Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

[TheDad]

<p>We’d gotten out of the habit of the Daily Show but the day of the shooting, I made sure to catch the 11pm broadcast. We then caught it the following evening with the 8pm re-run and have been watching the re-runs since then. So we’ve gone from watching zero TV shows a week to one. AIyeee.</p>

[garland]

<p>Be careful, Thedad; next week Colbert will be live again, and you could end up with two shows a week (like me :))</p>

[mini]

<p>Quail Hunter Has Pointed Questions For Cheney</p>

<p>Four days after Dick Cheney shot 78-year-old Harry M. Whittington in the face, neck and heart, the vice-president sat down for tea and crumpets with
the PR branch of the Bush-Cheney Administration—otherwise known as Fox
News—to explain himself, and finally took a measure of responsibility.</p>

<p>OK, if they didn’t serve tea and crumpets, they should have, in keeping with the spirit of Brit Hume’s genteel questioning and the blue blood hunting party under discussion.</p>

<p>Let’s face it, if you or I put somebody in the hospital while hunting, the good folks down at the local sheriff’s department would’ve been out in force
just to make sure there was no hanky-panky—say, open beer, no hunting after hours, no excessive trophy-bagging, no carelessness with firearms or who
knows what? Also, they might’ve questioned a few of the discrepancies, such as those that began emerging earlier in the week in the official story.</p>

<p>Ben Brabson knows he would’ve asked some questions. Maybe you’ve heard of Ben. The retired Sevier County attorney and former Navy intelligence officer is also a gentleman farmer and quail hunter, and he thinks Cheney’s official story doesn’t quite pass the sniff test.</p>

<p>“In my youth I was an experienced hunter, including quail hunting here and on my uncle’s ranch in Southwest Florida,” Brabson wrote in an email. “The
cover story doesn’t ring true. The shooting victim was apparently peppered at a height of three to six feet at a range of 30 yards, which means that Ole Topgun (Cheney) would’ve had an aiming point (quail) of no more than 20 yards from his firing position. That birdshot would have a tough time penetrating a hunting vest at point blank range much less 30 yards. It would also be very difficult to be knocked unconscious at 30 yards. From the number of pellets the victim has in him, I’d say the range was 10 to 15
yards.”</p>

<p>Another hunter, who asked to be anonymous, pointed out Whittington was supposedly standing in a three-foot gully, which raises the question of why
Cheney was aiming so low. “In South Texas you don’t shoot low out of fear of hitting another man’s dog. Those dogs are incredibly expensive and you just
don’t take a chance on that. Something don’t smell right.”</p>

<p>Admittedly these are all speculations, but almost every aspect of this case is open to speculation, because there was no immediate investigation of the
kind that would’ve ensued had you or I pulled that trigger. Apparently a deputy sent to investigate was turned away at the gate of the Armstrong Ranch, where the shooting occurred, near Corpus Christi.</p>

<p>Ben’s puzzled by other aspects of the story. Media quote witnesses saying Whittington had just made a double—two birds with one shot—and had gone into
the bush to bag his quail, before reappearing unexpectedly in front of the business end of Cheney’s gun.</p>

<p>“Nobody in their right mind would go into the bush on foot to pick up a dead bird–the danger of rattlesnakes is too great and that’s what trained bird dogs are for.” That and flushing out the prey.</p>

<p>“You turn the dogs loose and they crisscross in front of the vehicle until they point or set a covey,” Ben explained. “When a covey flushes, it rises to a height of 20 to 30 feet and then settles. By the time it drops below 10 feet you have no shot because of the underbrush.”</p>

<p>I’ve heard other hunters mention a horizon rule–you don’t shoot at birds below the horizon.</p>

<p>Brabson has other questions, and so do I.

• Why did the Cheney team haul the bleeding Whittington an hour and 20
  minutes north to a branch of the Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in
  Kingsville, rather than have him flown directly to the more resourceful
  parent hospital in Corpus Christi where he wound up about three hours after
  the event?
• Why did guards turn away a deputy who drove out to interview the hunting
  party? In other words why did no authorities take a statement from Cheney
  until some 14 hours after the incident?
• Why did Katharine Armstrong, who phoned the local newspaper, say there was
  “no–zero, zippo” drinking before Cheney acknowledged having a beer with his
  lunch?
• Why did the Secret Service not know the position of everyone with a loaded
  gun in the vicinity of the vice-president?
• Why three versions of how the news broke? One in which Armstrong claims
  she made the decision to phone the local media, one in which Cheney asked
  her to phone the paper, and, finally, Cheney’s answer to a question from
  Hume, suggesting Karl Rove played a role in handling the media?
  Still, those who say this story has received comparatively more media
  attention than it merits are right—though not in the way they imagine.</p>

<p>Stay tuned.</p>

<hr>

<p>Don Williams is a prize-winning columnist and the founding editor and
publisher of New Millennium Writings, an annual anthology of literary writing. His awards include a National Endowment for the Humanities Michigan Journalism Fellowship, a Golden Presscard Award and the Malcolm Law Journalism Prize. He is finishing a novel, Red State Blues, set in his native Tennessee and Iraq. His book of selected journalism, “Heroes, Sheroes and Zeroes, the Best Writings About People” by Don Williams, is now available for ordering. For more information,
email him at <a href="mailto:donwilliams7@charter.net">donwilliams7@charter.net</a>. Or visit the NMW website at
<a href=“http://www.mach2.com%5B/url%5D”>www.mach2.com</a>.</p>

[driver]

<p>

Helen Thomas emailed to say, “Your column’s better than mine.” Not true, but I’ll take the compliment.
All my best,
Don Williams</p>

<p>“You write a great column. I wish you were at the White House to ask the tough questions that are not being asked.”
— Syndicated Columnist Helen Thomas
in a note to the author

Don Williams must be an amazing man to have developed such a close relationship with Helen Thomas. Good find, Mini. Helen discusses the Cheney quail hunting incident here: <a href=“http://www.radioblogger.com/#001391[/url]”>http://www.radioblogger.com/#001391&lt;/a&gt; Sure sounds familiar. CGM? Nah. Couldn’t be.</p>

<p>-----but what about quail hunting?</p>

[mini]

<p>I took it as a given that Cheney had a bit too much drink as well. The hunters in my office all agree that to assume otherwise would be really stretching it. But that’s basically the sum total of the story - everything simply proceeds from there. I’m sure he felt terrible about it, and, drinking or not, may not have been thinking terribly clearly, given all the decisions following.</p>

<p>With the blood of a hundred thousand on his hands, and $2 trillion to install and sustain the Ayatollah in power in Iraq, drinking a little too much while quail hunting ranks extraordinarily low on my list of reasons for holding the VP in contempt.</p>

<p>What about Clinton?</p>

[driver]

<p>I see. All of Mini’s many hunting buddies at work told him that they were generally drunk when they hunted, and this means the VP must have been too. Did you happen to catch the Lawrence O’Donnell interview right after Helen Thomas? That sounded familiar, too.</p>

<p>–What about quail hunting?</p>

[mini]

<p>Well, I don’t think he deliberately shot at someone standing 15-20 yards away, 10 feet lower than one normally shoots at quails. He could, of course, be a really bad shot. Or maybe his eyes are bad. Or maybe he just thought Mr. Whittington was a quail.</p>

<p>He thought there were WMD, too, didn’t he? It’s not like his judgment is impeccable.</p>

[driver]

<p>

The primary reason for Texas hunting accidents remains swinging on game outside a safe zone of fire. This happens when a person points a firearm at another hunter while following a moving target, such as a flying game bird.</p>

<p>Some statistics seem to defy stereotypical expectations. Most accidents do not happen under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Most of the people involved had more than 10 years of hunting experience. Most were in light to open cover with clear visibility in good weather.</p>

<p>Dove hunting had close to twice the number of accidents (11) as the next highest accident category for 2004, deer hunting (6). This is because hunting birds on the wing involves the greatest risk of swinging on game outside the safe zone of fire.

Oh well, Merry Fitzmas once again. Btw, that report is nearly a year old. Old Karl, he sure know hows to manipulate the Texas press.</p>

<p><a href=“www.digitaltexas.com”>www.digitaltexas.com;
What about quail hunting?</p>

[weenie]

<p>The funniest thing on Daily Show yesterday (alas, the re-run) was the segment that showed all the Fox News blow hards scolding the media about how they should get back to covering the REAL news for the American people…And then the news they actually covered…Endless coverage of the Entwhistle (is that the guy’s name?) murder. </p>

<p>Ha! Yeah, like we’re much more interested in a routine domestic shooting than the Vice President of the United States of America shooting someone. Did anybody else see that? It was hilarious.</p>

[driver]

<p>Comparing the VP’s accidental shooting of a friend while hunting…with a man accused of “routinely” murdering his wife and infant child. Priceless!<br>
You folks need some help.</p>

<p>What about quail hunting?</p>

[bandit_TX]

<p>

Well, I don’t think he deliberately shot at someone standing 15-20 yards away, 10 feet lower than one normally shoots at quails.

The man obviously grew up on bob white quail, not the blue quail that are much more common in south and west Texas. This is not gentleman’s quail hunting like you see in Georgia. It’s Texas brush country and wild birds that fly low through heavy cover. If he stepped out of gully behind a mesquite tree, he could have been 10 feet away and not be seen. As for hitting a dog, on a pointed covey, the hunters walk past the dog to bust the covey. These would have been professionally trained dogs that hold a point.</p>

[pretetmanger]

<p>driver once again responds by attributing a meaning that was not even close to what the poster said. I do not know whether it is intentional or inadvertent. Gold medal in straw man.</p>

[garland]

<p>As always…</p>

[mini]

<p>“The man obviously grew up on bob white quail, not the blue quail that are much more common in south and west Texas.”</p>

<p>Probably one of those Texas terrorist killer quail that flew under the radar screen, and are bigger than most ostriches.</p>

[bandit_TX]

<p>

and are bigger than most ostriches

no, but they are bigger than bobs.<br>
<a href=“http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2004/jan/ed_2/[/url]”>http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2004/jan/ed_2/&lt;/a&gt;

Blue quail, scaled quail, blues, cotton tops, scalies, coneheads. Apt names that conjure images of slavering, wild-eyed bird dogs, rubber-legged hunters, heat mirage and dust devils. Like the country they inhabit, blues engender strong opinions. Hardcore bird hunters either love them or hate them. Bobwhite purists scorn the blue quail’s raffish preference for running instead of sitting tight for stylish pointing dogs. Other hunters gleefully screw in their modified and full choke tubes, stuff their game vests with water bottles and moleskin toe padding, and brag about dogs that do whatever it takes to put a few blues in the bag.</p>

<p>Although commonly lumped with Gambel’s quail under the heading of “desert quail,” blues actually are birds of the arid grasslands. Their range extends from western Kansas southward into Mexico, then westward across the High Plains in the north and the Chihuahuan Desert in the south. In Texas, blues are common in the western half of the Panhandle, the western edge of the Edwards Plateau, the South Texas Brush Country and the Trans-Pecos region. They share the eastern edge of their range with bobwhites and the western portion with Gambel’s quail.</p>

<p>As their name suggests, blue quail are bluish-gray, save for their conspicuous white crests. The overlapping breast and mantle feathers, edged in black, earn the bird the common name “scaled quail.” Although males and females are indistinguishable in flight, close examination reveals that the male’s throat feathers are a solid cream color while the hen’s are cream with fine dark streaks. On average, blues are slightly larger than bobwhites and weigh about 7 ounces. …</p>

<p>TPWD biologist Scott Lerich offers this advice to novice blue quail hunters: “The first thing you have to understand is that you’re not hunting bobwhites. Scaled quail typically won’t hold while you stroll up for the flush. You’d better be prepared to move up quickly.” Lerich should know. To earn his master’s degree, he spent two years at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area trapping and fitting blue quail with radio telemetry collars in order to study nesting ecology and survival. He’s also an avid quail hunter.</p>

<p>

</p>

[citygirlsmom]

<p>MATALIN: We wanted to take our time. Speak to the sheriff so we’d have the voice of authority. Have Katharine be able to share with other witnesses, and she could be an eyewitness."</p>