Dick Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

• February 13, 2006

Yikes…

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.
Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington. She said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.

Glad to hear Mr. Whittington is ok.
These sorts of accidents happen on hunts. In my experience, the way you safely hunt pheasants is to have the shooters form up in a line across the field/land being hunted and to walk across with everyone staying in line. That way nobody is in the line of fire by getting to far in front.
If this is how Cheney and his companions were doing it, either Mr. Whittington had gotten ahead of the line or Cheney shot down the line.
Update:
Comment seen elsewhere: I’d still rather hunt with Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy.

Tags: Politics

http://Array Northwest loco

 Gotcha!
gilbyguy

Hmmmm one too many Halliburton cracks maybe?

 
http://www.captainnormal.org/ Don Myers

OOPS! I was wrong—Cheney has not one but TWO drunk driving arrests on his record.

 http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/cheney_doc.html
richard

Cheney was heard to say "I will show you weapons of mass destruction bitch", just before he pulled the trigger.
WOOF

Constitutional law allows the president and the vice president inherent power to declare

anyone or anything a ‘quail for the purposes of a legitimate sporting hunt.
pennypoore

perhaps he was just trying out a new halliburton weapon?
Gary N

"he wasn’t necessarily acting recklessly" – rob

Alcohol or not….Adrenalin or not, "But for the shooter, hunting safety dictates that focusing on the target should never be more important than keeping in mind what’s behind it." 

Anything less than that is RECKLESS.   We’ve seen it before!  On another adrenalin episode we see the Vice President of the United States shouting out "Go phuck yourself" on the Senate floor.  RECKLESSNESS.  Period.             
MikeAdamson

Any word on what Whittington’s views on warrantless surveillance were? I’d hate to think there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
hvywgt

Look’s like the AP is at it again, After giving Condi devil eyes, now the have the Cheney gunfighter sneer.  Check the ripple in the frames on his glasses above his left eye. (Helps to copy in the picture to zoom in) Also the horizontal shadow above his Elvis lip doesn’t match the light source from above left.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060212/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_hunting_accident

 
Gary N

I’m sure Cheney does feel remorseful after the incident, but so does every drunk that injures or kills.  It wasn’t a weapon malfunction.  It wasn’t an "act of God".  It was a hunter who was not hunting responsibly.  Writing it off to "but we’re all human" is not sufficient.  Just another scapegoating.  See  http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1159061,00.html
teflaime

<i>These sorts of accidents happen on hunts.</i>

 It amazes me that people keep saying this. You all must hunt with either really stupid or really self-absorbed people. I’ve been hunting for 22 years and have never had an accident or seen such a hunting accident.
Gary N

Certainly, "the result of a series of mistakes from both parties involved…", that’s the obvious; but as quoted:  "But for the shooter, hunting safety dictates that focusing on the target should never be more important than keeping in mind what’s behind it."  The heavier weight of responsibility falls upon the one with his finger on the trigger.  The landowner certainly will profess on the side of Cheney for a variety of reasons I can think of.  No! I never said Cheney had been drinking; but there is a well documented adrenaline "high" that accompanies hunting and it is a form of intoxication and it can and does hamper judgment.  Cheney was focusing on the kill, not on what was in the path of the kill.  Was Whittington as avid and experienced hunter as Cheney or was he along just for the outing? 
http://www.captainnormal.org/ Don Myers

Gary:

Just for the record, Cheney isn’t a drunk driver. Bush is.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushdui1.html
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

I suppose we should recognize that that is the typical solution a lot of Republicans seem to resort to. Shock and Awe! Nuke em til they glow! Oh my, it is so Hollywood-ish.
Do you need to be a dickhead?

Just asking as it seems you can’t help it.
Gary N

Well, now I gotta wonder just what the Reverand Pat Robertson will come up with?  Perhaps Whittington hasn’t been tithing as he should!
Gary N

"I wish he had been hunting with al gore" – pennypore

So what you are saying is that you WISH Dick Cheney would have shot Al Gore in the face, neck and chest with a shotgun at close range? Furthermore, you seem to be implying that it be done on purpose.  Thank God we live in a country where that is illegal.  Highly illegal! 

I suppose we should recognize that that is the typical solution a lot of Republicans seem to resort to.  Shock and Awe!  Nuke em til they glow!  Oh my, it is so Hollywood-ish. 
pennypoore

I wish he had been hunting with al gore
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

I never said Cheney had been drinking; but there is a well documented adrenaline "high" that accompanies hunting and it is a form of intoxication and it can and does hamper judgment.  Cheney was focusing on the kill, not on what was in the path of the kill.  Was Whittington as avid and experienced hunter as Cheney or was he along just for the outing?

I can’t speak for Whittington.  I don’t know anything about him.  But my point was that while Cheney made a big mistake, he wasn’t necessarily acting recklessly, which is a behavior I associate with drunk drivers. 
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Gary, there is nothing to suggest that Cheney did anything as irresponsible as drinking and driving.  Here is a summary from the article you linked:

An eyewitness account reported by the Associated Press suggests that Cheney may have, in the heat of the moment, violated the No. 1 rule of hunting by failing to keep track of his hunting buddies at all times. The AP quoted the ranch’s owner saying that Cheney could easily have failed to see Whittington, as the latter walked up behind the Vice President from lower ground and in tall grass. To be sure, safety should be paramount for everyone in a hunting party and some responsibility would have fallen to Whittington to make sure his fellow hunters knew he might be just out of sight behind them. But for the shooter, hunting safety dictates that focusing on the target should never be more important than keeping in mind what’s behind it.

Sounds like this is the result of a series of mistakes from both parties involved.  An unfortunate accident.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

teflaime:

I’ve been hunting for 15 years, and every year I hear about accidents like this happening.  They shouldn’t happen, but they do.  I’m sure Cheney feels awful and very embarrassed about it.  Any self-respecting hunter and gun owner would, but we’re all human.

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Dick Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

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