A Word on the Cheney Hunting ThingMany others seem to be chiming in on this one, and I've put comments on the posts on their sites. But I thought I might as well tell you what I think about the whole deal.
First, I agree with Tommy. A guy should probably not shoot his friend during a hunting trip. Just not a good idea, ever, especially if you're in the public eye or represent the country in some capacity.
Having said that, I don't think this incident deserves the kind of attention it's receiving from the press and pundits. Look...the guys were on a hunting trip. Every hunter knows there is some risk involved in the activity. They had lunch around noon...and they all had a beer with lunch. Big deal. It was more than four hours later that the accident happened (or that "Cheney shot his friend" as some people like to say - whatever). The point is they were hunting, and Cheney was looking into the setting sun while he was shooting at a quail and his friend (who he didn't see standing there) go sprayed with some little round buckshot (not pellets as many are saying inaccurately).
Medical attention was given, Whittington was taken to the hospital, law enforcement was called, and questioning occurred. I'm sure everyone was pretty shaken up by the whole thing and alerting the Washington press probably wasn't the first thing on their minds. It should be noted that the Sheriff ruled this an accident and NO charges are being filed against Cheney. End of story. No wrong doing. Accident. Not planned. An accident. Not malicious. Not a felony. An accident. An accident that was NOT covered up with the police or anyone else.
Now....do I think having the ranch owner call a local paper to get the news out was a good strategy. Absolutely NOT. I have some experience with crisis communications (not on the political front but in business) and I can tell you this was a bad idea. And I think Scott McLellan would agree if he could actually tell us what he thinks...but it's his role to communicate what happened, not what he thinks.
Anyway....a better way probably would have been for the VP's press office to issue a short statement - after the Sheriff was done questioning everyone - with a brief quote from Cheney saying how horrible he felt about the whole thing...and a quote from the ranch owner, and probably one from the Sheriff doing the investigation - over AP. Then they should have made the VP's press people available for questions and provided the ranch owner's and Sheriff's contact info. for follow up questions.
But hindsight is 20/20. The point is Cheney did NOT cover this up....it was less than a day later that the ranch owner was talking to the press...as soon as they had clear status on Whittington's condition and his FAMILY HAD BEEN NOTIFIED.
I think this is more the Washington press having their egos bruised by not being the "first to know" and dem operatives and minority members of congress pouncing on even a glimmer of perceived scandal to use for their own political goals.
At least...that's what I think.
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Comments
A press release should have been made that same day with Cheney giving his comments on Sunday. Monday it would have been all over and no one would have been talking about it.
Then again, maybe the White House is glad that the press is focused on this instead of the VPs role in that spy leak investigation.
Just another example, in my opinion, of how this White House make stupid mistakes. They may have good ideas about how to run the country, but it seems that everything they try backfires. It is gone beyond just bad luck.
Posted by: DrinkJack ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://thepeachpit.net/nav-commenters.gif)
on February 18, 2006 01:10 PM
I agree. This should have been such a non-story that died after a few jokes on Leno. It's crazy that people are still going on about it.
It does frighten me, however, that we seem to share a brain.
Posted by: buffi on February 17, 2006 12:15 AM
