Cheney stops fighting the tide

February 15, 2006

Going into his Fox News interview, Dick Cheney’s strategy had to be pretty simple: accept responsibility, show contrition and humility, and express concern for the friend he shot. The full interview won’t be aired for a couple of hours, but at first blush, it seems Cheney said the right things after days of doing the wrong things.

“Ultimately, I’m the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry [Whittington],” Cheney said in a Fox News interview, adding that Saturday was “one of the worst days of my life.”

“You can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but that’s the bottom line.

“It was not Harry’s fault. You can’t blame anybody else. I’m the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. It’s a day I’ll never forget.”

That’s certainly an encouraging change of pace — Cheney’s office has been working the “blame the victim” angle pretty hard.

As for the alcohol question, Fox News’ Brit Hume said allegations about intoxication have been pushed by “partisans” and “Bush-haters.” Cheney acknowledged having had “a beer” at lunch, but that was hours before he began hunting.

And as for effectively deputizing Katharine Armstrong as the official VP spokesperson, Cheney said Armstrong had “seen the whole thing,” so it “made good sense” to have her call a local reporter as a means of public disclosure. (Is it me, or does this only make “good sense” to Cheney?)

All the context and exchanges won’t be clear until FNC runs the whole thing at 6pm Eastern, but it seems there wasn’t an aggressive effort to pin Cheney down on some of the lingering questions — which is why the VP chose Fox News in the first place.

Post Script: I’ll be away from my computer when the interview airs, but readers who watch it and want to share highlights should feel free to use this thread for reactions.

He says all the right things wonder what the tone will be.

  • I agree that, superficially, Cheney said the right things and the interview should help him.

    Having said that, I can’t help but notice that Cheney’s phrasing still hinted at a reluctance to admit fault:

    “Ultimately, I’m the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry”

    Ultimately? Cheney makes it sound as if there were some long sequence of events that he triggered. the guy turned and shot someone. He’s directly responsible. Not “ultimately” responsible.

  • “And as for effectively deputizing Katharine Armstrong as the official VP spokesperson, Cheney said Armstrong had “seen the whole thing,” so it “made good sense” to have her call a local reporter as a means of public disclosure.”

    Bullshit even a 7th grader could spot.

    That lame bit of misdirection must have taken all of 30 seconds to think up… and the only folks who could possibly be happy with it are nose drips like Brit Hume. To bad Brit wasn’t out with Cheney hunting corn-fed quail…

  • Spare us the crocodile tears.

    You needed time to sober up and to ditch Pamela. That left Katherine (with a “no comment” from 6-200 pellet Harry).

    Everyone in the GOP and your administration agreed that was an incompetent call, that you had to make it, and yet it took from Friday night to Wednesday for you to knuckle under and snarl an apology.

    Worst day of your life? It may yet turn out to be that (one may hope), but not for the reason you belatedly want us to believe. Go f*** yourself, Dick Cheney.

  • Cheney coming out of seclusion to go before his Official Fan Club for a fluff job, that does not count as answering to the public or the press for his actions. How is that acceptable? He should be holding a goddamn press conference, or frankly, he should keep his pasty ass in his cave.

    I suppose I’m interested in what he’ll say, but “breaking his silence” after four days with a pre-taped interview with a sycophant does not count as coming forward to answer questions or be fully accountable for one’s actions.

    BTW, You should change the comment filter to “What color is a hunter’s vest?”

  • Who’s Pamela?

    With all the pills Cheney has to be on for his blood pressure and gout and all the other stuff that’s wrong with him (a heart two sizes too small, etc), is it a good idea for him to be having even “a beer” with lunch?

    That “a beer” seems like another Roveian misdirect, “well he admitted to having a beer, get over it…” More like he had quite a few, and not only at lunch. It’s that whole tell a little bit of the truth and then deny anything else based on the fact that we already covered that. Kind of like Bush’s military record and every other god damned thing they ever did.

  • I haven’t seen anything yet that he said he was sorry, or even that he “regrets that it happened.” Without that, everything else is just a bunch of meadow muffins as far as I’m concerned.

  • I totally believe Cheney about the one beer. There are many many times that it may have appeared as if I had had several beers, but that I insisted that I had only had one. Because that one beer can make you smell like you’ve been drinking and make you act like a total fool; but without actually having made you drunk. It’s easy to just have that one, particularly if the cops don’t get to question you immediately after the incident.

  • Love your site and posts. That bit where Cheney “reasons” that Armstrong should tell the local paper because she saw what happened is false, because she told the local paper that at first she thought maybe there was something wrong with the Veep’s heart. So she didn’t witness anything.

  • When asked about letting Armstrong report the incident Cheney responded:

    “The accuracy was enormously important. I had no press person with me.”

    He needs a ‘press guy’ to insure accuracy? Why couldn’t he report it? Is he really incapable fo telling the truth?

    And, yeah, I’m sure it was one beer at lunch, another after lunch, a couple more on the ride over and a 40 while hunting.

    I’ve never heard a more contrived bunch of lies to cover for someone. This has really taken the proverbial cake.

  • I still think that when his “spokeswoman” stated “there were one or two beers in it” she was referring to the vehicle, not Cheney. Like when one is busted by the cops with open containers. Same thing. Downplaying the fact that there were a couple beer containers in the vehicle, and then stating something to the effect that “there were those who were not hunting” led me to believe she was stating that there were beer cans in the vehicle and others were drinking. Which is diametrically opposed to what Cheney was saying in his interview, that no one had a drink since the cookout hours earlier. This should get some follow up. No?

  • Now that Cheney has “ultimately” taken responsibility, that frees up the White House for a full-court press blaming the victim for the accident, on behalf of the VP.

  • Wow, it was an alcohol coverup afterall. I knew it. The simplest explanation was the right one. No offense, but I dont care if you DID just have one beer earlier, you dont go out with a shotgun later that day unless youve had a thorough nap. Wow, our VP is a gigantic fricking liar. This is just beautiful…

  • One other thing…Cheney said after he shot the guy that he “ran over to him”. Let’s see, Dick Cheney, after a gorging on food earlier in the day, at least one beer, a bad ticker, and having a major adrenaline rush from shooting his friend, RUNS over to him. I bet you the man has not run a step in 10 years. Im not so sure, either, that Whittington was 30 yards from him. If you shoot one of those guns at 30 yards, they should check the pattern in the spread of the shot, and then they should count how much shot there would be approximately, in a certain area measured in square inches. At 30 yards, if shot covered at least one foot in diameter, which is about how much of Whittington was covered, then does a gun he shoots spray a small pattern like that, and if so, he basically made a direct hit, and if not, and the pattern of shot is wide at 30 yards, how many shots are in one round, and what percent hit Whittington….????

  • follow up – can someone figure this out above? I dont know the type of gun, or type of ammo, but I guarantee you can do a test to know how much shot would cover the amount of body area of whittington that was hit, supposedly at thirty yards. Looking at the wound entry, you could get the angle, then take a photo, understand just how much coverage of his body was hit, then you need an accurate count of the pellets, which noone seems to want to give. THen you jsut get the same gun and ammo and shoot it into a soft surface at 30 yards, count the pellets in a repeated sample of areas shaped like the part of Whittington that was hit, and match the count. Someone should really do this, because it would be a good way to validate the statement of how far away Cheney was when he shot whittington. I think there were too many pellets hitting him, if 200 is the accurate count, if he was 30 yards away. That means either a shotgun with a very very tight radius at long distance, or, a round of small caliber with an awfully large number of shot pieces in it.

  • Brit Hume said allegations about intoxication have been pushed by “partisans” and “Bush-haters.”

    Someone needs to inform this nose drip that a majority of the world’s citizens loathe Bush.

  • I think the Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” take suggestions for shows – run this baby during sweeps & you get a 40-share.

  • Just for the record, I would like to state here and now that there is no bigger piece of shit on the face of the earth than Dick Cheney. So there.

  • And BTW, that quote is just how a criminal defense lawyer would want things described:

    “Ultimately, I’m the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry [Whittington],”

    Even though the sentence means the same thing as if Cheney said, “I shot him,” it makes him sound a lot less reponsible because it seems to insert a “chain” of invents between his act, and the harm. I know, it’s a pretty cheesy illusion-of-language, but there it is.

  • OK, Cheney is definitely lying. The shot he fired is a 28 guage shell, containing 260 pellets. Judging from where he hit Whittington, and the spread, I seriously doubt he was 30 yards away. If 200 pellets hit whittington, almost the entire load of the gun was discharged from 30 yards, and yet 80% hit a one foot square area on the guys body. Im telling you, this guy is going down…whether Whittington dies or not.

  • OK, Cheney’s story does not appear to hold up. The shot he fired is a 28 guage shell, containing 260 pellets. Judging from where he hit Whittington, and the spread, I seriously doubt he was 30 yards away. If 200 pellets hit whittington, almost the entire load of the gun was discharged from 30 yards, and yet 80% hit a one foot square area on the guys body. Either whittington only got hit with a couple of pellets, or Cheney’s story is BS. I think he was shot at prettly close range, but not too close, else he’d be dead.

  • Why not send deadeye Cheney to Iraq where he can shoot all the insurgents to his hearts content.

    Ups, excuse me, the boys over there have enough problems to look out so they can keep their heads on.

  • Cheney says it was the worse day of his life. Doesn’t sound like Mr Whittington had a good day either.

  • Ah! The compassion exhibited here ! If only it could be bottled and sold as a serum deflecting Malice, Envy, and Spite!

    As I understand the “logic” of the remarks here posted~~ Since Bill Clinton LIED [and got caught] it has become essential to Democrat self-esteem that all Republicans Officer Holders lie. It is the cheapest and most childish form of projection, seen on unsupervised elementary school playgrounds, but quite unsuitable for a political movement that ever expects to be worthy of holding power once again within these United States. Let us begin by making public ALL the records pertaining to the Death of the Kopechne Woman, who was being rewarded for her “Boiler Room” endeavourers. What went wrong? Why was anything disclosed? Was Mrs. Joan Kennedy informed, and was her testimony taken (and recorded) under oath? Begin SOONEST! Then we”ll have a start to laying to rest this festering tragedy.

  • Harry’s blood alcohol is a “no comment” from the Doc.
    Very possible this medical fact has been recorded and may leak out.

    Secret service and police, attending staff, Harry’s family… there are more loose ends with the promise of further revelation.

    I wonder if the white house can control this mess.
    Reminds me of the Men in Black movies, when they send in the incident response team with the memory wipe flasher .
    “Everybody, this is a national emergency…. look over here please.

  • This interview is bull. The tone is pure Oprah. When Harry falls, poor distraut Cheney practically faints over him. And the questions, which were no doubt supplied, go through each point that he’s been mocked about (drinking, fault, driving cars: it’s like a point by point refutation of “the daily show”) without addressing the basic issues of what really happened, especially the fact that the forensic evidence doesn’t jibe with the reported events. all we get is, first reports are wrong. in other words, as the bush administration always would like to have it, our initial pitch isn’t polling well, so let’s try another tack. it’s garbage and he needs to be called on it.

  • actually, waumpuscat, you nitwit, if you lived through chappaquidick, you would know that kennedy was hounded immediately, that his story was regarded as inexcusable, and that there wasn’t a propaganda outlet disguised as a news channel for him to turn to try to make his story sound better than it was.

    in short, you don’t have the slightest frickin’ idea of what you’re talking about, do you?

    but i got one for ya: howzabout we investigate how it was the dick cheney came up with the notion, in august ’02, that saddam had “reconstituted” his nuclear weapons program? we’re still waiting for that one to be investigated….

  • Where else can the press corps,beloved of the Earl of Cheney,go with this? Unless Harry dies (odds might not be too bad,he’s 78 and recently traumatized) or somebody cracks,he’s home free.
    Another GWB administration exhibition of incompetence and the penalty is: nothing.
    To paraphrase Trudeau: this shooting had such promise!

  • How the urban serfs love their fat Lord Kennedy! The Commonwealth that produced the Adams Clan of serial geniuses is now represented in the Senate by a playboy, whose only talent is marrying too well, and a dolt, who is sustained in his endeavours, by his retinue, who man his political operations only by an incestuous process of co-option. Alas, the pen of George V. Higgins has run dry, for here is true meat for that bright butcher of the top-lofty reputations of gimcrack statesmen.

    Release the records and free the serfs from their unseemly devotions to the Fat Man and his minders! The TRUTH will set them free! Thus, it is written, so take heed.

  • waumpuscat

    Another moronic defense of our own little dictator. I know, you are proud to be a Bushie Tushie and too ignorant to think for yourself.

  • Regarding the gun – people who know about shotguns have pointed out that with a 28-guarge shooting birdshot, you don’t get hit with 200 pellets at 30 yards – you get hit like that at 8-12 FEET. And the Sheriff has now reported that Whittington was standing at a spot SIX FEET LOWER than where Cheney was standing. Let’s see – birds FLY UP, you spin around 180 degres and shoot DOWN??? Well, maybe if you’re dead drunk!!

    I keep hoping this fatassed lardbrained sonofabitch will have his fatal heart attack, but how can you lose something you never ever had???

  • Shooting his friend was the worst day of his life… I wonder if he’ll develop any compassion or empathy for what our soldiers go through on the warfront now. Gives an up close and personal perspective to incidents of friendly fire at least. Maybe have some kind of epiphany from PTSD that causes him to rethink his whole “conquer the world” attitude. Not that I’d expect it from someone so allegedly evil as Cheney, but there’s always hope something will break through and soften him up.

  • A report I saw on another news channel this morning said Faux News did not actually air the part about Cheney having one beer at lunch (right!), although it was in the transcript. Does anybody know if that’s true? (you couldn’t pay me to watch Faux News and find out myself)

  • Remember waumpuscat: more people have died on the road with Laura Bush than Ted Kennedy, and more Kennedys have been shot in the head than Cheneys.

    That’s the great thing about arguing ad non-sequitur: everything ends in QED.

  • It is evident from the Hume interview (at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060215-3.html ) that they were hunting late in the day. (The sun was “directly behind” Whittington, who was in low terrain, and sunset was at 6:20 there on Feb. 11. Also, the ambulance takes 30 minutes to arrive (presumably driving out from the ranch), and after the accident Cheney gets back to the ranch “about 7 p.m.” First aid might take 5-15 minutes before loading Whittington into the ambulance. Presumably Cheney follows the ambulance back to the ranch quite promptly. Whittington is in the local emergency room in Kingsville “probably within, oh, less than an hour after they left the ranch,” and is subsequently helicoptered to Corpus Christi, about 20 miles away, and gets there by “8 or 9 PM.” It’s really difficult to read that as a shooting prior to 6 p.m., and easier to read it as a shooting closer to 6:15 – 6:30.

    Cheney turned to his right and shot nearly blindly slightly downhill, into the sun, which seems at best reckless. Also, he’s hunting without the appropriate license stamp. He says he wasn’t drinking “while” hunting, but that can be parsed to include drinks before lunch, minimally one beer at lunch (“I had one beer at lunch” is a truthful subset of “I had 24 cans of beer at lunch”), and/or possible “pick-me-ups” while in the vehicle. He avoids the possibility of being questioned by authorities in a time-frame where alcohol influence could have been problematic.

    I don’t blame Cheney for delaying an announcement for a few hours to figure out how serious the accident was, if only to prevent a media feeding-frenzy / deatrh watch with all TV sets tuned to a clock in a waiting room in Corpus Christi while commentators with nothing to report try to fill airtime with speculations about Cheney, Armstrong, Halliburton connections, notorious hunting accidents, NRA guidelines, Texas hunting laws, where Lynne was, whether there was any chance of a romantic link between Cheney and our ambassador to Switzerland, dysfunctional republican families, and heaven knows what else.

    Nonetheless, to go to bed without an announcement is unacceptable. So too was talking to the authorities at his convenience rather than in a normal time frame. Least acceptable of all was using Armstrong to see if they could get away with down-playing the accident and blaming the victim.

    Short version: nothing new here – these guys consider that the rules don’t apply to them, evidently up to and including what happens when they personally shoot someone.

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