Unapologetic Dick: Since Cheney shot him, Harry Whittington's aim has been to move on

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Since Dick Cheney shot him, Harry Whittington's aim has been to move on



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101307173.html

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 14, 2010

AUSTIN -- Nearly five years on, Harry Whittington still speaks with a slight flutter in his voice -- a "warble," he calls it, inadvertently choosing a bird metaphor. His easy East Texas drawl changed forever one day in February 2006 when a tiny lead pellet pierced his larynx. It's still there.

Whittington sweeps a hand up to his dusky face and points near his right eye, then to the right side of his forehead. The eye socket, hairline and hand have birdshot pellets lodged in them, too. If you look closely -- and strangers occasionally sidle up to him to do just that -- the accident's remnants are evident; there's a tiny bump in each spot.

Every so often, for months afterward, some of the lead in Whittington's body worked its way to the surface. But many pieces remain too deeply embedded to remove, including one near his heart. At 82, Whittington knows he will live the rest of his days with about 30 pieces of shot inside him. Somehow, he jokes, he can get through a metal detector without causing a commotion.

No one in the vice president's entourage said a word about it publicly until the next morning, when Katharine Armstrong, the daughter of the ranch's owner, spoke with a reporter from a local newspaper. Armstrong blamed Whittington for blundering into Cheney's line of fire, a comment that White House spokesman Scott McClellan repeated later that day. Investigators didn't speak to Cheney until the next morning, and Cheney didn't address the issue in public until four days later. In a TV interview on Fox News back in Washington, he took responsibility for the shooting ("Ultimately, I am the guy who pulled the trigger . . . ") but offered no apologies.

[monmouth]

1. Cheney is such a slug. Maybe a lawsuit would be appropro...n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

2. "Today we are all Harry Whittington"

I remember that line from a British satirical newspaper. I believe it was Private Eye.

[PearliePoo2]

3. I thought lead shot was illegal now

It's bad enough to have pellets permanently embedded in your body, but I would think "lead" shot is even worse.
Cheney is an arrogant, criminal scumbag.

[Jester Messiah]

4. It's a shame Whittington didn't return fire. [nt]