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Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter
AP ^ | 02/11/06 | NEDRA PICKLER

Posted on 02/12/2006 12:46:46 PM PST by bayourant

Edited on 02/12/2006 2:10:43 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Whittington was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shot at a covey of quail late afternoon on Saturday.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and found a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told the Associated Press in an interview.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

She said Whittington was bleeding but not very seriously injured, and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said. "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."

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington, holding his face and cleaning up the blood.

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year. She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.


TOPICS: Breaking News; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: abuseofkeywords; bang; banglist; boringkeywords; cheney; cheney2008; childishkeywords; crazykeywords; deadeyedick; dumbkeywords; gogetemdick; goofykeywords; happenedsaturday; harrywhittington; hatekeywords; hopelesskeywords; nedrapickler; nokeywords; oops; quailgate; sillykeywords; stupidkeywords; verydumbkeywords; vicepresident; whittington; wierdkeywords
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To: Cinnamon Girl
I wasn't being sarcastic. Was I supposed to be? I take gun handling very seriously and I'd like to know what happened.

My thoughts, too.
I posted early in the thread, long before there was news on how minor the injuries were.
Gotta a couple notes from folks who didn't understand why I didn't find the shooting funny.
Oh, well.
901 posted on 02/13/2006 5:38:47 AM PST by MaryFromMichigan
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To: RebelTex

According to ABC radio news this morning, Cheney shot his lawyer friend with "buckshot".

28 ga. buckshot.

I've never seen that load available over the counter.


902 posted on 02/13/2006 6:00:26 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Carry Daily, Apply Sparingly.)
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To: beyond the sea; festus
It means you might not have a sense of humor.

Well, it wasn't very funny at the point I came in on the thread.
Here is the entire, orignal post I saw:

"The other forumn is reporting that ap is reporting that Cheney shot some one by accident on a hunting trip?
They say they have a ap source"


Speculative posts followed, including post 2 in which the poster heard that Cheney himself was shot.
Check the thread's history.
It was updated twice since my first post.
903 posted on 02/13/2006 6:07:16 AM PST by MaryFromMichigan
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To: bayourant
You gonna do somethin' or just stand there and bleed?


904 posted on 02/13/2006 6:14:06 AM PST by No Blue States
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To: navysealdad

Great post,

Thanks


905 posted on 02/13/2006 6:24:14 AM PST by DeSoto (Veni, vidi, velcro ... I came, I saw, I stuck around !)
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To: MaryFromMichigan
I hear you, Mary.

By the way, it's cool, and I love your name, Mary -- my darling wife's name also ........ 33 years of wedded bliss.

;-)

There is something perfectly lyrical and pure to me about that name.

906 posted on 02/13/2006 6:33:12 AM PST by beyond the sea (Let's give them something to talk about............. howaboutlovelovelove?)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

They are already in a feeding frenzy that Cheney's people tried to cover this up.


907 posted on 02/13/2006 6:34:00 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz ("We don't need POLITICIANS...we need STATESMEN.")
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To: ARCADIA

So what's the bag limit on lawyers in Texas?


908 posted on 02/13/2006 6:37:13 AM PST by Rio (Don't make me come over there....)
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To: Lancey Howard

Yeah....Cheney shot a lawyer ...the problem is what?


909 posted on 02/13/2006 6:43:14 AM PST by amutr22 (....not ANOTHER clinton!)
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To: Lancey Howard

Yeah....Cheney shot a lawyer ...the problem is what?


910 posted on 02/13/2006 6:43:14 AM PST by amutr22 (....not ANOTHER clinton!)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
They are already in a feeding frenzy that Cheney's people tried to cover this up.

In politics, that's always the primal, knee-jerk reaction.
Bottom line: no excuse, Cheney was careless with his shot.
Thank goodness the injuries were minor.

911 posted on 02/13/2006 6:43:44 AM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: bayourant

Big time whoops!


912 posted on 02/13/2006 7:11:48 AM PST by conservativebabe ("I came here to chew bubble gum and kick @ss, and I'm all out of bubble gum")
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To: Simo Hayha

Thanks, sorry I missed it.


913 posted on 02/13/2006 7:14:30 AM PST by A Strict Constructionist
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To: advance_copy; DaveLoneRanger
Shot his lawyer?

Cheney's first attempt at tort reform.

914 posted on 02/13/2006 8:17:47 AM PST by beyond the sea (Let's give them something to talk about............. howaboutlovelovelove?)
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To: D.P.Roberts
"It's still safer than going driving with Teddy Kennedy."

DING! DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

915 posted on 02/13/2006 8:38:49 AM PST by Mr. K (Some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help...)
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To: WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
The DU moonbats are going nuts over the Cheney accident.
916 posted on 02/13/2006 8:45:50 AM PST by dukeman
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To: kms61
And before anybody jumps on me, I've been a hunter all my life. I have a cardinal rule that I don't hunt with people who are unsafe, and right now I'd have serious doubts about whether I'd want to be in a hunting party with some of these people. Flame away.

I started hunting when I was ten years old (don't hunt any more, but not because I think hunting is wrong).

And my dad made it absolutely clear that I was to only shoot when I knew I wouldn't be hitting something accidentally. You need always be aware of where everyone in your party is and where any nearby roads or buildings are - especially with quail which stay low to the ground.

I thinks this does not speak well of Cheney or Whittington that they are just jumping out of a car and shooting willy-nilly at quail without observing any kind of caution. And I think it was also wrong that it was not reported sooner.

So now we'll both get flamed by those who just defend Bush or Cheney without thinking through the entire story.

917 posted on 02/13/2006 8:56:31 AM PST by dirtboy (I'm fat, I sleep most of the winter and I saw my shadow yesterday. Does that make me a groundhog?)
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To: OldPossum
That's why I was surprised to see that Cheney violated this basic rule.

Yeah, this does not speak well of him. And I am not willing to see this spun away. It shows a certain lack of self-control and that's not good at all.

918 posted on 02/13/2006 8:57:50 AM PST by dirtboy (I'm fat, I sleep most of the winter and I saw my shadow yesterday. Does that make me a groundhog?)
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To: amutr22
Yeah....Cheney shot a lawyer ...the problem is what?

The problem is that it shows he doesn't have the discipline to hunt in a safe manner. They just jump out of a car and go off in whatever direction after two coveys of quail with no regard for where the rest of their party is.

And don't blame Whittington - in the end, the shooter is responsible for making sure he is firing in a safe manner. Cheney failed to do that.

919 posted on 02/13/2006 9:00:06 AM PST by dirtboy (I'm fat, I sleep most of the winter and I saw my shadow yesterday. Does that make me a groundhog?)
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To: conservativebabe
Big time whoops!

Yeah, I think this is a pretty serious incident. The guy could have been killed because Cheney was more concerned about bagging a quail than about hunter safety.

920 posted on 02/13/2006 9:05:56 AM PST by dirtboy (I'm fat, I sleep most of the winter and I saw my shadow yesterday. Does that make me a groundhog?)
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