Already Been Said

I haven't chimed in about the Cheney hunting accident at all, and really why should I? Other people say it perfectly well, and let's face it, you're already reading them.

If, by chance, you are not reading Shakespeare's Sister for her take on this, I shall quote some good parts for you.

"I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine," the president said in his first public comments on Saturday's accident. "I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation."

A powerful explanation? A powerful explanation is when Felicity Huffman is asked why she took the role of a transsexual in Transamerica and movingly describes her intention to honor the courage of those who risk being ostracized or discriminated against, or bravely live life on societyÂ’s margins, all in pursuit of realizing their true selves. Dick CheneyÂ’s guttural intonations about how he shot a dude in the face in the middle of a canned hunt thatÂ’s essentially skeet shooting with the added benefit of actually murdering living things is not powerful. ItÂ’s pathetic.

Bush said it was "a deeply traumatic moment for him and obviously it was a tragic moment for Harry Whittington." He said that the shooting "profoundly affected the vice president."

Profoundly affected him in that he was woefully inconvenienced and actually had to admit doing something wrong.

OK, that's most of it, but the whole thing's a good part. She's right on the money, here - the way that this administration talks when they have to explain bad things sucks major eggs. No, I'm not in favor of the kind of hunting that these men were doing. Doesn't matter. Yes, I think when you accidentally shoot someone and you're the Vice President, you should get on TV, and say, "This was a terrible accident, and I am profoundly sorry". That matters! The statement took a long time, and that made it weird.

And yes, I think that the whole reason so many hours went by before the police talked to Cheney was indeed to make sure he didn't have any alcohol left in his system. It's just too obvious to not be true. Saying that someone on a recreational hunting trip had been drinking is not nearly in the same class as saying that some corporation is just a front for a cabal that's trying to destroy the world and then sell fallout shelter supplies to the survivors.