Day: February 15, 2006

“It was one of the worst days of my life.”

Fox News won’t broadcast their exclusive interview with Vice President Dick Cheney until 6 PM Eastern Standard Time, but they have already filed a report highlighting some of Cheney’s remarks. So far, it sounds like a favorable and more importantly, credible interview involving a guy (who just happens to be the Vice President of the United States), who mistakenly shot his friend, and that the mistake was an horrible experience that will never leave him.

I’ll post a link to the video as soon as it is available.

UPDATE: Video

UPDATE II: I’ve watched the interview, and in my opinion, the story today from the Vice President is the same as it was when Katharine Armstrong, owner of the ranch where the shooting occurred, released the news on Sunday. I buy Cheney’s reasoning for the news delay. No one wanted any inaccuracies, and given the fact that competition among the news media often results in the transmission of breaking news which is less than accurate, the Vice President weighed the risks and chose to wait until doctors were confident about Harry Whittington’s condition. He was right to do this.

Cheney understands the media, and he knows that no matter how the report goes out, he’s going to be vilified. This is why his reason for the delayed news release is credible. There was no benefit to him to have the story out sooner or later, the final judgement was going to be the same either way.

One thing is completely clear. Cheney brought humanness to the whole thing. Contrary to the cold-blooded Darth Vader-like caricature built by the media, this interview shows that the man is clearly upset over what happened. Who wouldn’t be? But will Cheney’s remorse be the subject of the next cycle of headlines concerning the matter?

Don’t bet on it.

From a story filed by ABC News on the Cheney hunting accident, I noticed this status report on Harry Whittington’s condition.

Whittington, 78, suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday after a birdshot in his chest traveled to his heart, Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial officials said. He is still in the hospital’s intensive care unit. A hospital spokesman said that was “strictly due to personal privacy issues,” and that he was sitting up, eating regular food, and planning on doing some of his legal work today.

Now, let me say up front that getting shot is a serious matter, especially if you’re a 78-year-old man. I’m not trivializing this. What concerns me is the disparate information coming from Mr. Whittington’s doctors and the media. The doctors, who know better than anyone involved in this matter, are painting as accurate a picture as they possibly can concerning the health status of Whittington. Yet, the media reports create the impression that Whittington is still in the path of death. As a result, the pot stirring continues, and speculation and what-if scenarios continue to grow hour-by-hour.

Just this morning I heard a sound bite from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who characterized Harry Whittington as a “very sick man”. How does this square with what Whittington’s doctors are saying about Whittington? I don’t want to get into a “what is the meaning of sick” debate here. I’m simply illustrating a serious gap in tone. What if Whittington was to appear today on video, “sitting up, eating regular food, and doing legal work”? Would anyone really think they’re looking at a “very sick man”?

I predict that we’ll see something exactly like this within the next 48 hours. Some brief video clip or sound-bite from Whittington will be released, probably with him smiling, laughing, and shrugging his shoulders over this whole thing. And then what can we expect, a story about Harry Whittington’s miraculous recovery? News about how a 78-year-old man beat back a visit from Mr. Death? An honest account of Whittington’s real condition as opposed to the hyped drama?

Nope, we won’t hear, see or read anything of the sort. The New York Times will probably file a story which floats yet another conspiracy theory – like, this:

“Was the man identified as Harry Whittington in video released today really Harry Whittington, or a stand-in hired by the White House?”

Michelle Malkin made a prediction yesterday that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t dare offer her opinion on the matter involving Vice President Dick Cheney and the weekend hunting accident because of the parallels between that story and one from 1996. Apparently, Hillary’s handlers forgot to read Malkin’s blog yesterday, or scour news archives to see if a Cheney comment could potentially backfire on the former first lady.

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Aug. 27, 1996) — The same day Hillary Clinton was scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention, newly released documents suggest she was behind the 30-hour delay in releasing late White House counsel Vincent Foster’s suicide note to authorities.

How the White House handled Foster’s 1993 death, and the possibility that administration officials improperly removed documents from his office or impeded an official search of it, has been the subject of intense scrutiny by congressional Republicans and the media.

The newly released memo, written by White House lawyer Miriam Nemetz, quotes then-White House chief of staff Mack McLarty as saying Mrs. Clinton “was very upset and believed the matter required further thought and the president should not yet be told” about Foster’s note.

According to the document, Mrs. Clinton “said they should have a coherent position and should have decided what to do before they told the president.”

That contradicts sworn testimony to the Senate Whitewater Committee from Clinton staffers that the first lady had no role whatsoever in the handling of Foster’s note.

A few points stand out here. First, the 30–hour delay before the release of Foster’s suicide note. Second, Hillary’s excuse for not informing the president, or the media, because she was upset and needed more time to think, and finally, Hillary’s claim that they should have a coherent position and a decision on what to do before they told the president (and again, the media).

Fast forward to yesterday. Hillary offered up this comment regarding Cheney’s accident.

Asked at a press conference for her reaction about how the White House has handled the incident, US Senator Hillary Clinton called the Bush administration’s failure to be more forthcoming “troubling.”

“A tendency of this administration — from the top all the way to the bottom — is to withhold information … to refuse to be forthcoming about information that is of significance and relevance to the jobs that all of you do, and the interests of the American people,” Clinton said.

“Putting it all together, going back years now, there’s a pattern and it’s a pattern that should be troubling,” she said at a press conference calling for a more robust federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

The former first lady continued: “The refusal of this administration to level with the American people on matters large and small is very disturbing, because it goes counter to the way our constitutional democracy … is supposed to work.”

Funny how this is such a disturbing and troubling story today, one which counters our constitutional democracy! Yet, if Hillary were to be reminded about her own decision to withhold for more than 24 hours information about a suicide which might just prompt other questions about Foster’s motives, involvements, and interconnectedness with the former first lady, would it be characterized the same way? Would anyone in the MSM claim that our constitutional democracy was in peril when Hillary’s husband was in the White House?

Heh, I wish.

Hillary is notorious for her selective memory, and I have no doubt that she would react with a throw back of the head and a chortle if any comparison between her and Cheney were to arise. Meanwhile, the MSM, whose selective memory is just as chronic, has already proven that they see no conflict between the Hillary of today and the Hillary of 1996.

For those keeping score, this is MSM double standard number 2,053,100.

Others: Gateway Pundit | Kevin Sites |