AP: "VP Accident Tale Filled With Discrepancies"

[Sparkly]

By CALVIN WOODWARD and NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writers Sat Feb 18, 3:52 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Vice President
Dick Cheney said he didn't immediately disclose his hunting accident because he wanted the confusing details to come out right. Instead, authorized accounts came out slowly — and often still wrong.

The result: a week of shifting blame, belatedly acknowledged beer consumption (not "zero" drinking after all) and evolving discrepancies in how the shooting happened, its aftermath and the way it was told to the nation.

"There's a reason they call this crisis management," said corporate damage-control specialist Eric Dezenhall, "and that's because it's a mess."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_fact_check

The article goes on to outline discrepancies regarding:
Blame
Drinking
Victim's Condition
License
Disclosure
Telling Washington

[SpiralHawk]

1. In other words: Cheney is lying again

As usual

[Sparkly]

3. Of course, but these two writers did a great job telling the truth!! nt

[marmar]

9. Exactly...

You cannot believe a word that comes out of that man's mouth. He's been lying since he could crawl.

[dchill]

31. "There is an executive order in place..."

that allows the vice president to lie. These lies are to be legally considered as truth. Move along. Nothing to see here, people.

[acmavm]

2. I highly doubt Elmer Cheney gives a damn. n/t

[PurpleChez]

6. I don't think his CPU is capable of such emotion,

but I hear that if he gets too close to a magnet it overrides his inhibition circuits and he starts drinking beer and shooting wildly. And if he gets damp he puts off an odor like a malfunctioning toaster oven.

[ShockediSay]

61. what about the flask?

or flasks in his pocket/s?

gives new scope to the phrase 'shots and beers'

[BikeWriter]

4. The terraists win when you question the administration!

[reprobate]

37. Cheney's the HEAD terraist. He's in the west.Bin Forgotten heads the east

[Ilsa]

5. I would expect to find a few discrepancies. But they would only be

minor ones. Cheney's story has too many holes in it to be considered an honest tale of what happened.

[rodeodance]

7. one thing was obvious-MS Armstrong was too eager to protect the VP.

[rodeodance]

8. this art. should have had more emphasis on WHO gave order NOT

for sheriff NOT to actually see/interview Cheney at the scene of the accident.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. The same way he was so eager

to protect Bush.


May 14, 2004

The chairman of the TFSC, Harry Whittington, who was appointed by Bush in 1999, says he had looked into the various allegations against the commission and Robbins, and found nothing to substantiate them. The "board feels very confident in our executive director and the pattern we are pursuing," Whittington said. However, the board's confidence could be tested if Monreal and Almasov follow through with their threats to sue the agency for wrongful termination.

[VirginiaDem]

10. Won't anyone ask why Cheney was on a doubledate?

Really, I'm sure Cheney's on record somewhere saying that the Clenis was evil so I'd think someone would at least raise an eyebrow at the fact that Cheney was on a hunting trip with an adult woman not his wife. They had a picnic. They had a beer. Did they have a lodge? Was it an overnighter?

[truthisfreedom]

11. Ambassador to Switzerland, Pamela Willeford was NOT present. repeat...

NOT present.

however, she is missing for some reason now.

probably a small plane accident, huh?

[VirginiaDem]

12. I don't get it.

Are you being serious that she wasn't there or is this sarcasm? Please provide evidence of her "missing-ness".

[SpiralHawk]

19. Swiss Miss Missing

All points bulletin

[ThoughtCriminal]

30. Accroding to news reports, she visited Whittington yesterday -nt

[Auntie Bush]

36. Not to worry...Cheney couldn't hurt a fly with that thingie...not that

he hasn't tried.

[marions ghost]

50. the attractions of The Swiss Ambassador

were most likely limited to her business-related assets...it's money and power that turns these people on.

But I'm all for endless speculation about it...and impeach the Dick immediately if there's anything found to be going on. Lock the Swiss Ambassador in a hotel room and give her a big lecture.

[adriennui]

13. the cheney days of love

have probably been over for awhile....too many circulatory problems. i'm not sure any "female companionship" was part of the cover-up.

it was an unfortunate mix of booze and his meds.

shooting while impaired.

[arikara]

34. There's always viagra

n/t

[adriennui]

56. viagra doesn't work for everyone

plus cheney has a heart condition which might preclude him from taking viagra.

[Virginia Dare]

62. I believe those same conditions would preclude him from

drinking alcohol. Just guessin'

[Zodiak]

66. nitro is a heart patient's substitute

I should know :)

[mwb970]

71. He tried Viagra. He just got taller. (n/t)

[Catchawave]

14. I don't get "confusing details".....

An accident happened, you call rescue and file a report. Cheney and his party are confusing the details with all the conflicting stories being told.

Oh wait, that's how the country's being run anyhow. My bad. :silly:

[tanyev]

15. Telling the truth is not confusing. Ergo...

[Catchawave]

16. And that's the story !

And why I'm glad it's being kept alive, he can't hide in Wyoming forever :evilgrin:

[peacetalksforall]

17. We should call it what it is -

It's a run-away secret.

Mr Bunker tried to do what he does in his hole in the ground when he held meetings with Energy CEO's to share the plans to take the oil in Iraq = and when he
arranged to forge documents about Niger and when he shut down Brewster-Jennings to stop their investigation of trafficking in wmd to protect himself.

This was a slip of secrecy. A failure.

It is obvious that his mind was impaired and caused a memory breakdown or he couldn't get the rest of them to get it straight.

Only the Secret Service knows.

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. I think Cheney was already on edge Saturday

when he went hunting with his 'close' friends. He had a beer. He did not like what his 'friends' were telling him. He knows he's in big trouble with this Plame thing. He probably had a few more beers and a big lunch. It was the end of a long day and they were just going to blow off some steam pretending farm raised quail were evil liberal bloggers. Cheney wasn't operating at a 100%, he was tired and in a foul mood. He heard a sound in the brush and fired and at that moment he knew he was fucked.

[land of the free]

21. MSNBC Poll: so far, 66% say "fuggetaboutit"

They say we should drop the Cheney shooting as a topic of discussion, since Whittington's apology should end the story.

34% say we should continue to investigate this to get to the bottom of the discrepances (i.e. lies).

DU the poll!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11410141/

[wordpix2]

24. you mean "fuddetaboutit"

[JohnyCanuck]

25. Stan Goff says, "Rub his nose in it every chance we get."

Cheney's hunting accident matters

by Stan Goff

Right-wing diehards are trying very hard to "move on" about Dick Cheney shooting his rich hunting buddy. But there are moralists from left of the midline who are making the demand to back off on Cheney's mishap, albeit in a more oblique way.

"He has committed many worse crimes," the grievance goes. "Why should we focus on this?"

I'll tell you why.

This is the age of postmodern politics - the age of impression management. This is the time when the narrative is used to trump reality. No doubt perfidy has always characterized politics, but the good old days of no-bullshit thuggery and patrician patronage has given way to the construction of puerile caricatures. And many thought that Bush was the mediocre narcissist who liked to dress up in flight suits and caper across the decks of aircraft carriers.

This incident exposes Cheney himself as just another costumed buffoon, and not the Darth Vader figure he and his desperately insecure admirers seemed to relish.

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2117/The_Shootist

[MrPrax]

27. Sanity Speaking!!

"since Whittington's apology should end the story."

jeez nobody saw that coming... :eyes:

[Vanje]

32. Mr. Whittington:" I'm very very regrettfully sorry that Dick Cheney.....

....Fucking SHOT me in the FACE! I apologize that he fucking stood there only a few feet away and fucking pointed his Fucking 18 thousand dollar Perazi fucking gun at my FACE, and pulled the fucking trigger!!!
I am terribly sorry for what Cheney and his family are going through during this difficult time because he Fucking shot me full in the face, and the shot fucking penetrated my neck vasculature and rode my circulatory system through my fucking body into my liver and heart, where they lay wedged. I'm sorry that my heart muscle couldnt beat correctly with a shot gun pellet in it. My little heart attack must have caused a lot of grief for Dick Cheney and his whole family, and ebven the whole Whitehouse. For that I am woefully sorry.

[Blue State Bandit]

65. Whittington's a lobbyist, right?

What Lobbyist/Lawyer wouldn't want to have the VP owe you one "big time"!

I couldn't think of a better reason for him to keep this one under his hat. That's what I call a billion dollar buck shot.

[badgerpup]

47. gap not quite so wide...

35% to 65% now...

edit for accuracy

[Radio_Lady]

55. Done. Saturday afternoon, 2:35 PM PT results are as follows:

Live Vote
Should Harry Whittington's statement about the shooting accident put an end to the controversy over how Vice President Dick Cheney handled it? * 54271 responses


Yes, Whittington appears to be ready to move on, so everyone else should too.
65%

No, remaining questions, including the delay in publicizing the accident, should be investigated.
35%

Not a scientifically valid survey. Click to learn more.

[Virginia Dare]

63. Probably about the same percentages that said that

about the Lewinsky affair about this time.

[PegDAC]

73. Why, oh why

in Hades did the victim apologize for what the Dick and lez porn Lynne had been through?

:wtf: :shrug: :eyes:

[brainshrub]

22. The truth: This was Bill Clinton's fault.

Bill Clinton shot Whittington, when will the LIEberal media come clean???!!!

[NewJeffCT]

23. Damn, you beat me to it

They need to find a way to pin this on Clinton!

[land of the free]

54. Naw, it's time to pin it on Hillary.

"If she wasn't so ANGRY, this accident never would have happened."

[teknomanzer]

60. No, no, no! It was Clinton's penis that shot Whittington's face!

Oops, that was dirty. My bad. Carry on. No need to visualize that one. Okay. Uh, I'll just go back to reading like a good lurker. Sorry.

[awoke_in_2003]

68. Beware of the wrath

and fury of the Clenis :)

[MADem]

26. If that were the case, a fast dry clean would have taken care of it all

He wouldn't have ended up with a chestful of pellets and permanent facial scarring.

Ole Bill never put anyone in the hospital when he shot off his gun...but hell, the wingnuts felt compelled to spend millions investigating it!

[Mr_Spock]

28. Cheney lives by different laws than the rest of us. Why?

Why does Dick Cheney live by a different set of laws than the rest of us - and how is he allowed to get away with it?

This is a man with 2 previous DUI's who claimed he had "one beer" on the day he "accidentally" shot another man in the face at close range. By the RW Republicans OWN LOGIC he should be put away for life as a danger to society.

Hypocrites.

Hypocrites.

Hypocrites

[cliss]

29. I'll give you 2 more:

Lie # 57 - Cheney said he shot W. oh the RIGHT side. And yet, the sheriff's drawing shows W. was hit on the LEFT side of the face, neck and torso.

Lie # 58 - Cheney said he shot W. on SATURDAY. Whittington came out yesterday and announced he was shot on FRIDAY. Randi Rhodes was all over this. She kept repeating the sound bite.

He's a liar, plain and simple. He's had it too good for too long to bother. He couldn't even get his damn stories straight with everybody else.

[trixie]

35. thank you

This new Friday business is bothering the heck out of me.

[MADem]

45. He was shot on HIS right side, left as you look at him

The pictures clearly show that he was peppered as all get out....

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/18/harrywhittington_wideweb__470x353,0.jpg

[Bmoboy]

53. Shot on the right side means ... ..

...

If Whittington was coming up behind Cheney, facing towards Cheney, the left side of his face would have been exposed as Cheney turned to his right.

If Whittington was behind Cheney, facing away from Cheney, that would mean Whittington was walking away from Cheney, not towards him.

Which was it?

Was a 78 year old man able to go off "in the other direction" and then double back and catch up with and then pass Cheney and be shot as he walked away?

or

Did Cheney spin all the way around 270 degress to his right to shoot Whittington standing on his left?

[awoke_in_2003]

69. Well, not quite

it depends on the angle he was coming up on Cheney, and what angle he himself was standing at when he was shot. If whittington was turned to his right, his left face would have been hit. To his left, his right side would be exposed. Also, factor in that he saw it coming, and probably turned his face out of reflex. Point being, the veep said he shot him on his right side, and that seems to be the only part he is telling the truth about.

[Vanje]

33. Keep this article on Yahoo's front page

Rate the yahoo story up.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_go_pr_wh/chen...

[Peanutcat]

38. I do declare . . . . . .

It just keeps piling up, don't it?:bounce:

:evilgrin:



:party:



:rofl:

[lovuian]

39. Is it right for the VP to lie to the public and for the press to give

us a snowjob ...

[alarcojon]

40. Nice summary of the pile of lies

Thanks for posting.

[orleans]

41. k&r

[lumpy]

42. Is WH pressuring Cheney to retire ?

Wouldn't be surprizing.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Radio_Lady]

57. Hiley, those are absolutely fascinating links! Thanks SO MUCH!

I'm not a hunter -- never have been -- never will be -- but the ballistic testing really makes sense. Cheney must have been closer than he said he was.

Appreciate your time in putting your post together.

In peace,

Radio_Lady in Oregon

[The Onyx Key]

72. I'm sorry to have to kick this by posting, but this non-story needs to

die so we can concentrate on real scandals! I'm also very sorry to link to a website that supports bushco, but the following seems to be a good refutation of conspiracy theories regarding the shoot:

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2006/02/ballistics_vide.html

People are dying in Iraq, we've got the illegal wiretapping issue on the table, bushco's approval rating is rock bottom, and the MSM is pushing this hunting nonsense 24/7. Let's get to the serious sh*t!!

[SammyBlue]

44. What, someone in the Bush Adminstration lied and continues to lie?

Not in this pious administration!!! Never!!! :sarcasm:

[dogindia]

46. ? day it happened. Whit..said Friday and

msnbc still has it in the tranacript. at least for now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11409731/from/RS.2/

DU thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x454105

[Radio_Lady]

59. So, if it happened on Friday, not Saturday -- what's the difference?

They had another 24 hours to lie, deceive, cheat and steal. What's it to them?

[Peanutcat]

48. How are the Freepers taking this news?

I bet it's not pretty!

[HuffleClaw]

67. 70% of 'em will simply refuse to even read/watch it

and most of the ones that DO will find some excuse to dismiss the results. a few will be swayed though, so its not a complete loss.

[antonialee839]

49. "Although there is no evidence that beer impaired Cheney's

judgment, initial denials that he had consumed alcohol were wrong."

I'm getting sick of this line. Of course there's no evidence, law enforcement officers
were refused at the door by the SS and told to come back the next day. In the article they make it seem like law enforcement took it upon themselves not to investigate until the next day. The fact that they were turned away when a shooting was involved does not sit well with the sheeple of America.

[Botany]

51. I buy the story that ...

....... of course the Secret Service would let a man walk up behind the Vice President w/
a loaded gun as the Vice President is also using a firearm ..... as the eye witness
sat in a car @ LEAST 100 yds away and thought that the commotion was caused by the Veep
having a heart attack ...... and how the Veep after the accident went back to the house
and had a cocktail so as to set up a plausible deniability argument as far as his blood
alcohol level, if the "authorities happen to come to investigate that night ..... but they are
turned away and have to interview the Veep in the AM ...... which very conveniently let
an eye witness to the crime leave the country ..... and as this was happening the Veep
who had expressed deep concern about the care the victim was receiving stayed away from
the hospital ...... and to make sure the story got out right delayed for 5 days to make his
first public statement about the shooting to canned ?s asked by a political toady .....

[tanyev]

52. They "realized Sunday morning that it would be a story"

Classic.

Armstrong, for her part, said no one at the ranch even discussed releasing the news on Saturday.

She said her family realized Sunday morning that it would be a story and decided to call the local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said she then discussed news coverage with Cheney for the first time.

And the Republicans keep clapping their hands and yelling "I believe!"

[Radio_Lady]

58. Here's my new Democratic retort to the famous NRA line:

"Guns don't shoot people, Vice Presidents shoot people."

(And with this administration, they have the chance to "massage" the details to come out good for them! This is really so sick.)

[judaspriestess]

64. NRA = NATIONAL REPUBLICAN ARMY

[Tight_rope]

70. "Discrepancies" my ass...it's called plain ole "LIESS"....