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But the Washington press corp, and particularly the White House press corp, has developed, as an institution, a grossly dilated view of itself. Most of us can tolerate arrogance if it is accompanied by extraordinary capacity and virtuosity. The brilliant scientist, the war-winning general, the great artists are entitled to their pride. But the hallmark of the Washington Press corp these days is mediocrity, groupthink, a lack of curiosity and rampant careerism. These attributes were all on show in the shooting party incident. But this is just a trivial incident -- except for the poor, shot gentleman who suffered a...

Welcome to The Loft The hissy fit thrown by the national media appears to be working. Just like spoiled children, the media’s temper tantrum over the lack of information flowing directly to them regarding Vice President Cheney’s hunting accident has now started to yield results. Democrats, media members, and even some Republicans are beginning to criticize the vice president. Get real! Iran is enriching uranium, and the only concern in Washington appears to be the hurt feelings of left-wing journalists. As is being reported by CNSNews.com, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is now “calling on Vice President Dick Cheney...

Stand by for The Great One!

The president went to Dublin, Ohio, to attend a meeting on health savings accounts. Al Hubbard, Director of the National Economic Council, answers questions on this topic on "Ask the White House." Brit Hume interviewed the vice president today about the hunting accident; the conversation will be on Special Report, Fox News, at the usual air times tonight. The vice president called the day of the hunting accident "one of the worst days of my life." Harry Whittington is doing "extremely well" a day after he suffered a minor heart attack, doctors said. He is sitting up, eating, and doing...

Drudge links to a 8/19/05 AP article, via Fox News: WASHINGTON — The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid (search) of Nevada, suffered a brief mini-stroke Tuesday, but doctors found no complications and he feels fine, aides said Friday.... Asked why announcement of the event was delayed for three days, Hafen said, "The reason was the tests and the evaluations that they were doing. We wanted to make sure we knew what we were announcing. You need conclusive information."

Headlines: Los Angeles Times: Hunter Suffers Setback as Criticism of Cheney Grows The Washington Post: Cheney's Response A Concern In GOP The New York Times: Handling of Mishap Creates Strain in the White House The Boston Globe: Hunter shot by Cheney has a heart attack The Globe's story is particularly breathless, saying the "sudden turn" in Harry Whittington's condition left the White House "stunned" and his "prognosis difficult." Washington Post columnist David Ignatius opines that "arrogance of power is on display with the Bush administration," and astonishingly compares the Veep's hunting accident to Chappaquiddick and Watergate: "Nobody died at Armstrong...

Vice President Cheney to appear in an exclusive interview on Fox News tonight.

No room for a laughingstock It is humor that often drives the final nail in the political coffin. The images of Gerald Ford falling on his face and hitting spectators with golf balls outlived his presidency. Jimmy Carter endured the Iranian hostage crisis and the misery index, but he had no comeback to the million yuks that followed his battle with an attacking rabbit. All of which is to say that Deadeye Dick Cheney is history. He is the Dead Veep Walking, whether he knows it or not. Ridicule is fatal. It's not just late-night comedians declaring open season on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney should publicly explain his shooting of a Texas lawyer in a hunting accident, top congressional Democrats said on Wednesday after a White House meeting that included Cheney. Cheney has been publicly silent since he sprayed Harry Whittington with birdshot during a quail-hunting trip to Texas last Saturday.

Comedians and left-leaning political pundits opened fire on Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday, sparking enormous chatter among both Republican and Democratic bloggers. Cheney's accidental shooting of an attorney friend during a quail hunting foray in Texas on Saturday prompted quips from late-night television hosts such as Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson. The jokes offended or tickled audiences, depending on their political beliefs, and skittered around the Web on Tuesday. Video: Gates' cheap shot at Cheney? During his keynote at the 2006 RSA Conference, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took a tongue-in-cheek shot at the vice president. "You can...

~Clip~ Think of the most famous duel in American history: The shooting of Alexander Hamilton by a pistol-wielding Aaron Burr, vice president to Thomas Jefferson, on the New Jersey banks of the Hudson River in 1804. Hamilton died the next day. Burr and Hamilton had a long-standing political rivalry, and Hamilton made no secret of his distrust for Burr when Burr, who had narrowly missed beating Jefferson, ran for governor of New York in early 1804. When Burr got wind of a newspaper article that reported Hamilton had a "despicable opinion" of him, he challenged Hamilton to a duel near...

VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney accidentally shot documentary filmmaker Michael Moore yesterday as Moore was walking out of a Manhattan Denny's. A spokesperson for the vice president said that it was a "complete accident" and that Cheney felt "horrible." The White House released a statement saying that the shooting was "just bad timing. Vice President Cheney, who is well-versed in firearms safety, was merely sitting in a shrub, wearing camouflage, outside of a Denny's frequented by Mr. Moore." -snip- IN ANOTHER BIZARRE accident, Cheney mistakenly shot every Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A White House spokesman said that the...

The real story is already emerging, if you're willing to do a little digging. Cheney and Whittington went hunting with two women (not their wives), there was some drinking, and Whittington wound up shot. Armstrong didn't see the incident but claimed she had, Cheney refused to be questioned by the Sheriff until the next morning, and a born-again evangelical physician has been downplaying Whittington's injuries since they occurrred. Neither the press nor law enforcement seems inclined to investigate. Before the right-wing commenters howl - there's documentation for all of these statements. Let's take them one by one: In addition to...

Katy Garcia of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is the orginal reporter of the Cheney hunting story. You might find this interview with her of some interest. CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES WEBSITE THE VIDEO LINK ON THE PAPER'S WEBSITE

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will break his silence on Wednesday over the shooting of a Texas lawyer in a hunting accident, with a television interview announced by the White House. Doctors kept a close eye on Cheney's victim, who was in stable condition a day after experiencing a minor heart attack caused by the shooting. Cheney sprayed Harry Whittington, 78, with birdshot while hunting quail in Texas on Saturday, but has stayed silent on it except for brief statements from his office. Cheney would appear in an interview with Fox News at 2 p.m....

"This was no hunting accident!" It was bound to happen. Rumors are circulating among past, present, and future owners of the Brooklyn Bridge that Vice President Cheney's hunting accident was in fact no accident at all. The shooting, as columnist Barry Saunders writes, was intended as a Godfather-style message to Scooter Libby to keep his piehole shut on any possible future testimony that it was Cheney who ordered him to leak information about CIA operative Valerie Plame. If the Cheney shooting was indeed intentional, I'd suggest two things for Scooter: 1) Do not respond to Cheney invitations to go hunting--...

Posted on Wed, Feb. 15, 2006 Man shot by Cheney in accident still stable LYNN BREZOSKY Associated Press CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The 78-year-old lawyer hit by a shotgun blast from Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident remained in stable condition and has a normal heartbeat, a hospital official said Wednesday. Harry Whittington of Austin was listed in stable condition Wednesday, a day after suffering a mild heart attack when a shotgun pellet in his chest traveled to his heart. "He's doing extremely well," said hospital administrator Peter Bank

Other than the fact that a sitting vice president hasn't shot anyone since Aaron Burr dispatched Alexander Hamilton, why is Dick Cheney the non-sharpshooter getting so much coverage? Okay, other than the fact that the comics haven't had so much fun since President Bush choked on a pretzel. (Letterman: "We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney.")

Stubborn reformer stays in the fights ; Whittington's tussle with city just latest in lifetime of challenges Sarah Coppola and Robert Elder, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF 17 July 2005 Austin American-Statesman At a 1986 press conference, Republican primary candidate for governor Kent Hance lashed out at the "do-gooders running and ruining" the state's prison system. Unfortunately for Hance, Harry Whittington was in the room. Whittington, a former member of the state prison board, interrupted Hance and blasted him for not knowing the facts about reforms the prison board had put in place. The flustered candidate tried to end his own press event,...

Vice President Dick Cheney has spent four sleepless nights, poring over popularity poll numbers, analyzing focus group data and crafting an emotional speech designed to turn last weekend’s accidental shooting of a hunting buddy from a PR nightmare into “a comeback-kid moment.” “We’ve seen this all before,” said an unnamed former White House official who helped a previous president react to his own public relations challenges. “Right now, Dick Cheney is probably standing in front of his bathroom mirror to practice biting his lip, dropping his chin and making other dramatic facial expressions that simulate genuine remorse.” The vice president’s...