No Biggie
Feb 15 (Bloomberg) - Vice-President Dick Cheney has agreed to be interviewed by the Administration’s public relations channel.
Meanwhile, some people couldn’t get why getting shot in the face by the second most powerful man (or so they say) in the nation was such a big deal.
February 15th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Hey Ray,
Just curious - is it a big deal about Cheney shooting the guy? It was an accident, after all. Are people really upset about this (besides the inside-the-beltway media who are obviously bummed they didn’t find out sooner)?
The blog thing is always tough because it’s so hard to convey tone, so, as always, I am asking because I really appreciate your view on things. So far, I can’t see anything worth making a big deal over regarding the accident, but you might have better insight than me.
Thanks!
PS. That’s great about it being one year since you left for your massive trip. What a blessing you got to do that!!! See you Friday morning.
February 15th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
I think its becoming a big deal for several reasons.
1. the details of the shooting and hunting expedition (ie Cheney not having a hunting permit. don’t know if that’s true or not but…)
2. This guy might just die considering he was shot in the heart by the vice president.
3. The lack of an attitude of openess.
There are more but it slowly becoming a bigger deal. If he dies then…
p
February 15th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
To be honest, I just thought these two stories were funny (the fact that he granted Fox News the interview and that the guy who got shot in the face didn’t think it was a big deal) so I linked them.
In any case, I think it’s a big deal when the Vice President shoots somebody (even if accidentally) if the face.
February 15th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Hey Payshun,
As for the hunting permit, Cheney did possess the $125 non-resident permit, but lacked the $7 quail hunting permit, which he mailed by check after the accident.
If Whittington does die, then there would be a completely different set of ramifications to deal with. As for the lack of openess, I can see your point. However, I just don\’t see why it\’s that big of a deal. Big enough, at least, to warrant the amount of criticism coming from the media and the left right now. But maybe I\’m missing something.
-T
February 15th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Hey Ray,
I agree, it is a big deal that the vice president shot somebody in the face. To me, the appropiate people were notified in a reasonable amount of time, but maybe they should have done something about it sooner.
Definitely one for the history books.
February 16th, 2006 at 7:59 am
Ray,
Don’t get me wrong. I’d like to see Dick Cheney get indicted as much as the next guy. But I think that in this case you’ve smelled the blood in the water, and are making the same mistake Republicans made by blowing the whole Fellatiogate thing out of proportion during the Clinton admin.
(I, for one, liked it a lot better when the President was the one getting screwed.)
Dick Cheney’s killed a lot of people. Intentionally. A rich white guy getting beaned in a hunting accident isn’t nearly as grave an offense.
We all know this administration is opaque and obfuscative (which, if it is not a word, damn well should be, and it should be pronounced obFUSScutive). But I think it makes critics look petty to focus on a couple ounces of buckshot.
February 16th, 2006 at 8:06 am
What’s interesting to me is how badly my attempt at sardonic humor failed.
I wasn’t talking about politics, partisanship, guilt, or anything.
I literally just thought it was funny that Cheney agreed to be interviewed first by Fox and that the guy who got shot in the face didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Oh, ho, ho, irony! Oh, no, no, we don’t get that here…”
February 16th, 2006 at 11:01 am
BTW, after carefully reading your post, I don’t think that you were blowing the thing out of proportion. I was reacting to what I supposed you were saying, not what you were actually saying.
The whole thing is kind of funny.
“Dick Cheney (Before he dicks you).”
February 17th, 2006 at 10:09 am
No I agree. It is not the biggest deal and it should not be. It was an accident. But for many that see this administration as secretive, this doesn’t help them. Even though I really doubt there was a massive coverup of any kind it can easily be seen that way when so many of the details were reported to the media and those details were false.
Initially why weren’t they told that he was shot in the heart? There is nothing to hide when you make a mistake but it seems that vice president’s office did little to explain an honest breakdown of events. This is the second (giggles) most powerful man in the world. He is extremely intelligent (even more so than his boss) and it just came across to most people as odd that so many details can be reported as wrong.
p
That will make them think coverup.
February 18th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Saw a bumper sticker:
“I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than to go for a drive with Ted Kennedy”
Thought the political bickering tone was just what this society needs. I might buy it just to promote more latent anger in this society.
Payshun, you may be moving too quickly on this one. It’s not as if Dick shot him in the heart. The pellet ended up migrating to a location very near the heart according to latest reports but it is very likely that this was not a factor at the time of the shooting.
If I were Veep would I want the world to know everytime I made a booboo? We all make mistakes. I personally do not feel that he was obligated to make a statement about a hunting accident anymore than he should have to make a statement about forgetting to change the oil in his car on time (hypothetical).
Talk to hunters about this one. Most are incredulous regardless of political preference.
God please come back soon and stop the madness.
-Nate
February 18th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
This has got to be the biggest inverse ratio of text to number of comments on this blog…
February 20th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
You weren’t the only one to notice it.
p
February 20th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Shoot. I missed the irony of your original post, Ray, and helped this bad boy become the “biggest inverse ratio of text to number of comments” that it is. Now I’m helping it grow more.
What was the topic, again? Iran’s nukes? Google’s cooperation with the Chinese government? Something important like that?
February 20th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Oooo! Oooo! Can I add my two cents (Canadian)?
NPR did a thing on this topic this morning on the Diane Rehm show. I thought it really was an overblown story by a bored press. Or maybe the liberal bias in the media (a phrase I learned on the same show was first uttered by Joe McCarthy in 1948).
But in the extremely thoughtful exchange of Diane and her guests, they pointed out that secrecy in general has taken a strange turn in the Bush administration since 2003. More documents were classified in 2005 than ever before. Cheney was on the Ford administration commission that attempted to shoot down the “Freedom of Information” Act. This was ONE YEAR after Watergate. So Cheney in particular has been big on this whole secrecy for any/all high ranking government employees thing for 30 years at least.
A comparision–an unfair one–was made between the current Bush administration and the Lincoln, Wilson, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, and Bush, Sr. administrations. Though secrecy has been gradually more important to the government, so has lying. Eisenhower almost resigned the presidency when he lied (unintentionally) about the U2 spy plane incident. It’s probably fair to say that no one in the White House at the moment would feel anything equivalent over such an issue.
February 21st, 2006 at 8:48 am
I’ll have to check out the interview. There is no question that this is one of the most secretive administrations in American history.
Combine that with their tendency toward spying and other civil liberties violations they are also one of the least Republican Republican administrations in American history.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Add to that the education bill, the energy bill, the prescription drug benefit program, the TSA, and the lack of a single spending veto by the prez, which makes this one of the least conservative conservative administrations as well.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:09 pm
woops, sorry about the italic html error.
February 21st, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Not to mention engaging in voluntary wars.
Man we have gone way off topic.