Ducking Dick

Well. Keep reminding yourselves that the Watergate break-in went for many months as nothing more than a "third-rate burglary." This shooting incident has gone from not-even-reported to threatening the Dick's role as Darth Vader in a mere three days.

There are so many great posts on this, and even comments here (thanks to anon for the rich background on the Armstrongs; indeed, some lobbying was going on in the Texas brush, but who was zoomin' who?), so I will likely direct attention to matters otherwise under the radar. After just a few more comments, though.

First, of course, there is the small matter of the heart attack. This unfortunate development raises a number of further questions, such as how could a pellet penetrate that deeply from 30 yards from the right? Most disturbing, though, is the fact that the hospital informed the WH about this mid-morning today, and Scottie did not mention it to the press, instead insisting we all move on from this to more, er, pressing matters?

Second, Larry O'Donnell has taken up the serious question of whether or not Dick was drinking, pointing out that no tests were taken, just someone's word. Dailykos shows a post that quotes Armstrong admitting "there may have been a beer or two...," while crooksandliars suggests (without a link) that the sheriff's office has admitted they were not allowed to see Cheney for 15 hours after the incident.

Third, Brad Friedman has done some serious inquiry into just what all the delays might have meant, even beyond the drinking potential. He points out that there may have been some real concerns that Mr. Whittington might not make it, in which case, they may have considered a cover-up that allowed for Bush to maintain plausible deniability (god, how I despise that phrase). Brad notes that if Mr. Whittington were to die from these wounds, our VP would then be involved in one count of manslaughter or negligent homicide.

With all due respect to Mr. Whittington, I suppose that actually is as "trivial" as Ms. Armstrong tried to present this, when we compare it to tens of thousands of counts of intentional homicide.

Fourth, Harry's friends are finally weighing in, and they are not the least bit happy with, or persuaded by, the WH decision to blame the victim, joke about it, and cover for the Dick's perpetual silence, sans apology.

Which brings us to this last but not least question, where the devil IS the Dick???

Please feel free to comment 'liberally' on this issue as it continues to develop (or disintegrate, as the case may be), no matter what gets otherwise posted here. This one is bound for the watershed!

dr. elsewhere