The Austin lawyer who was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while hunting quail was peppered with as many as 200 birdshot pellets, but the wounds were mostly superficial because of the distance from which they were fired. … “If they are not life-threatening, you leave them be,” said Blanchard, who did not treat Whittington but who briefed reporters at the hospital. … Blanchard said the wounds from the pellets on Whittington’s face, neck and upper torso look like chicken pox. -Harry Whittington hit by as many as 200 birdshot pellets
Why didn’t the doctor who treated Whittington brief the press?
Never mind, I’m getting ahead of myself.
This post assumes nothing, but is a rumination that started with a gut feeling and has evolved into a mystery that needs solving.
I’m asking the question because so much of this story really bothers me. Many
think the story of Cheney shooting his hunting partner is a distraction. But
to some of us it really matters. Maybe it’s the compilation of what Dick Cheney
has done over many years, but the bottom line is I don’t trust anything coming
out of his office, nothing. Joe Gandelman asks another big question arising from Cheney’s shooting accident. That
Scott McClellan was evidently passed over so the vice president’s office could
handle the information roll out makes me even more leery. I also don’t trust
a man who drives up in a car to get out and shoot birds.
After reading and talking with my husband, we’ve come to the conclusion
that there is enough doubt in the details of this story to ask: Was
Dick Cheney closer to Whittington than 30 yards?
… He was lucky to be so superb a wing
shot that he carried a shotgun in 28-gauge rather than 12-gauge. That probably
saved Harry Whittington’s life. The 28 is for advanced bird hunters who’ve killed
their thousands with a 12 — the common hunting shell of America’s shotgunners
– and want something more refined, lighter, more beautiful. With the
28 you have to get closer, shoot faster and more accurately. The
little pieces of shot break their cluster sooner, spray more widely, lose velocity
faster.
News
of the Vice President’s Misfire Hits A Fellow Bird Hunter
The part shown in bold above is the critical section. It is but one tiny piece of the puzzle adding to my speculation.
The story above is also not remotely related to Dick Cheney’s situation. The author in the story above was hunting quail over a dog, which doesn’t come close to Cheney’s experience. The author didn’t drive
up, get out, walk over and shoot birds that had been raised to be killed. A
grotesque aberration of the once great sport of hunting.
As an aside, how someone could lose
his hunting partner, who just got out of a car, is beyond us, my husband and me, that is.
Here’s how my questioning of all this played out last night. A
reminder, I’m the gun enthusiast of the family, he’s the expert.
Earlier last night, I’d spoken to my husband about the Whittington
story at the top of this post, which had been bothering me since I read it.
Whittington taking two hundred pellets at 30 yards just didn’t seem right. In
fact, after reading about it I had my husband get out a shell before he left
to finish his evening work so I could count out pellets of a 12 gauge, just
to give me a reference point.
After he got home, out in front of our house, we walked off
30 yards. Walk it for yourself, it’s around 7 average car lengths or so.
Now picture shooting a 28 gauge shotgun filled with approximately
350 tiny pellets. About 50 tiny pellets make up the diameter of a penny. The
reason for 350 pellets is one or two hitting a bird would down it.
As soon as the pellets leave the shotgun barrel they start to
spread out. By the time they get to 30 yards, only a few are going to hit a
target that is 6′ tall by 2 foot wide, give or take. In order for Mr. Whittington
to get hit with 200 pellets in his “face, neck and
upper torso,” around a two foot area on his body that lands him
in ICU, it’s more likely that Cheney and Whittington were much closer
to each other than 30 yards. Again, using just one convenient source in the
news today, referring to the “Misfire” article above, “The
little pieces of shot break their cluster sooner, spray more widely, lose velocity
faster.”
Again, over half the shotgun pellets wound up hitting Whittington,
at a distance away the vice president’s office is saying was around 30 yards.
I’m not buying it and neither is my husband.
Why did the vice president’s office and the White House pick the
30 yard marker for how far away Whittington was from Dick Cheney? Simple, as
my husband said yesterday, the killing zone for a shotgun, without knowing
the barrel length, is roughly 30 yards. Thirty yards is a safe alibi for
hunter negligence, which is the very definition of Cheney shooting his hunting
partner.
The spin coming out of the Administration, but especially the
vice president’s office didn’t happen by accident, in my humble opinion. Someone
had to sit down and calculate what would be the maximum distance the public,
including interested hunters and gun enthusiasts, would buy a person getting
shot this severely without questioning the scenario. Thirty yards is the ticket.
Again, considering the small area in which Whittington was hit,
“face, neck and upper torso,” in order
to get shot with 200 pellets in such a confined area of his body, he’d just
have to be much closer to Vice President Dick Cheney than they’ve thus
far revealed, wouldn’t he?
The story coming out of the vice president’s office just doesn’t
add up.
Just read the headline at the top of this post, Google the last
few years on Iraq, think about all the fabrication, secrecy and now this, a
story held back because of a news black out, because the vice president’s office
and the White House believe they answer to no one. Dick Cheney even had the
Secret Service keep the local authorities away from him after the accident.
Then a statement was released that there was no alcohol involved. How do they
know this? By what test did they measure? Or did they just ask the Secret Service
if anyone had been drinking, maybe ask Ms. Armstrong? By the way, the local
authorities showed up to interview the vice president, but the Secret Service
turned them away. He truly believes he’s above the law. What was it he said
about informing Congress, oh yeah, “There is no upside for us in that.”
To top it off, the White House and the vice president’s office
have chosen to blame the
guy that was in ICU for a dozen plus hours for getting himself shot. It’s
the very definition of hubris. The only way Whittington can be blamed for getting
shot is if he shot himself, but Dick Cheney is the guy who pulled the trigger
when a man was very likely standing a lot closer than we’ve been told.
Ms. Willeford, whose husband was also at the ranch, said in an interview after visiting the victim at the hospital that Mr. Whittington accepted responsibility for the accident. “He understands that he could have handled it better,” Ms. Willeford said. “Harry should have let us know he was back there.” No End to the Questions
The bottom line is if you have a hunting
partner, it’s your duty to always know where he (or she) is. Period. But
the thing of this is, Whittington might have been Cheney’s hunting partner,
but Dick Cheney was definitely not his. You see, he’s the vice president, kowtowed
to by everyone, including Congress, able to start wars with a single visit on
“Meet the Press.” He don’t need no stinkin’ partner.
“… The little pieces of
shot break their cluster sooner, spray more widely, lose velocity faster. …”
How could 200 pellets make it to a tall man standing 30 yards
away?
Within the next couple of days we’re going shooting. I’ll let
you know what we find out.
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