Washblog

Two things are likely to happen now:

#1: More than ever, Cheney -- who is already not exactly a political boost to the administration with anyone except GOP partisans (he does not do well in polls with independents and Democrats) is going to become THE punchline on late night TV, in comedy clubs and on Internet satire sites. Not to mention blogs. This is akin to Gerald Ford bumping his head or Jimmy Carter being chased away by the killer rabbit.

#2: It's going to further undermine his image and increase his role as a political weight on the administration. You can already see the makings of it in the initial, early reports on this incident.

Taylor Marsh

DUCK! It's "Deadeye Dick"

The vice president didn't see him?

This is b.s., according to my husband who is a gun expert and used to be an avid hunter. I got some more insight from him in an update in a previous post, for you non-hunters. He teaches his boys the rights and wrongs of guns now and is respected by everyone he knows in Nevada for his arms expertise. Talk to anyone who hunts and they will tell you his assessment is right on.

The bottom line is you just don't pull the trigger unless you know who is there, period. Of course Cheney didn't mean to shoot the guy, but he wasn't practicing good hunter safety by any stretch of the imagination. The NRA will give him a pass but that doesn't make it safe. It also doesn't mean you should shoot with the guy. He's obviously dangerous with a gun.

Fox News.com

Cheney Pokes Fun at Kerry Hunting Trip

Friday, October 22, 2004

SYLVANIA, Ohio -- Vice President Dick Cheney (search) poked fun at Sen. John Kerry's (search) goose hunting Thursday, arguing that the image of the gun-toting, camouflaged Democrat was an "October disguise" that masked his voting record against gun rights.

Just hours after Kerry shot a goose during an early-morning hunt in Boardman, Ohio, near Youngstown, the vice president told supporters in another part of the state that the outing was nothing more than a photo opportunity to hide the four-term Massachusetts (search) senator's record.

Kerry supports the right to bear arms but has backed the assault-weapons ban and background checks at gun shows. He denies the Republicans' contention that he wants to take away guns from owners.

Cheney said Kerry's camouflage jacket was "an October disguise -- an effort he's making to hide the fact that he votes against gun owner rights at every turn."

"My fellow sportsmen, this cover-up isn't going to work," Cheney said, speaking to supporters in an upscale Toledo suburb that borders the Ohio-Michigan state line. "The Second Amendment is more than just a photo opportunity."

Hoffmania.com

Dicks With Guns

Originally published Feb 12, 2006

Simple explanation, really. He thought it was a 200-pound day-glo orange quail. Or a TERRORIST. You got a problem with that?

Now can we use the "GOP incompetence" meme? Please?

Update [2006-2-13 10:6:5 by Arthur Ruger]: Pharyngula's blog says it best:

I know, everyone's making a big deal of this, but I honestly don't care that Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter.

People do make mistakes, and hunting is a risky sport with dangerous devices—I simply don't see it as saying much about his character or capability that he made a potentially tragic error on a hunting trip.

At best, it says that maybe he's getting too old and careless to be armed and in public.

On the other hand, this says volumes about Cheney's character.

[Excerpt from Humane Society Email to PittsburghChannel.com on 12/09/03]

"Monday's hunting trip to Pennsylvania by Vice President Dick Cheney in which he reportedly shot more than 70 stocked pheasants and an unknown number of mallard ducks at an exclusive private club places a spotlight on an increasingly popular and deplorable form of hunting, in which birds are pen-reared and released to be shot in large numbers by patrons. The ethics of these hunts are called into question by rank-and-file sportsmen, who hunt animals in their native habitat and do not shoot confined or pen-raised animals that cannot escape.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today that 500 farm-raised pheasants were released yesterday morning at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township for the benefit of Cheney's 10-person hunting party. The group killed at least 417 of the birds, illustrating the unsporting nature of canned hunts. The party also shot an unknown number of captive mallards in the afternoon."

What the hell…?

I'm not some knee-jerk bleeding-heart animal lover; I think living things should be respected and treated honorably, but that killing is part of the pattern of life. I don't hunt myself, and I don't think it is an unquestionable privilege, but I can respect the skill and intentions of someone who does a little game hunting.

But this…it's simply sickening. Blowing away a horde of pen-raised animals, released in front of you to scuscurry into your gunsights, is not a sport. It's disgusting bloody-mindedness, a lazy, cowardly, vicious sort of abuse.

They say that torturing and killing helpless animals is one of the signs of a sadistic sociopath. Somehow, it's fitting that our vice-president is the kind of guy who takes glee in unfeeling butchery."