As I noted elsewhere today, the incident occurred on Saturday, but wasn't reported until Sunday afternoon. How do you keep the lid on something like this? I mean, the Veep is out hunting, and ambulances are called. Was there no press whatsoever following Cheney around waiting for his heart to explode? Seriously?
This is the first confirmed occasion when a sitting Vice President has shot someone since Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in 1804. Sure, there were the rumors about LBJ actually having whipped out a Colt Peacemaker and taken the top off of Kennedy's head from his position two cars behind the President, but it's highly unlikely he could have shot Connelly in the leg from that angle, so let's discount that one. And while there's tantalizing evidence tying the Bush family to the Hinckleys, it's pretty clear that George Sr. didn't physically pull the trigger on Ronald Reagan. So let's assume that Cheney's the first veep in 200 years to actually point a gun at someone and pull the trigger.
I suppose we should be grateful that he shot a 78-year-old lawyer, instead of a 21-year-old kid from Little Falls. Oops -- he bagged one of those, too, along with a couple of thousand other U.S. troops in Iraq.
Well, then, can we at least hope he neglected to get a license. I wonder what the fine is for hunting quail without one? Probably about the same as the fine for shooting your hunting partner. Or maybe Cheney will get Alberto Gonzalez to argue that the Use of Force Resolution covers shooting quail (or hunting partners).
Speaking of hunting partners, Harry Whittington (the victim) is apparently a long-time Bush crony. Bush appointed him in 1999 as chairman of the Texas Funeral Service Commission, to either clean up or cover up the ongoing scandals there. But I doubt he knows where the Jack Abramoff photos are, so maybe it was an accident.
posted by MeanMrMustard @ 6:53 PM
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