‘This is either a cover-up story or an incompetence story’

February 14, 2006

So, what caused the unexplainable delay in releasing information about Dick Cheney’s shooting accident? According to Time, Cheney crafted the stalling strategy personally.

The article explained that Scott McClellan began “pushing to get the information out” once he learned of the shooting, 12 hours after it occurred. The VP ignored the suggestion.

Cheney insisted on carrying out a strategy he had worked out with the ranch owner, Katharine Armstrong, in which she was to call a trusted reporter at the local paper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, to disclose the news. Caller-Times Managing Editor Shane Fitzgerald told TIME that the newspaper had done its usual nightly checks with local law enforcement agents on Saturday and had been told nothing was going on. Armstrong started leaving messages at the newspaper at 8 a.m., reached a reporter by 11 a.m. and the newspaper posted its story on the Web at 1:48 p.m. local time Sunday.

At 3:34 p.m. eastern time, The Associated Press finally flashed the news: “Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a hunting trip in Texas.” Fitzgerald said he is “mystified” about the chain of events and that the public should have been notified much earlier, even if the shooter had been some random guy. Even on Monday, the newspaper struggled to get a copy of the accident report. “I think it has become a bigger deal than Mr. Cheney and/or the White House anticipated,” the editor said.

Unfortunately, Time described a situation that’s as ridiculous as it seems. Cheney shot Harry Whittington and decided he, along with his friend Katharine Armstrong, would manage the story from Texas. Armstrong, a private citizen (and lobbyist) was effectively deputized as the vice president’s spokesperson after the VP decided that McClellan and others at the White House would not tell the public.

The “strategy” Cheney and Armstrong worked out could have been a little smoother. She initially told CNN that Cheney didn’t know about her local press outreach, though she later changed her mind. (Note to Cheney: Republican lobbyists with no media training don’t always make effective spokespeople for a national story. Just a tip.)

A top Republican who is close to the White House and has rarely been critical of the Administration told Time, “This is either a cover-up story or an incompetence story. Karl was constrained, as was the entire communications operation, because the Vice President had arranged for how this was to come out.”

Great idea. We all know how “competent” Cheney is.

Update: Though there have been several news items indicating that Harry Whittington’s health is improving after Saturday’s incident, a new report indicates that the shooting led some birdshot to be lodged in his heart, which led to a “minor heart attack” today.

i don’t have a firm idea on whether to vote for incompetence or cover up, but one detail that you reported earlier, was not reported in that story. We know Karl Rove was informed within 90 minutes of the event. Incompetence is usually not a word associated with him. this pushes me to lean in the cover up direction.

  • I would suggest that the injury is very severe and the thugs needed to craft their gazillion versions of spin a know which version was needed if the guy died outright or lived for a few more hours.

  • My vote would be for just the usual Cheney cloistered arrogance, which from the outside looks indistiguishable from incompetence.

    Awhile back Josh Marshall had a list of Bush II fiascos, noting that Cheney was deeply involved with almost all of them.

  • I think it was delayed in order for them to get the story straight with the
    victim and make sure that he would take the blame.

    Leaking it to the local paper gave them a chance to delay things.

  • Cheney should resign due to his health problems.

    This horrible incident must be playing havoc with his bum ticker and we all know what a good man he is. It must hurt his tin heart an awful lot.

    Oh dear! His mental health must be taking quite a lickin too. Poor DICK! We should all pray for him.

  • Manslaughter is an ugly word, but FSM help Cheney if this heart attack is more serious than the reports let on.

    I don’t see Whittington or his family pressing charges if he turns out all right, but if he dies….all bets are off.

  • We’ll have to wait for the smoke to clear to find out the “truth”. It was a heckuva shot, DICK! A pellet to the heart through the face. Next time, take George and all the liquor you can drink is on me. Don’t shoot him in the face though, it’ll ruin the trophy, which I want to put in my bathroom. Does anyone else notice the media minimizing the story whenever they can. “Whittington was sprayed”. A male cat can spray you. Whittington was shot and since Cheney was cited, I assume Whittington was in the proper orange clothing. Our country has been run by a boob and a dick for five years and it shows.

  • “Armstrong, a private citizen (and lobbyist)”

    and Cheney’s secret location concubine sperm dog.

    sorry. just had to say it.

  • tko, you are absolutely on the mark.

    The media reports seem to be running in the exact opposite direction of reality. Whittington was “sprayed” by “pellets” “in the face” and was listed yesterday as not only stable, but “very stable” by a medical spokesman. Now he has a heart attack, despite all the encouraghing reports, but it’s only a “minor” one, because one of the “pellets” apparently got past his face. But he still has “asked to go home from the hospital” anyway.

    You can almost hear the doctors and reporters tripping over each other to play this story down.

  • “Karl was constrained, as was the entire communications operation, because the Vice President had arranged for how this was to come out.”

    This seems to sum up the reason Scotty McC hung Cheney out to dry with the press corps. Apparently nobody, NOBODY, leaves Karl Rove out of the loop and does not live to regret it.

    I want to see a new gun control bill titled “The Cheney Bill: In your face Dick” (a la the Brady Bill) to prevent assholes from carrying guns.

    I normally would not hope for the death of anyone but even Cheney would find it hard to wiggle out of involuntary manslaughter. Just watching the WH argue that he should remain VP because he has not been convicted would be worth it. Could he be charged with reckless endangerment?

    If their administratinve shenanagans don;t land them in the outhouse somethign else will. These guys are unbelieveable.

  • I bet Cheney originally wanted to report Whittington as suffering from “lead poisoning.”
    .

    A pellet to the heart through the face.
    .
    It was the Magic Pellet.
    .
    (paging Arlen Specter!…)
    .

  • I’m of two minds here. One tells me cover-up, because I believe like natan that if karl knew about it then well, “incompetence is usually not a word associated with him”.

    The other is that although this was an unfortunate accident, it is a perfect opportunity to mis-direct the MSM away from something else that they don’t want anyone to see. Maybe the ABA denunciation, or the budget, or….

  • “I want to see a new gun control bill titled “The Cheney Bill: In your face Dick” (a la the Brady Bill) to prevent assholes from carrying guns.” LOL – That’s a gem!

  • Tomorrow’s tabloid headline: Veep Victim Shot in Heart!

    Dick “peppered him pretty good” for sure!

  • So, what happens if Whittington dies from complications related to his gun shot wound? Will Cheney be arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter, or worse, negligent homicide? For that matter, why is nobody talking about reckless endangerment with a fire arm? I understand that accidents do happen, but there is also the issue of personal responsibility before the law.

  • Does Whittington have any relatives. Why haven’t we heard from them?

    They must all be in the will.

  • I vote for the combo. Why can’t this be an incompetent cover-up of incompetent shooting by a powerful incompetent man is accustomed to hiding in the shadows covering lots of stuff up , but is now blinking in the unwanted limelight and sweating that he has God knows how many other private demons to hide. Kind of like the anguish of
    Daracula in sunlight thing. How long before Cheney has his own heart attack?

  • Incompetence or cover-up? One way to answer this question would be to construct a detailed time line. The crucial information is when were the police notified that Cheney had shot someone. This should be distinguished from the time at which the police learned that someone was shot. It has been reported by the NYTimes that the Secret Service notified the sheriff on Saturday night.

    “It was accidental, a hunting accident,” Sheriff Ramon Salinas III of Kenedy County said from his office in Sarita, Tex., adding that the Secret Service notified him Saturday of the episode. “They did what they had to according to law.”

    This is not explicit as to what the Secret Service told the sheriff. My guess is that this report is a public document and should eventually be available. The WaPo has reported that that Cheney wasn’t interviewed until Sunday morning.

    Local law enforcement officials did not interview Cheney until Sunday morning, about 14 hours after the shooting, in an agreement worked out between the Secret Service and Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III. Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said at least one deputy was turned away shortly after the shooting because security personnel at the ranch were not aware of the agreement between the sheriff and the Secret Service.

    The NYTimes print edition gives the impression that Cheney was interviewed on Saturday night, but in fact does not explicitly state this. The web version of the article makes no mention of this. I think we can safely assume that the interview did not take place until Sunday morning. According to the time line in the Post the deputy interviewed Cheney approximately 14 hours after the accident which according to the same time line took place at 6:50pm (EST). Corpus Cristi is on CST so that would be 5:50pm local time. This would put the police interview at about 8am Sunday which is the same time that Armstrong began to call the local paper.(The Post time line only specifies the shooting time as EST. It does not state whether other times are EST or CST. It reports that Armstong began calling the local paper at 9am Sunday. The Time article says that it was 8am. This discrepancy may due to the time zone difference.)

    The information would be de facto public as soon as the sheriff was informed that Cheney was the shooter. It would make sense to contact the press at about the same time. Since the press was notified at about the same time that the deputy interviewed Cheney, it is a fair bet that it wasn’t until Sunday morning that the Sheriff learned that Cheney was the shooter.

    This points to a 14 hour period during which a cover-up may have been considered and abandoned or Cheney may have sobered up. It all hinges however on what the Secret Service told the Sheriff Saturday night. This is a key piece of the puzzle.

  • Let’s suppose for the sake of argument that the sheriff wasn’t told that Cheney was the shooter until Sunday morning. I can think of several possibilities for why Cheney et. al. needed to buy time.

    1) They were looking for someone to take the fall for Cheney.
    2) They knew the injuries were serious and needed to see if Whittington would pull through before they concocted a story.
    3) They were drinking and needed time to sober up.
    4)Darth Cheney turned to Jell-0 after he pulled the trigger and needed to be sedated.

    My latest guess is 4.. When I was 15 or 16, a friend of mine accidentally shot his uncle with a shotgun while they were rabbit hunting. The wounds really were superficial. I can still recall the odd emotional state that my friend was when I saw him that evening. I think Cheney the rock turned to a quivering mass of Jell-O. It is likely that is still in this state. Clearly, this cannot be revealed to the public.

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