Dick Cheney shooting his 78 year old lawyer friend Harry Whittington in a quail shoot is a pretty awful accident. What’s worse is how this whole thing is presented to us: delayed announcement, no meaningful comment by Cheney, the “jokey” way this is treated by the Bush administration-via Scott McClellan, even the Democtratic Underground is stupidly gloating about it. And the subsequent heart attack of Mr. Whittington makes this whole affair fodder for the worst behavior of Cheney’s supporters and detractors.
Ugh, how irresponsible is this kind of reporting. The problem here lies not with the incident-a tragic mistake- nor with the members of the probem. Mr. Cheney is a very Private person-to some of us liberals he is way too private though it’s obvious that is the method of the Bush Administration. When a very private public figure gets involved in a situation that has such serious media implications- he HAS to come out of that private shell immediately and take responsibility.
Considering the reluctance to address this issue will damage the reputation of the Bush Adminsitration further. They are being held up to the light and we are clearly seeing that they are an administration of lies, deception, subversion and irresponsibility.
I think accidents like these are -well- accidents. But to be a person of such high ranking authority as Mr. Cheney is and not immediately show respect toward the welfare of his friend publicly and unspun by the administration speaks loudly about how the administration addresses the needs and concerns of the American people. There is no excuse here for the way this is being handled.
Mr. Cheney should stand up or step down.
-owl