If nothing else, it was the funnist.

Too bad he didn't accidently shoot Bush instead.

While this story (i.e. the Dick Cheney shooting accident) made a lot of headlines, in the big scheme of all things material, this event was really a snoozer. The only factor that made the accident newsworthy is that Cheney is a public figure. If Britney Spears had accidentally harmed an associate, that would have made news as well and it would have had the same significance (meaning none). The only real news was if and how the shooting affected political reality, and other than a run of jokes and generating even more conspiracy theories, there has been no real effect.

Importance or self-importance aside; I find it very hard to feel sorry for people who enjoy shooting animals for fun. Shooting each other is clearly the better alternative.

Ouch that hurts!

I just find it rather bizarre how the vice president managed to shoot a fully grown man in the face when what he was actually hunting on the private ranch where the accident occurred was small, slow moving, wingless birds raised in captivity and completely unfamiliar with the environment they had been let loose in. Seems a bit akin to shooting at a fish in a barrel and, erm, shooting a 78 year old man in the face.

It was the Vice President, so I can see why it would be news worthy, especially after Mr. Whittington suffered the mild heart attack. Still, the level of importance and the rhetoric that followed was assinine. This was a hunting accident, nothing more. The attempts by some to make it more political than it was did nothing but make them look bad. One thing it did do for me is remind me that politicians are not inanimate objects. They have personal lives and friends that are not national figures. If I were the Vice President, and I was involved in some sort of accident like this, where do you think my priorities would be? Would my first thought be, "I need to let the New York Times know what happened" or would it be more along the lines of "I just accidently shot my friend and I'm concerned about his well being"? It's a footnote on the year. By December, this will seem like an age old memory. Just to add, not that it matters at this point, but Cheney isn't the only one that made a mistake. VP Cheney didn't follow the general rules of hunting, and what happened would primarily be his responsibility, but Mr. Whittington isn't entirely free from fault either.

I understand the importance of transparency in government when it comes to issues that may affect the public. And I understand that it isn't often that a U.S. vice president shoots another human being in the face. What I don't understand is why this incident -essentially, a sporting mishap- is any of our business. Granted, Cheney's reluctance to discuss the incident does little to quell public suspicion of a secretive whitehouse. But to me, it seems that Cheney is just embarrassed -justifiably- by how much he "sucks at hunting" (-numbah16td). If he sucked at driving, and was the cause of a 20-car pile-up on the highway, would that merit a public address? Some would argue yes, but I wouldn't understand why, especially in light of the many, more ominous, developments currently playing out around the world. Dwelling on an aging VP's inability to distinguish between man and bird seems like a waste of time.

We now have a gazillion cable news and "news-talk" channels. When you compare the amount of time that's been given this story to e.g. the girl in Aruba or the Enwhistle case, the story has not been blown up at all. And to the extent it was blown up, the blow up was caused by (a) Cheney's secretive and BS treatment of the subject and (b) Cheney being a VP urging the need for secrecy, as a matter of protecting our national security and the "American People." He wants secrecy to prevent turning over White House evidence in the Plame/Libby affair, the Abramoff affair, 9/11 review, etc. He wants Muslim views kept secret from American because they may have "secret messages in them for their followers", when in fact the NeoCons just want us to hear their side of the story. Cheney carefully orchestrated secret damage control and misinformation during 14 hours of secrecy in order to avoid embarrasing himself politically for the awful mistake he made hunting. His selfish acts and deceipt are a signicant story because we the administration has deceived us about lots other things, most importantly the need for the Iraq war. My NeoCon friends would say at the start of the war: "You're wrong to oppose the war, because George Bush and Dick Cheney have secret information about Saddam's evil they can't tell us about ... trust them and have faith." Well, as it turned out they didn't have the information but had a selfish plan for implementing their personal international war agenda without us getting in the way. History tells us they shouldn't have gotten away with secrecy then, and such secrecy should have stopped long ago. But now with the unstoppable slide in the polls the fascists in the White House seem to have institutionalized secrecy and deception even more, letting it define their PR/misinformation/FoxNews processes for just about everything they say. Ranch owner Mrs. Armstrong spoke the well-rehearsed propaganda well: "Whittington was 'peppered' by 'beebees' as happens all the time around here when people like Whittington don't watch where they're going." So, the story comes out that it wasn't Dick Cheney's fault, not even when considering he had been drinking (we'll never know how much), and the mischievous Whittington would be fine once he brushed off the pepper. This is transparent deceipt - carefully orchestrated PR having no respect for fact or reality. We want and deserve the FACTS not the BS from our leaders. We don't always get to see how Cheney corrupts the facts on important Mid-East issues and the like because his team locks the facts behind the "we're protecting Americans" door. Cheney's hunting mishap points up the fact that the door needn't be closed nearly as much as they'd have us believe, and that's why this is a significant story. And don't worry, it will get about 1/100,000 of the time the Aruba and Schiavo stories got.

I can understand why this is an interesting story. Its not like George Bush, Dan Quayle, or Al Gore shot anybody while in office. However, I don't understand how this effects Dick Cheney's ability to do his job. This was a personal incident that doesn't seem to effect how our country operates, so I don't think it should be made as big of an issue as it is. If one thing can be learned from this, I think it would have to be that old men shouldn't be hunting.

I feel bad for the guy who got shot and hope he'll be all right. Have reconsidered this story. It's not all that important, and I'm by no means a fan of the guy, but looking at all the reviews the most accurate one seems to be the one written by 'abichara.'

it is making the news for now, but it seems like soon it will be replaced by some other event. it was unfortunate and I hope his friend makes a speedy recovery .it seems like the press is trying to make a more huge deal out of it.like it was some big cover up. come on let the guy recover. it was an accident.

While it's certainly a pretty big deal for the guy who got shot in the face, the only thing this story is is fodder for jokes (when I heard the guy was a lawyer, all I could think was "[insert tasteless lawyer joke here]"). A lot of people get hurt by hunting accidents. It happens. Hopefully, the guy will make it out okay.

I took a hunting safety class when I was 12, and I'll never forget the instructor. He was probably in his fifties and he got shot 6 times - 6 times, and he was still at it! Three times in the face, twice in the back, once in the chest, and this guy is as good a hunter as you're gonna find. His face had permanent indentations from the shotgun pellets, it was actually kind of disturbing. So, this situation about Dick Cheney didn't come as a surpise at all. He's obviously a competent guy and from what I understand, an avid hunter. Getting shot or shooting someone means someone made a mistake - a big mistake, sort of like letting a slow grounder roll through your legs when the game was on the line - but being human, these things do happen, and even to the professionals. What is disturbing about the situation is the handling of the story by the White House as this is an administration that is under a tremendous amount of scrutiny and criticism from the public. This story should have been nipped in the bud asap, as the public has a right to know, and if handled correctly this whole situation would have rated a 1.

Not really a big deal. It just means he sucks at hunting and/or safe handling of a weapon. I've been handling firearms for 15 years without a problem and I've even safely handled explosives and all that fun stuff, too.

Not a very sinister story at all,as hunting accidents will happen-however,it is also another example of Cheneys attitude that he is above the law,and does not have to answer to anyone.Had it been you or I,there'd have been a crime scene investigation-and had you or I turned out to have been drunk-we'd probably be in jail.We'll never know if Cheney was drunk or not.He made sure of that.Evidently,his shooting skills are on par with his quality as a vice president.

Had this been a Democratic Vice President, the press would have applauded them for wanting to take their time and get all the facts straight before informing any press. This is just another "witch-hunt" stretch by the left and by the press to go after this administration. Drummond you were half right when you said, "It shouldn't be a big deal except for the way the White House is handling it." Well it is not the way the White House is handling it, but the way the White House press and that moron David Gregory are overreacting!!! I loved the beautiful comment by Rush Limbaugh when he posed the question, "Would you rather hunt with Dick Cheney or ride in a car with Ted Kennedy?" LOL.

Hunting Rule 2-43b: When hunting, do not walk toward your hunting party with the sun at your back. You're just asking for trouble if you do.

It shouldn't be a huge deal except for the way the White House is handling it, which is pretty much how they've handled a lot of issues from the beginning. They manage to look guilty even when they probably aren't. The excuse that it took them almost a full day to report the incident because they wanted to be sure he was all right is undermined by their statement that his worse injury was to his pride. And the attempts to blame the victim are pretty lame as well. This is going to be used as a metaphor for policy criticism for the next two years. The first thought that came to my mind was the old Tom Lehrer song.

If you think this is an important story, or a scandal, or reason to dislike, criticize or impeach Dick Cheney, you need to 1). get out of the house more 2). turn off CNN for at least five minutes a day AND 3). scratch the Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker off your car. I'm watching my mailbox for an invitation to go hunting with the Vice President. I think I'll be busy that week-end.

Harry Whittington, a 78 year old lawyer and GOP activist last Saturday became the first person in US History to be shot BY a sitting Vice President and actually live to tell about it (unlike Alexander Hamilton!) It was ruled an accidental shooting, but this has created yet another scandal around Cheney. This is just another demonstration about how many times it is not the actual incident that's so scandalous, rather it is the cover-up, or in this case, the long period it took for Cheney to make a public response to this shooting. Above all, I see this more as an enormous P.R. disaster that does not benefit the VP in any way. Although it was ruled an accidental shooting, I also believe that "accidental" in this situation is a loaded term. When you possess and use a firearm, you are responsible for that weapon. When you shoot a gun, you're responsible for your shot. I wouldn't call this an accidental shooting; rather I would call it negligence. You or I would have been charged with negligence in this situation, why not the VP?

When you hunt, you watch where you shoot! The person with the gun must always watch for the person without a gun. If you shoot someone, it's practically strict liability. There are really very few excuses. Cheney is a hunter of long standing and should have known better. As a hunter of long standing, I understand how this could happen. That still doesn't justify it!

Strange twist for Cheney...he usually just stabs them in the back.

Cheney's a pro. He's been in the game for a long time, and even though he wasn't bound by Texas law to report the incident ( because there was no fatality ), he knew there would be serious PR repercussions if he waited too long to release this news to the Press Corps and meet with authorities, but he had no choice because he was drunk. That is the only logical explaination in my mind: Cheney was drunk, and he and his handlers were greasing palms and pulling strings to cover it up. Then he uses his friendly ( don't deny it ) connections with Fox News to heave an official line ( some three days after the incident ) that the majority of unquestioning, unknowing, uncaring Americans will take as the gospel truth. The reporters in the Press Corps who dared to ask the tough questions to Scott McClellen have already been marginalized by the larger media outlets and have been ubiquitously labeled as being a part of the "lefty looney brigade". So, no harm no foul. Just another day in this administrations 5 year long effort to cover its tracks, duck responsibility and pull the wool over our eyes. The politicos out there will call this "damage control", I call it "democracy in name only".

A non-event (except for the recipient of the bullet). It would have been much more signficant/entertaining if he had shot Howard Dean instead.

Just imagine what he has planned for his enemies. Shudder.

One of the first things the cops ask after an accident is if you have been drinking. . .Cheney ducked because of pure negligence or he was drunk. . .either way he's an amateur- a Kennedy would have disposed of the body by now. . .Symptomatic of an administration that believes that the law and responsibility are for everyone else. . .only grants an interview to his favorite reporter/network? Hey dubs fans, if only your war-dodging chicken-hawks actually fought in a real war they might handle their weapons better. . .arrogance, negligence, and hubris of the highest order. . .

I'm trying very hard to type while laughing my head off at CanadaSucks comment "a Kennedy would have disposed of the body by know." While there is a definate personal tragedy here for Cheney's buddy and his family, the incident certainly appeals to the mordant black humour I'm so fond of. Don't they teach firearms safety where Cheney lives?

What started off as an amusing and harmless story took a turn for the tragic when Cheney's buddy had a heart attack. And as far as Cheney hunting without a permit, I decided a long time ago that this administration doesn't believe that US law applies to them - this minor infraction doesn't do anything to strengthen or weaken this impression.