I tried to think of an ending to this incident that wouldn’t be absolutely hilarious (in a gallows-humor sort of way) and couldn’t.

Item: Dick Cheney shoots a 79-year old man during causal discussion

Item:  Dick Cheney accidentally shoots a lawyer, who says “Ow!  That HURTS” and is shot again, fatally, by Secret Service as he swings his own shotgun toward Cheney.

Item: All of Dick Cheney’s hunting friends seem to be too busy to go hunting with him anymore…

Item: Dick Cheney walks into meeting, everyone dives under table

Aw hell, it’s too easy.  Some days Jay Leno must have a really easy job.  But this incident has no particular political meaning other than that Cheney needs to brush up on his gun safety.

Here are some one liners that I can’t claim as my own.

In Cheney’s defense he thought he saw Quayle (sic) behind him…

Cheney reassigned to Iraq for added anti-insurgent firepower.

Cheney only wounds lawyer…

I suspect there will be some political fall out over this, not from the incident itself but from the manner and timing in which the matter reached the press, and perhaps over a report that the Secret Service did not allow the local Sherrif to question Cheney.

It should be obvious how the accident happened; he was pandering for votes. The only thing that would win more votes than shooting a lawyer is shooting a politician.
Graybeard Paine

I honestly don’t know why there should be any fallout from this incident. As much as I’d love to see Cheney raked over the coals I’d prefer it was over legitimate failings and not an honest accident.

I agree but can we still make fun of him?

I honestly don’t know why there should be any fallout from this incident.

Dude, he shot a 78 year-old man! The White House Press conference tomorrow is going to play up the fact that it was just buckshot and not a real bullet so that, in effect, a real shooting never took place. But Cheney could have yelled at 78 year-old Whittington and killed him. He didn’t really need to shoot his load all over Whittington’s face and chest.

Let’s not even consider that he left it up to property owner Beth Armstrong to make the accident public and then only to a local reporter.

Scott McClellan kept saying that part of the reason notification took so long was that they needed to be certain Whittington was receiving the medical care he required, though medical professionals already were along to make certain Cheney could survive if errant quail flew in his direction and spooked him. Still, this seems a trifle bit like a lame excuse to explain an 18 hour lag.

Too, they were in effect hunting from a luxury car, disembarking only to terrorize an adjacent covey. Since the Armstrong Ranch is 500,000 acres large, I can maybe understand the desire for a car but I bet it had a wet bar.

As for a cell phone to notify the press, maybe Cheney hasn’t been given one yet.

Correction: My statement that “the Armstrong Ranch is 500,000 acres large” should be changed to “50,000 acres large” and it’s Katherine Armstrong who owns the property, not “Beth” Armstrong.

Finally, Cheney didn’t shoot Whittington. Whittington tripped over his own pellet gun fifty times, causing it to asplode all over him....fifty times.

Sorry for the mistakes.

I agree but can we still make fun of him?

I don’t see why not. It’s obvious that Cheney is one hell of an inept sportsman (and I personally find hunting for sport to be a deplorable pastime). Here’s a fairly amusing news item covering the issue.

when I had first heard of this i was like, “hell yeah!! the VP finally grew a pair!! who’s he gonna take out next” then i learned it wa an accident.

Evidently a known admitted felon, Dick Cheney shot an old man in the face while poaching on someones private ranch.

clinton fucked a fat chick in the white house and godamn kenneth starr was all over his ass.
where the hell is he now? i want my scandal dammit. they can impeach a VP right?

somehow this seems far more worthy of the cause.
a law was actually broken by a government official.

man am i disapointed.

now i cant even hear about how pissed off the muslims are about anti-muslim comics out of copenhagen anymore. all i hear about is
dick “elmer fudd” cheney. what shit.

the fucking media is butchering the hell out of anything worthwhile and reporting absoloute bullshit lately, WTF?

dick “elmer fudd” cheney…

[It should be obvious how the accident happened; he was pandering for votes. The only thing that would win more votes than shooting a lawyer is shooting a politician.
Graybeard Paine

Too funny and unfortunately true

AS a hunter, accidents do happen, BUT I guess those of us that hunt things with fur and are considerably larger tend to have a different way about it.  I’ve never been out “bird banging” as its called and maybe the bird boyz are a tad more remiss in hunter safety.  Speaking as an NRA instructor for both safety and self defense he should not have got ready to fire much less put a finger on the trigger unless he KNEW where everyone was including the dogs !  But again maybe bird hunting is difference since the shotgun loads are so much different than large game rifle loads.  If they were out harassing the shit out of Bambi and he nailed his buddy in the face with an 8MM.. we’d not be joking about it… nor would he be walking away without a worry.  I guess the end of the story is the guy is human like anyone else and makes mistakes vs. walking on water like many think.

But its been good fodder for some hilarious jokes and cartoons that were not party affiliated and purposely mean spirited.  Its a wonder no one has harponed Teddy Kenndy during whale hunting season off the coast.

But again maybe bird hunting is difference since the shotgun loads are so much different than large game rifle loads.

My dad made me observe the same rules whether pellet gun, shotgun, or antique 45.70

Same in our house Decrepitoid, but I’ve noticed that many that only hunt fowl too often seem to have a more lackidaisical attitude towards hunting.  Not all, most we hunt with are very safety conscieous but there are always that handful that make it bad for the rest of us.  When we go upnorth for Deer season, there are some of the “old timers” Cheney and his buddies age that are in the deep woods and they hunt by “sound” only… NOW how dangerous and stupid is THAT !  But they do it regardless and none of the local yokels do anything to stop them for fear of ‘offending them’… screw offend them.. one of those mornons comes crashing through the trees on my property shooting at the sound of anything I’ll take the butt end of his rifle and smack him a few times with it and ask “how does that fell, I like the sound of it”....

my poor dogs look like glow in the dark pumpkins in hunting season going out to take a stupid pee.. just in case !!!