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Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter
Feb. 12, 2006. 06:05 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON U.S. Vice-President **** Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
Harry Whittington, a millionaire lawyer from Austin, was alert and doing fine in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the propertys owner.
He was described as in stable condition by Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.
Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident that occurred late afternoon Saturday
She said emergency personnel travelling with Cheney tended to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.
Cheneys spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice-president was with Whittington and his wife at the hospital Sunday.
The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice-presidents office did not disclose the accident until nearly 24 hours after it happened.
Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.
Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.
Whittington came up from behind the vice-president and the other hunter and didnt signal them or indicate to them or announce himself, Armstrong said.
The vice-president didnt see him, she continued. The covey flushed and the vice-president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good.
From John Nichols (The Nation)
Quote: Sure, it's been fun joking about the fact that **** Cheney obtained five -- count them, five -- deferments to avoid serving in the military during the Vietnam War. Sure, its been amusing to recount his limp claim that the man who served as George Bush I's Secretary of Defense had "other priorities" than taking up arms in defense of his country. Sure, it was a laugh when the chief cheerleader for the war in Iraq mocked John Kerry for having actually carried a weapon in a time of war.
But it is time to stop laughing at **** Cheney's expense.
Now that the vice president has accidentally shot and wounded a companion on a quail hunt at the elite Texas ranch where rich men play with guns -- spraying his 78-year-old victim, er, friend, in the face and chest with shotgun pellets and sending the man to intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital -- it has become clear that Cheney was doing the country a service when he avoided service.
The man Cheney misstook for a quail, millionaire attorney Harry Whittington, was in plain sight, wearing a bright orange vest at the time the vice president blasted him.
U.S. troops had enough problems in Vietnam without letting a trigger-happy incompetent like **** Cheney start shooting things up from behind the lines.
Those deferments were well and wisely issued.
This reminds me of an old Tom Lehrer song simply entittled the Hunting Song, its some what amusing and is probably very relevant.
Bryn
I see even the vice prez is a big fan of friendly fire. If you can't find your quarry shoot a passer by or a hunting buddy.
The poor guy should stick to simple things like blowing up the world from his bunker.
Just had a great idea make him a ceo of nikon or canon or another camera company. They can give him the latest model camera and he can go and shoot till his hearts content without almost murdering someone.
Maybe I missed your discussion on.....
"Britain Investigates Video Said To Show Abuse Of Iraqi Youths By Troops"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/international/europe/13abuse.html?_r=1&ore...
but I guess a hunting accident is more important.
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