is that his gun, that shotgun?
MR. MCCLELLAN: I'm sorry?
Q Was it the vice president's --
MR. MCCLELLAN: You'll have to talk to the vice president's office and check that fact.
Q You don't know?
MR. MCCLELLAN: You can check with their office.
-snip-
Q It doesn't make any sense, though. I mean, this happens at 5:30 on Saturday, and you're saying that until the morning, the president of the United States --
MR. MCCLELLAN: No, I didn't say that. I said there was additional information coming in later that evening and into the morning hours of Sunday.
Q You've got to clarify the timeline, Scott. That doesn't make any sense.
Q When did the president know the the vice president was the shooter? What time?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Again, there was additional information coming in that night. The details continued to come in throughout the morning into the Sunday morning time period.
Go ahead.
Q Scott?
Q The vice president did not call the president to tell him he was the shooter?
-snip-
Q Who was gathering the facts? Who was --
MR. MCCLELLAN: I'm sorry?
Q Who was doing that?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, I think there's information on the ground there, as well as information then being provided -- from the ground there being provided back here.
Q Right, and who was doing the providing? And who were they providing it to?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, people with the Vice President's Office. I think he can probably -- I will check with his office on more specifics.
Go ahead --
Q But when did the president specifically know that the vice president had shot somebody?
-snip-
Q So he knew -- so he knew Saturday evening --
Q Scott, definitively, did the president know --
MR. MCCLELLAN: Some additional information, yes, and that the vice president --
Q -- (inaudible) --
MR. MCCLELLAN: -- and that the vice president was involved, but didn't know the full facts of what had occurred.
Q How is that possible?
(Cross talk.)
Q Scott, he knew Saturday night?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Carl, go ahead.
Q He knew Saturday night?
-snip-
Q So on Sunday morning at 6:00 --
MR. MCCLELLAN: Right.
Q -- you were clear personally that the vice president had in fact been the shooter.
MR. MCCLELLAN: That's correct. That's correct.
Q Thank you. MR. MCCLELLAN: I'm sorry? Q When did the president know that the vice president --
The WH press corps has to be the most inane, bumbling, irrelevant troop of a-holes I've ever heard. And that's the best thing I can say.
Well .. if people didn't see the interview on Fox News Sunday .. read my new tagline.
You will notice it is a quoted statement - and FOX has been having a lot of fun replaying and replaying it.
Exactly. They might have even said "Why isn't the family releasing the news? Why Cheney?" Who knows what complaints they could come up with, but it would be something to try to make a scandal.
That's very true, but I would have thought some of those "RFK" girls would have had some loyalty to their friend, Mary Jo Kopechne....especially after it was discovered that she was alive while underwater for several minutes (one report said an hour). The diver said she could have been rescued if he had gotten help rather than trying to cover up his complicity in the accident.
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