Duck! It's Dick!: Bill Press

[jbfam4]

Duck! It's Dick!
February 16, 2006 http://billpress.com/columns.html

.

Talking Point No. 1, as articulated by Cheney spokesperson Mary Matalin: “The vice president didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to do.” No, except shoot his hunting buddy in the face.

Talking Point No. 2, first put forth by rancher Karen Armstrong and echoed by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, among others: It was Harry Whittington’s fault, for failing to announce his position. Typical Bush response. Blame the victim. Which every hunter knows is nonsense. Even Cheney knocked that lame excuse down, admitting to Fox News that, as the man pulling the trigger, he — and only he — was responsible for what happened when the gun went off.

Talking Point No. 3, brayed nightly by Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly: This is no big deal, because it concerns nobody but the vice-president and the man he shot. What? Dick Cheney becomes the first vice president since Aaron Burr to shoot another man and it’s no big deal? How bizarre. It is a big deal when Bill Clinton enjoys oral sex with Monica Lewinsky, but it’s not a big deal when Dick Cheney shoots a fellow hunter. For conservatives, I gather, consensual sex is more dangerous than non-consensual bird shot in the face. And heart.

Talking Point No. 4, pushed by Cheney himself: He didn’t make any public announcement for almost 24 hours because he first wanted to make sure he had all the facts straight. Laugh out loud at that one. Since when did this administration care about getting the facts before speaking, or acting? And, besides, Cheney knew he’d shot his friend and the poor guy was in the hospital. What more did he need to know?



Because of the disastrous way it was handled, the Cheney shooting accident has become a metaphor for the entire Bush presidency: secret, incompetent and dishonest.