Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Dick Does Brit: First Pass at Saving the Veep

“Ultimately, I'm the guy who pulled the
trigger, that fired the round that hit Harry. You can talk about all the other
conditions that exist(ed) at the time, but that's the bottom line. It's 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.” -
Vice President Dick Cheney (also available via Fox)

Dick goes on… “The image of him falling is something I
will not be able to get out of my mind. It was one of the worst days of my
life. …”

Here's what Brit had to say in an interview with Shep Smith, not quoted, except where noted, but
close to verbatim: Hunting tends to be done by vehicles, because scouts are
looking for birds. Three of them broke away. Harry couldn't find his bird and
“dropped away.” Cheney and another guy headed off to hunt some other
birds, leaving Harry behind. They were watching for the birds, the bird flew
up, the vice president turns, shoots and sees Harry go down. He didn't know
the guy was there, said Brit. “Pretty compelling story,” says Brit.

Excuse me, Cheney didn't know the other hunter was there, that Harry was in
his line of fire? You always know what is in your line of shot. Always. This
is wholly preposterous.

How far away was Harry? “I'm guessing about 30 yards.”

“About” is the key word, but we just don't buy it.

Candor… Truth… Transparency… the facts are still needed
and that's just for starters. Will we get it this afternoon? This morning
we got snippets that paint the vice president as a victim, as he takes responsibility,
with caveats. “The other conditions that existed at the time” is
added, which replace the “protocol” propaganda. Not even the veep
would dare try and keep a straight face while saying Harry should have given him a head's
up, so he didn't even try.

Cheney thought this was a private matter. The fact that href="http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=1906">Cheney shot
someone is important and it's news. It's not the first secret Cheney has tried to keep. This has nothing to do with privacy. I'm still wondering why they drove Whittington to Kingsville, a small town, instead of going straight to Corpus Chrisi. Will Brit ask his boy that? Doubtful.

Armstrong suggested and Cheney listened? Since when does Cheney listen to anyone? Armstrong was an eye witness, says Cheney, an “acknowledged
expert.” Armstrong wanted to go to the local press, and Cheney thought it “made
good sense” and was “the right call.” After all, it would then be released on the Internets, right?

Cheney had no press people with him, because he was on a “private”
outing. He'd let Armstrong handle it if he had it to do again. Right, private citizens no best all of a sudden.

This is patently absurd. Cheney controlled this the way he wanted
to because he truly thought they could keep it low profile, private and downplay
the shooting, maybe even cover it up. Cheney also didn't expect the public explosion over his secrecy on the shooting.

And one has to ask, what about the alcohol aspect? Armstrong said there were a few beers involved, then MSNBC scrubs the quote. (Note: Cheney says he had a beer at lunch.) Isn't Cheney on serious meds? What's up with that part of this story, not to mention that the doctors won't talk about the birdshot count any more?

Fred Barnes believes he has to explain more, like the sequence of
events that led to the shooting. Barnes said “he knows” Brit is going to go into
this.

Full facts on the shooting incident are still secret, but this
afternoon we'll get treated to spin at its highest. But don't forget the
following as this unfolds. A few greatest secrets of the W.'s Dick.