sorry. i thought you were george.

Terry · 13-02-2006 3:01am #1

Cheney accidentally shoots hunting companion

By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally wounded a companion with shotgun pellets on a weekend quail hunt in Texas, his office said on Sunday.

Cheney's companion, Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, 78, was listed in stable condition after being brought in on Saturday night, said Yvonne Wheeler, a spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Cheney's office said Whittington had been sprayed by birdshot while hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, about 200 miles south of San Antonio.

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until the day after it happened.

Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch, was a member of the hunting party and witnessed the accident.

She said Cheney, an experienced hunter, did not realise Whittington had rejoined the group without announcing himself, which is proper protocol among hunters.

"They had no idea he was there," Armstrong said.

"A bird flew up, the vice president followed it through around to his right and shot, and unfortunately, unbeknownst to anybody, Harry was there and he got peppered pretty good with a spray of 28-gauge pellets," Armstrong said in a telephone interview.

"He was turning, facing the vice president, but turning to the right, and it sprayed him across the right side of his face, his shoulder, his chest and along the rib cage area," she said.

Armstrong said Cheney's medical team attended to Whittington before he was taken to the hospital.

She described Cheney as "an excellent, conscientious shot."

"The person who is not doing the shooting at the point is just as responsible and, should be, as the person actually shooting," Armstrong said.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the vice president had been with Whittington at the hospital on Sunday.

"The vice president visited with Harry Whittington at the hospital and was pleased to see he is doing fine and in good spirits," McBride said.

Cheney has been a frequent visitor to the Armstrong Ranch and in October spoke at the funeral of family patriarch Tobin Armstrong.

Armstrong's wife, Anne, served as U.S. ambassador to Britain and as an adviser to presidents Nixon, Reagan and George Bush.

The 50,000-acre ranch was settled in 1882 by his grandfather, John Armstrong III, a Texas Ranger known for capturing outlaw John Wesley Hardin.

Whittington serves on the Texas state Funeral Services Commission and the state Office of Patient Protection and is a former member of the board of the Texas Department of Corrections.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6462984&cKey=1139791821000

nomorebadtown · 13-02-2006 3:05am

Yee Haw!

Mossy Monk · 13-02-2006 3:34am

he shot a prominant lawyer. big legal fees ahoy

Terry · 13-02-2006 3:36am

aren't they all lawyers?
all he has to do is use the defence i gave as the thread title.

Kojak · 13-02-2006 10:23am

Mossy Monk wrote:

he shot a prominant lawyer. big legal fees ahoy

Ah its all right. Sure wont the American Tax-Payer pay for his 'indiscretion'

Cosine · 13-02-2006 11:05am

Well this makes me feel releaved. At least we know not all lawyer are vampires

MrJoeSoap · 13-02-2006 11:11am

Cosine wrote:

Well this makes me feel releaved. At least we know not all lawyer are vampires

We also know that one of the most powerful men in the world likes to shoot birds in his spare time though...

Cosine · 13-02-2006 11:15am

No. We know he likes to try and shoot birds in his spare time

MrJoeSoap · 13-02-2006 11:18am

Cosine wrote:

No. We know he likes to try and shoot birds in his spare time

Hehe, touché!

joe_chicken · 13-02-2006 11:26am

julep wrote:

...his grandfather, John Armstrong III, a Texas Ranger known for capturing outlaw John Wesley Hardin.

John Armstrong III also known as Chuck Norris... i'd love to be remebered like that

phantom_lord · 13-02-2006 11:27am

Cosine wrote:

No. We know he likes to try and shoot birds in his spare time

and lawyers...

Hobbes · 13-02-2006 11:46am

phantom_lord wrote:

and lawyers...

Just living the american dream. :v:

Cosine · 13-02-2006 11:52am

phantom_lord wrote:

and lawyers...

Nope he tries to shoot birds but actually hits the lawyers..... hmmmm I wonder how many times you can do that and not get in trouble.....

Anyone have a lwayer they need tenderised?

Terry · 13-02-2006 1:27pm

in a new development.
has anyone watched any american news reports?
apparently they are spinning it to make it look like it was the other guys fault.
they are also saying that he is fine after being shot. yet he is still in intensive care.
gotta love the spin machine.

phantom_lord · 13-02-2006 4:54pm

Scott adams interpetation....

This is Why I Blog
Today the AP reported: WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick 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.

Vice President Cheney explained the shooting this way: “I was tracking a covey of quail with my gun barrel. Suddenly Whittington just popped up from the grass, directly in the way, so I shot him. I know my critics on the left will point out that Whittington is not a bird, but he was between the quail and my gun. My feeling is that when you harbor a quail, it’s the same as being one.”

A medical team quickly tended to the wounded man, much to Cheney’s disappointment, as the Vice President had already told friends he planned to mount Whittington's head over the toilet in his upstairs powder room.

A spokesman for the Whitehouse pointed out that Whittington was a known quail sympathizer. “Our intelligence told us he had WMD in his Elmer Fudd hat. A lot of people were fooled, not just us.”

Exit · 15-02-2006 1:30am

Check out The Daily Show's take on it - http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/2006/TheDailyShowCheneySHOT.asx Hilarious!

Terry · 15-02-2006 1:41am

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The 78-year-old lawyer who was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident has some birdshot in or touching his heart and he had "a silent heart attack" Tuesday morning, hospital officials said. The victim, Harry Whittington, was immediately moved back to the intensive care unit for further treatment, said Peter Banko, the administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial in Texas.