The primary witness has some problems.
Katharine Armstrong, owner of the ranch is the primary witness in the ... incident. Look at this AP story:
Armstrong said she saw Cheney's security detail running toward the scene. "The first thing that crossed my mind was he had a heart problem," she told The Associated Press.
So wait - she thought that Cheney had a heart attack - does this mean that she didn't see what happened clearly? It would seem so - I mean, if she saw Cheney shoot someone in the face, I don't think the first thing that would cross her mind is "Oh no! Cheney had another heart attack!"
And from online magazine Slate:
The official story is that the blast from the vice president's shotgun hit Whittington at a distance of 30 yards. Hunters at the Vaughn Building are skeptical. The hunt took place on a cold, windy afternoon. Whittington and his fellow hunters were probably wearing warm clothing—say, a jacket and a flannel shirt. Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun, a smaller-diameter firearm with pellets smaller than BBs. Whittington's friends question whether the pellets could have penetrated his layers of clothing and skin at that range. Yet two pellets lodged against his larynx, another was in his liver, and another migrated into the heart muscle, causing the heart attack. The pattern of wounds was between the lower chest and the forehead, a pretty tight zone for shot of 30 yards. If the range was considerably less than 30 yards, then it is likely that Whittington's injuries were worse than the initial statement by Katharine Armstrong indicated. (The blast "knocked him silly," but "he was fine.")
But maybe he was naked! Yeah. So, it looks like the '30 yards' number is also wrong.
Admittedly these are his friends, but they know more about the range and effect of a shotgun blast of the size than I do. Why would Armstrong lie, or change her story later?
"Chief of Staff Andy Card called the president around 7:30 p.m. to inform him that there was a hunting accident," a statement released today by the White House said. "He did not know the vice president was involved at that time. Subsequent to the call, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove spoke with Mrs. Armstrong. He then called the president shortly before 8 p.m. to update him and let him know the vice president had accidentally shot Mr. Whittington."
Yeah. Karl Rove. The architect. Political slimeball. He 'spoke to' Armstrong.
But wait - there's more! MSNBC also got in on rewriting history. C&L has the info. The original story said that there were a couple of beers involved. The current story? Well, all mention of beers is scrubbed clean.
And yet another hole in the official story. They say that they wanted to wait until they found out what would happen to Whittington. Like all concerned people they... went back to the ranch instead of staying at the hospital. Huffington Post has more.
The Associated Press is reporting that Cheney "apparently" violated the first rule of hunting. What -- not shooting your friend in the face? I love the word "apparently." What's apparent about this? The man got shot and he is in the hospital. Obviously, at the very least Cheney ignored hunting etiquette when he shot a human being.
Does anyone find it surprising at this point that the White House would lie to us about ... anything and everything?
You misread the first quote you used. The witness thought the man who was shot had heart trouble not Cheney. Be realistic, why would Cheney shoot one of his big supporters. Why would the administration want this kind of publicity.
Either way, it kind of proves that she didn't see what happened.
Kinda an update, I heard he did have a heart attack today, and that they're thinking of taking Cheny to the Supreme Court.....if it was an "accident" then why's it going to court. Also why did he go quail hunting without the correct stamp, and how did he shoot his hunting partner in the face when quail hunting usually means shooting low? Somthing just doesn't seem to make sense about the whole thing.
This isn't about Mrs. Armstrong. She might have covered up for Cheney, and if she did...bad girl. At least she called the newspaper, which is a hell of a lot more than Cheney did.
This is about Cheney and the Secret Service. Cheney said nothing for 18 hours. The Secret Service blocked a sheriff's deputy from interviewing Cheney as part of his required investigation. That's obstruction of justice, as far as I'm concerned.
Forget Mrs. Armstrong. There's a lot more wrong here than a few conflicts in stories.
Yea I think it's unexcusable that Cheney didn't immediately release the information about the accident.
There is a discrepancy in the size of the shotgun pellets involved being reported. Lawrence Altman of the New York Times reported (Feb 15) that
"The pellets were approximately five millimeters, about the size of a BB, and larger than most blood vessels, said Dr. David Blanchard, director of emergency services at the hospital."
5 millimeters is slightly larger than BB sized shot (4.57 mm diameter) so the description and measurement are consistent. Shot that large would explain the penetration of the shot.
Other reports indicate that the accident report said that the shot was a number 7 and 1/2 fine shot. This much smaller would be in the size range that most quail hunters would use. The small shot has a lot more pellets in a load than the larger BB shot. Of course most hunters also use a 12 or 20 gauge shotgun also, rather than the smaller 28 gauge Mr. Cheney uses.
Mr. Cheney is not the "usual" hunter, but is reported to be an unusually good shot. The question is - was Mr. Cheney using a small gauge AND a large shot size to make the sport more challenging? If so, the accident would have been more serious.
If this is the case, why would the accident report - based on an interview with Mr. Cheney the next day - state that small shot was involved.