Cheney Story - Much Ado About Nothing

I'm getting the impression that a great many people who don't and perhaps never did hunt are making a far bigger deal out of what is, while certainly a story, far from the most pressing issue of the day. Having been splayed with shot, and more than once, I can tell you its not fun. But ultimately it isn't, hopefully, the end of the world, either.

The International Hunter's Education Association keeps statistics on hunting incidents - here's a state by sample for 2002 in pdf - and here pdf files will give you numbers up until 2004.

States (69) Pennsylvania (62) New York (51) Georgia (45) Wisconsin (44) Indiana (41) South Carolina (40) Michigan (39) North Carolina (37) Missouri (35) Texas (30) Alabama (30) Ohio (28) South Dakota (28) Minnesota (24) Maryland (23) Iowa (22) Tennessee (22) Illinois (21) Arkansas (19) California (18) Colorado (17) Louisiana (17) Kansas (13) Kentucky (12) Oklahoma (12) Nebraska (8) Maine (8) Oregon (5) Utah (5) New Hampshire (4) Vermont (4) New Mexico (3) Massachusetts (3) Idaho (3) North Dakota (3) Connecticut (2) Arizona (1) New Brunswick (1) Hawaii (1) Rhode Island

Incident numbers have come down greatly as a result of hunter education - here's what they were back in 1987:

In 1987, two hundred and ten people were killed and more than 1,700 were injured in hunting accidents*.

*Lawyers suggest using the word incident as opposed to accident these days, BTW. At least until the facts are checked out.

Had the incident been fatal, or the Vice President been shot, one might understand why this would be such an immediate matter as for someone to dash out and alert the press. But given that those were not the circumstances, this amounts to an unfortunate accident among friends and once the immediate needs of the injured individual were seen to, the press was notified.

I don't get this below from NRO at all, excepting that perhaps our news media actually does believe they are more important than life itself. The Vice President and a friend had a hunting incident, good grief, and they do happen all the time. Some of these pundits really do need to get out and live a little more. After all, it isn't like he ran up and cold cocked some poor drowning rabbit with an oar?

And despite the bold text below, while true, it IS NOT accurate. The Veep didn't "shoot somebody," for heaven's sake. Two friends mutually engaged in a sport shared an unfortunate, but not unheard of incident. And hunting has safety figures better than bowling and most others sports according to emergency room records - just FYI.

NRO --This story is a very big deal, despite all the mitigating factors -- the accident involved a friend, his medical team was right there to help, and all that. Something like this has never happened before, and it is a genuinely disturbing thing to think that the vice president of the United States actually shot somebody last weekend, even for fans of his. It's disturbing as well that there was a news blackout that lasted nearly a day about this serious incident. It seems beyond question that the vice president is going to have to go before the cameras, explain what happened, and show genuine remorse for his actions, however inadvertent. It's a difficult challenge for someone as reticent as Dick Cheney. But unless he does so, and makes a good showing of it, he will be damaged goods for the remainder of the Bush presidency.

Also see Byron York's column here. I could be wrong, but Byron doesn't look like much of a hunter to me, either.

Comments

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

Better to go hunting with Dick Cheney than to go for a drive with Teddy Kennedy.

[Sgt. York]

Unconfirmened scuttlebut is that Cheney was drunk. But you are right, it's a non-issue compared to this moronic boondoggle:

NEWS:
United Arab Emirates company to oversee six U.S. ports
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/13852250.htm

EXCERPT:
The State Department describes the UAE as a vital partner in the fight against terrorism. But the UAE, a loose federation of seven emirates on the Saudi peninsula, was an important operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the attacks against New York and Washington, the FBI concluded.

=========================

[Sgt. York]

By the way, the reporter erroneously called it the "Saudi peninsula" when it is, in fact, the Arabian peninsula.

[Phoenix]

I hope the lawyer buddy who got peppered sues himself for causing the VP all this stupid hassle.

[COLUMBO]

better in the woods than on the floor of the senate....on second thought.....

[oopersann]

Could VP Cheney take Al Gore hunting???

[raindrops]

Oh, come on. You have to admit this is fodder for every comedian for the next week. When Gerald Ford fell down, they ragged on him. When Jimmy Carter had his rabbit and boat incident, they ragged on him. Cheney will have to take the jokes. If he wants to diffuse the situation, he ought to joke about himself first. Anyone who lives in an area where lots of hunting takes place knows this sort of thing happens, but to the rest of the country and world the only important part is that "Cheney blasted some lawyer." Better to make a statement about how happy he is that his friend is ok and then invite the reporters to go shooting with him (complete with a pause for dramatic effect) - it would get him a laugh and them off his back. Unfortunately, he's too uptight to do anything so humanizing.

[david r]

Thank God they weren't deer hunting.

[Forreal]

Oh puleaze Dan, whine, whine, whine . . . If this happened to a Dem you would be salivating, so stop being so uptight. Jeez, Bubba still has to hear the jokes and he didn't even harm anybody, in fact he did the opposite :) At the minimum this is a funny as hell story (since nobody died). Yes, some read more into it, but most hunters and safety experts agree that when something like this happens the shooter is either reckless or just blows off safety precautions. In light of all the crazyness in our world, this was a welcome diversion.

[tester]

No matter how you slice it, the fact is that he did shoot somebody. It is no accident that the veep chose to fire not knowing the whereabouts of the other person. He should be ticketed and made to (re)take hunter safety before returning to the field.

[Phoenix]

He didn't shoot anyone. He was shooting a bird and grandpa walked into the pepper zone. Gramps needs a ticket for not announcing himself.

[Sgt. York]

RE: "Gramps needs a ticket for not announcing himself."

City folk! Every one who has ever been hunting knows that the #1 rule is: KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SHOOTING AT. I'll tell you right now this "he didn't announce himself" garbage isn't going to pay well in Wisconson and it's goint to make Cheney look like a weasel.

Not as big a weasel as Michael Moore, but a weasel nonetheless.

[*flo*]

I still try to picture the 180...msm sayz Gramps was behind VP??