Originally posted by: tcsenter
Well from a legal standpoint it is supposed to be reported, which it was to the local sheriff.
Which was done Saturday evening in a timely manner.
However the secret service denied a Deputy Sherrif access to Cheney until the next morning.
The reason for which was
also explained in the same news reports disclosing that
a deputy was denied entrance:
Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said that about an hour after Cheney shot Whittington, the head of the Secret Service's local office called the Kenedy County sheriff to report the accident. "They made arrangements at the sheriff's request to have deputies come out and interview the vice president the following morning at 8 a.m. and that indeed did happen," Zahren said.
At least one deputy showed up at the ranch's front gate Saturday evening and asked to speak to Cheney but was turned away by the Secret Service, Zahren said. There was some miscommunication that arrangements already had been made to interview Cheney the next morning, he said.
Seems fairly clear to me.
Why was the White House not notified until 3am as McClellan claims?
Again, as was widely reported, the White House (e.g. Bush) was notified by 8:00pm Saturday evening, within a couple hours of the accident. McClellan never claimed otherwise. McClellan stated that he - personally - was not informed until Sunday morning.
And to a lesser degree why wasn't the story reported to the national media until 20+ hours later?
The story wasn't reported to the national media at all. It was picked up by the national media after being reported to local media.
I suspect the reason is because it was relatively low priority by its nature. The Vice President was not the one injured or shot, which would be of national importance and public concern. Instead, the Vice President was the shooter, which only rises to the level of public INTEREST; as in, 'Hey, that is a really interesting story'.
Bush apparently deferred to Cheney's aides and press office, and we know that Cheney does things in his own time and on his own terms, not because the media thinks he should do it on their terms and timetable.
Add to that the right wing media trying to downplay the whole event by using the word pellet gun instead of shotgun.
Huh? What are you talking about?
"Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with
shotgun pellets."
--
Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter (Associated Press)
"Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally wounded a companion with
shotgun pellets on a weekend quail hunt in Texas, his office said on Sunday."
--
Cheney accidentally shoots hunting companion (Reuters)
"Cheney accidentally shot Whittington with a
28-gauge shotgun Saturday while quail hunting on a ranch in South Texas."
--
Cheney cleared in hunting accident (USA Today)
"Katherine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch, told The Corpus Christi Caller-Times that Cheney turned to shoot at some quail that had just been flushed but instead accidentally peppered one side of Whittington's body with
birdshot."
--
Cheney shoots, injures man during hunting trip in Texas (Knight Ridder)
"A hunting companion of Vice President Dick Cheney was recuperating Sunday from
shotgun pellet wounds after Cheney accidentally shot the man during weekend quail hunting in Texas."
--
Cheney shoots hunt partner accidentally (Knight Ridder)
"Katharine Armstrong, the ranch's owner, said Sunday that Cheney was using a
28-gauge shotgun and that Whittington was about 30 yards away when he was hit in the cheek, neck and chest."
--
Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter (Associated Press)
"Armstrong said the
shotgun pellets broke the skin. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that," she said."
--
Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter (Associated Press)
So on and so forth, multiplied by 3000 news reports. The
only news report I could find describing the weapon as a pellet gun was in the U.K. from
The Independent, where shotguns
may colloquially be referred to as 'pellet guns' (those Brits and their slang).
While I agree that the general population has a disturbing lack of knowledge about firearms and hunting, thanks in no small part due to the
liberal media's general hostility towards firearms and hunting, I don't believe I've ever encountered someone so ignorant as to believe that people typically go quail hunting with air-powered pellet guns (well, except for you, it would seem).
