Tuesday, February 14, 2006

VP Cheney shoots man in the face, a daily occurance in Kentucky during hunting season.

While it is an interesting story and a somewhat humorous story, I do not see the big deal in VP Dick Cheney shooting his friend in the face. See that sounded bad, but in actuality I’m sure it wasn’t half as bad as it sounds. Anytime you are bird hunting, whether it is quail hunting or dove hunting or whatever hunting, you run the risk of being shot or shooting someone else. If hunters do not know where other hunters are all the time, this happens.

From what I understand Mr. Whittington, the shootee, had left the hunting party for a bit and returned without announcing his return. As far as anyone knew he was still gone and this is what led to the accident. It was as much Mr. Whittington’s fault as it was Mr. Cheney’s. I will admit that being peppered across the face and neck will not feel good; I do not imagine that at anytime Mr. Whittington was in danger of dying.

This happens every day in Kentucky and other states that has a bird hunting season. As long as you are not shot point blank in the face, you will be fine. It will sting like a weasel and you will be very p@#*ed off at who shot you, you will live. Ask my cousin who has shot several people. These TV “news” people who are shocked at something like this happening need to go on a quail hunting trip and see for themselves how easily this could happen. And then shut-up about this.

What I do wonder about is the time it took to tell anyone about it. Why did Cheney wait 14 hours before telling anybody, including the president? Some conspiracy theorists may think that he waited long enough to find out that Mr. Whittington would live. Some would also say that if the worst had happened perhaps there would have been some sort of cover-up or perhaps it would have come out that it wasn’t Cheney who shot the man but a patsy. That seems very far fetched, but questions still remain on the timing.

Whatever the case, it looks like things are not as bad as some would lead you to believe. Cheney was cited for failing to buy a stamp to hunt upland birds, Mr. Whittington is recovering, and we have new joke fodder for our late night talk shows. Business as usual in America.

1 comment:

BRATCH said...

The dude is in intensive care. I haven't read too much about this story, but I had heard that the "shotee" had contributed $3,000 to Bush's campaign fund for the last two elections.

My question is, how much money do I have to donate to get to hunt with the President himself? I'll bet $5,000 gets you a vice president hunt with the speaker of the house and $10,000 gets you a hunt with the president himself and a nice presidential tote bag.

I'm not a fan of our fearless leader, but hunting with the president of the United States would be pretty darn cool. And I think gun toting red state folks would be happy to shell out 3 grand for a campaign donation if each of them got to hunt with the VP.