Cheneys hunting buddy has a heart attack

Geez, people. Lighten up. It's like you never shot anyone and made light of it later. My brother shot my uncle, and they still joke about it.

It's just because they are Republicans, and the garden variety Joe Woodsman Democrat can't imagine rich Republicans doing anything with quail unless they were served on good china. Would it have been different if AlGore had shot the real Quayle?

Or what about Ted Kennedy? Never mind. No one would have ever heard about it, and Dan would be in an oil drum in the Chappaquiddick area somewhere below the mud line.

Steve

The resident office Dem sauntered in here chortling about the latest news, suggesting a murder charge might be forthcoming. Amazing how these people can get such glee from the minor misfortunes of the leaders of our own country.

Can anyone explain just what happened. Who was where, who arrived when, who drank what before, who was wearing what color clothes, etc. Was it an "accidental discharge", or was Cheney intending to shoot where he shot.

i

From the paper it sounded like a garden variety, perhaps even non-partisan, hunting accident.

That covers a lot of different scenarios. Was Cheney drunk? Was he acting recklessly, with gross violations of safety standards? I want to have a mental picture of what happened.

i

None of those points are relevant. The single relevant concept here is "Hunter shot Buddy.". It doesn't matter in the least whether "Hunter" is the sitting veep of the USA, the veep of the NRA, or the veep of a

1-stall garage located at the end of an alley in downtown Bumwad Alabama. It doesn't matter that it was an "accident". It doesn't matter that "Hunter" intended to shoot where he shot. What matters is that "Hunter" screwed up in a major way, and needs to be expecting a big ol' bucket of shit to come down on him as a result. When you have a gun in hand, you've got a resonsibiltiy to be *ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN* of your target and line of fire before you pull the trigger. If you don't know *EXACTLY* what your round is going to hit, either before or after hitting the intended target, then you've got no business pulling the trigger. PERIOD.

(Spare me any gun-phobia commentary, please... I just spent 4 hours on the rifle range yesterday, for no other reason than I had some time to kill, and nothing more entertaining/enjoyable readily available to use as the method of killing it. "Gun-phobic" is one of those concepts that applies to me *ALMOST* as well as "supersonic fighter plane" applies to a field-dressed moose carcass.)

Odds are Cheney intended to shoot in the direction he shot, its just that the dude that got shot was not supposed to be there.....Cheney pulled the trigger, but usually on organized hunts as such, its the usual thing for hunters that leave the group and then come back to the group to do some from behind and announce they are comming, which evidenty the fellow with the lead did not do.....

"Rex B" wrote

You can bet a dollar to a donut hole that if it had been AlGore, he probably would have blown the guy's head off. And that before they ever got out of the car.

I remember during the campaign when Al was reminiscing about all the time he was out in the woods. What was he doing?

Hint:

burying something ..................

Steve

In my world, the fact that someone was hit by his fire constitutes prima facie evidence of recklessness and gross violation of safety standards - Whether he was drinking or not is irrelevant except as a consideration for the penalty phase of whatever develops. (As in "He was drinking? Penalty is doubled/tripled/more." versus "He wasn't? OK, penalty stands as initially called.") Alcohol and gunpowder don't mix any better than alcohol and gasoline.

"Don Bruder" wrote

Kudos, Sir.

Steve

You might want that, but if you can't find the needed sources on the net for yourself, you don't have the capacity to form a mental image.

Acording to ABC (is that liberal enough?) the guy shot had gone out in front to check or retrieve a bird, he was comming back toward Cheney with the sun at his back (in Cheneys eyes) when another covey flushed and Cheney took a shot at them. I use to hunt a lot and it sounds like it was at least half the other guys fault. He shouldnt have gone in front of the line to look for a bird. The sun in Cheneys eyes made it easier for the accident to happen. ...lew...

Not exactly accurate; heart area, not in the heart.

Houston - The Texas lawyer accidentally shot by United States Vice President Dick Cheney during a weekend quail hunt suffered a minor heart attack on Tuesday when some of the birdshot still in his body lodged near his heart, a hospital spokesperson said.

Harry Whittington, 78, was moved into intensive care and ordered to stay in the Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital for at least another seven days to monitor his condition, said Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital spokesperson Peter Banko.

The news suddenly gave a serious edge to the incident that the White House had begun making light of on Tuesday after tense exchanges with the press the day before over failure to disclose the shooting for almost a full day.

Dr David Blanchard, the hospital's emergency room chief, said at a news conference doctors noted an irregular heartbeat during a morning examination of Whittington and it was determined he was having a minor heart attack.

He was moved into the hospital's intensive care unit and underwent cardiac catheterisation for his quivering heart.

"We picked up an irregular heartbeat. At no time did he have any chest pain, the classic signs of a heart attack or anything like that," Blanchard said.

Whittington, a Republican stalwart in Texas, was peppered by an estimated 200 pellets on Saturday when the shotgun-wielding Cheney whirled to shoot a covey of quail on a southern Texas ranch and hit Whittington instead.

Cheney spoke to him by telephone from Washington on Tuesday after watching a televised hospital news conference on Whittington's health setback.

"The vice president wished Mr Whittington well and asked if there was anything he needed," Cheney's office said in a statement. Cheney has not spoken publicly about the incident.

Doctors and officials had assured the press that Whittington suffered only minor wounds, but Blanchard said on Tuesday: "We knew he had some birdshot very near to the heart from the get-go."

At least one of those pellets had been close enough to the heart to cause "irritability", which led to Tuesday's heart attack, he said.

Blanchard said doctors would have to keep a close eye on the birdshot in case it continues to move.

Trauma surgeon Soumitra Eachempati at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weil Cornell Medical Centre said the moving pellet could require an operation.

"Since the pellet just moved into the heart area, it might be necessary to do open heart surgery," he said.

I agree completely, But, shit happens! You can not control everything around you, one of the reasons I no longer hunt! I got tired of being shot at! Years back I was deer hunting with a bunch of my extended family. I was posting and getting ready to shoot at a couple of deer when bullets started whizzing just over my head. I looked over the one deer and saw my cousin shooting and missing a deer the was between us. I finally fired a shoot right over his head, into a rock, to get his attention! He ducked, then looked up, and I waved back. He had buck fever so bad he never paid any attention to what was on the other side of the deer. After being shot at pretty much every year, whether it was duck geese, partridge, or deer I quit!

"Greg O" wrote

Hunting in wide open spaces, or on private property affords one a little more safety. But, as we see here, not much.

I've always been reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally picky about who I have sex with and who I go hunting and camping with.

Steve

That's close to how I feel about "accidental" shootings. I have not been able to ascertain what happened, which likely means that they are covering up some gross violations.

i

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:41:43 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, "Steve B" quickly quoth:

Megadittoes. You got it in one, Don.

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On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:50:42 -0600, with neither quill nor qualm, Andy Asberry quickly quoth:

Everyone knows this is bullshit. Lawyers don't HAVE hearts. ;)

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