Cannon here: dr. elsewhere has so ably covered the Veep's attempt to channel Aaron Burr that I've not felt obligated to offer much in the way of commentary -- until now. The indications of press manipulation have become impossible to ignore.
1. As this fine blogger points out, an MSNBC story carried a quote indicating that the hunters were drinking. That quote was scrubbed from later versions of this story. Remember how Trotsky tended to disappear from Stalin-approved historical photographs in the bad old days of the USSR? Such things do not occur by accident.
(Bring up this incident next time a rightist accuses the press of being biased in favor of Democrats.)
2. When did the shooting take place? The question is important, since the law forbids hunting after sunset. We now know that the incident took place later than originally claimed. Why the lie?
3. Why the varying reports regarding the distance? There's quite a difference between 30 feet and 30 yards.
4. Why the conflicting stories about why Whittington was where he was?
5. Can we fairly use the term "hunting" to describe whatever the hell it was that these people were trying to do? I have no problem with real hunting, but when a chauffeur drives you to a spot on a private ranch where flunkies release clipped-wing quails bred in a pen, you are engaged in a whole 'nother activity. If you call that "sport," then you might as well call an abattoir a stadium.
4 comments:
This Quail’s got legs!
Chappaquiddick, Rosemarry Woods' magical 8 1/2 minute tape erasure, the blue stained dress and now … the Hunting “accident”
In the same way every reference by the Right to Sen. Edward Kennedy has always been followed by the quote, "When I returned, Mary Jo and the car were gone." Ad nauseam.
I guess now the Left will have something to say following each reference to Richard Cheney for the rest of HIS life,
"This was a hunting accident. There was no alcohol…”
Thanks Dick!
Commentary by Bob Boldt
yeah, joe, most of the media will shill whatever they're told. because they believe these guys, ya know.
but i'm encouraged by the press corps on this one; it's just too big and too out there for most outlets to sweep under the rug, and they sure are giving poor scottie a sound trouncing. still, you're absolutely right to add the blunders of the press to the blunders of the v-prez; it is a story in itself.
getting a few details mixed up is one thing, like yards vs. feet. but scrubbing the reference to alcohol is quite another. especially since there is that rather imposing 15 hour gap between the incident and the veep's deigning to grant the sheriff an audience.
an even more imposing gap, though, is the nearly three hours it took these folks to get the guy to the hospital. now i understand that there may be some confusion about the 8:15 admission if it was the second facility he was taken to. but that needs some clarification.
and what will happen if harry dies?
Another pertinent question:
Why did Armstrong decide the next day to call her reporter friend on the local paper? Did she realize that the whole incident was going to be covered up? It is all-important to remember that if she had not done so, we still wouldn't know about the shooting. You can bet one one thing--she has made it to the top of Cheney's shit list.
Comments?
Info on Whittington
http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/02-13-2006/b18f00168fdb783e.html
In 1961, he worked on John Tower's campaign for the Senate and later helped a young George W. Bush run Congress, a race he lost.
He has been a go-to guy for governors trying to clean up troubled state agencies and has served on state boards for nearly 30 years.
In the 1980s, Republican Gov. Bill Clements appointed him to the old Texas Board of Corrections, which oversaw a state prison system a federal judge had declared unconstitutional because of brutal conditions. Whittington became an advocate for change.
Whittington also has been an advocate of the rights of mentally retarded inmates.
Someone posted this on a blog
interesting tidbit from the nydailynews:
One mystery surrounding the hunting incident is what Cheney was doing with such a weenie as Harry Whittington in the first place.
Whittington was on the Texas Prison Board a decade ago, when he became a prominent voice against the use of convicts to train bloodhounds.
For as long as anybody could remember, Texas prisons had been giving inmates a chance to reduce their sentences by dashing off with up to 10 hounds chasing them. One "dog boy" was found floating dead in a pond.
"There was some question about him being chewed up by dogs," Whittington was quoted saying.
Then, a local politician was reported to have brought along some friends to watch "the ultimate hunt." Whittington was among those who ensured the practice was discontinued.
"It's barbaric," he was reported to have said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/...2p-
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