Rules Are For Others

The attitude of the Bush Administration that it is above the law, like its domestic spying operations, leaking CIA agents names to the press, taking payola from Jack Abramoff. Or that rules are for other people, appears to apply in their personal as well as poltical lives.Cheney Apparently Breaks Key Hunting Rule

Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not commented publicly about the accident. He avoided reporters by leaving an Oval Office meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the press was escorted in.

He was also apparently hunting illegally. Cheney had no stamp to hunt quail See these guys are above the law and the rules.

No End to Questions on Cheney Hunting Incident

By ANNE E. KORNBLUT and RALPH BLUMENTHAL

Published: February 14, 2006

The White House sought to explain why it took most of a day to disclose that the vice president accidentally shot a fellow hunter.

And while his hunting compatriot that he shot recuperates in hospital, Cheney hadn't visited him according to an interview on PBS last night with the Corpus Christi Caller Times reporter who broke the story. Caller-Times broke Cheney story through hustle, sources

The other hunting partner in the trio, the US Ambasabor to Switzerland visited Cheney's victim in hospital yesterday. As have the family on whose estate they were hunting. But not Dick. Nice guy. Guess the arrogance of office and the refusal to accept responsibility for ones actions that is a hallmark of the Bush team also applies in their personal lives too.

Cheney hunt trip 'victim' recovering in hospital

Although Mr Whittington should, according to hunting etiquette and safety procedures, have announced himself, primary responsibility for the accident lies with the man who pulled the trigger. In Washington, Mr Cheney's office said he had visited Mr Whittington on Sunday afternoon before returning to the capital.

This was perhaps the most high-profile piece of vice-presidential marksmanship since Aaron Burr shot and fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton, then serving as secretary of the treasury, in a duel in 1804 - the most famous such confrontation in US history.

White House Cover Up?

Typical of the Bush adminstration they attempted to cover this up. With the usual suspects involved including Karl Rove! The motto when in doubt lie, backpedal and cover up applies even to hunting accidents. This isn't just the gang that couldn't shoot straight it's also the gang that can't give a straight answer.

White House takes heat over Cheney shooting mishap

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House was bombarded with questions on Monday about why it failed to go public with news that Vice President Dick Cheney shot a fellow quail hunter until the day after the accident.

The accident happened about 5:30 p.m. on a private ranch about 200 miles south of San Antonio, where the vice president has hunted previously. Whittington was treated on the scene by Cheney's travelling medical detail before being taken by helicopter to the hospital.

The accident was not reported publicly by the vice president's office until Sunday afternoon and then only after an account provided by the ranch's owner appeared on the Web site of the local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

In a testy exchange with reporters on Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan faced dozens of questions about the propriety of a private citizen making public a shooting incident involving the vice president and whether Cheney had followed White House protocol.

Bush Knew of Cheney's Hunting Accident Saturday
Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said no one discussed notifying the public of the accident Saturday because they were so consumed with making sure Whittington was OK. She said the family realized in the morning that it would be a story and decided to call the local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said that is when she discussed the news coverage with Cheney for the first time

Michelle Pilecki: Trying to Sort Out the Discrepancies in Cheney Shooting Story

When the Veep Shoots Someone

And the whole media debacle of White House avoidance gives new meaning to Duck and Cover.

White House takes cover over shooting by Cheney
Globe and Mail - 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON — It was a scene that seemed straight out of a political skit on late-night TV. An irate White House press corps peppered the official White House spokesman with questions, the way birdshot is aimed at a cornered quail. ...
Some pellets of hunting humour Toronto Star
Cheney's Hunting Accident Provides a Bonanza for Joke Writers Bloomberg

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