The Vice President Shoots, Sleeps, and Leaves: Margaret Carlson

[norml]

Margaret Carlson , who was a columnist and deputy Washington bureau chief for Time magazine, is a columnist for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.


The Vice President Shoots, Sleeps, and Leaves: Margaret Carlson


Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- ``It was one of the worst days of my life,'' Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News's Brit Hume yesterday, in his first public remarks on the Feb. 11 hunting accident that he had kept quiet for 18 hours.

I wonder if it wasn't the very worst day for Harry Whittington, the 78-year-old lawyer and Bush supporter left hospitalized by the blast from Cheney's shotgun.

Before granting an interview to friendly Fox, Cheney privatized the release of information. The first responders were the hostess, the doctors and Alan Simpson, the former Wyoming senator.

Simpson said it was all the media's fault. The hostess said it was all Whittington's fault. The doctors said it was nobody's fault because the patient's full recovery is apparently a slam dunk.

We don't know what all the other people present not deputized by Cheney have to say. He's kept the whole thing as secret as an energy task force meeting.

Taking Responsibility

In a switch from blaming the victim for getting in the way, as hostess Katharine Armstrong had it, Cheney told Hume that he took responsibility and seemed genuinely shaken, as anyone would. No one thought he shot poor Harry on purpose, after all.

What Cheney didn't do was admit he had any responsibility to inform the public through the usual channels, or why doing so would have conflicted with getting the victim medical care, notifying his family, going to bed and winging back to Washington. He also insisted the trip was private, despite the use of Air Force Two and an entourage of Secret Service, medical and communications staff paid for by taxpayers.

Cheney never has to worry what the deferential president George W. Bush might do or think. After barely hinting he would have handled the matter differently, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan swiftly moved to his default position, which is that the White House is ``moving on.''


snip


http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&cid=carlson&sid=a803o57wcpJk

[Webster Green]

1. Great article!

Kicking and recommending!

[Erika]

2. Moving on without ever taking responsibility

That sums up the history of the W administration.

[passy]

3. I find this quote interesting.

" Cheney's hunting accident is damaging precisely because it reminds even Republicans of how he and Bush have handled so many other crises. For five years, they have gotten away with it, in part because of the weakness of the opposition. Democrats should pay attention to the rising Republican criticism. They might learn how to be the opposition party."

[cliss]

4. great article!

Let's keep up the pressure.

They ain't seen nuthin yet.

[cliss]

5. Sounds

like a sex act to me. :smoke: