...That that lobbyist friend of yours doesn't pass away ... A couple of things from the in-box:
First, the Game Warden's official accident report, courtesy of the ABC affiliate in Houston. It reads in part:
A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department report issued Monday said Whittington was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney. "Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.
The department found the main factor contributing to the accident was a hunter's judgment factor." No other secondary factors were found to have played a role.
The report doesn't specify who's judgment, however... It does add some details, including the fact that Cheney was using a 28 caliber hinge action shotgun with an "open" sight. Whether the safety was on at the time is listed as "unknown..." It's also listed as "unknown" whether Cheney was "hunter education certified." (The game warden did check off that no alcohol or drugs were involved, and Mr. Whittington is marked down as not hunter ed certified.) Both hunters were in violation of Parks and Wildlife Code 43,652, which I assume refers to the lack of "hunting stickers."
Next, a discription of Whittington's medical condition as of this afternoon:
"Hospital officials said they knew that Whittington had some birdshot near his heart ever since Cheney accidentally shot him Saturday evening while aiming for a quail. The pellet always was at risk of moving closer since scar tissue had not had time to harden and remain in place, they said.
They said they are not concerned about other birdshot -- widely estimated to be between six and 200 pieces -- that might still be lodged in Whittington's body. Cheney was using 7 1/2 shot from a 28-gauge shotgun.
The doctors said Whittington did not experience classic symptoms of a heart attack, but they estimate that he probably had a minor one around 7:30 a.m. EST. They said they decided to treat the situation "conservatively" rather than conduct surgery to remove the pellet. They said he could live a healthy life with it left in place.
Asked whether the pellet could move further into the heart and become fatal, hospital officials said that was a hypothetical question they could not answer. But they said they are extremely optimistic that he will recover. The shot was either touching or embedded in the heart muscle near the top chambers, called the atria, they said. Two things resulted: --It caused inflammation that pushed on the heart in a way to temporarily block blood flow, what the doctors called a "silent heart attack." This is not a traditional heart attack where an artery is blocked. They said Whittington's arteries, in fact, were healthy. ... [Also,] it irritated the atria, caused an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation, which is not immediately life-threatening. But it must be treated because long-term it can spur blood clots to form. Most cases can be corrected with medication."
Dan Abrams just had on a criminal prosecutor familiar with Texas law who pointed out that there is no "accidental shooting" in the Texas penal code. A shooting is always a homicide in Texas, with the only differences being in intent and other contributing factors.
However Cheney would likely not be prosecuted for the shooting, since it hasn't been established that the shooting was a result of malice or overt negligence. ... at least that we know of so far. The biggest risk for Cheney, it seems to me, is political. If Whittington dies, Cheney's political career almost certainly dies with him.
TIME on Cheney's poltical tin ear... and his trashing of the golden rule of hunting...
Field and Stream has a hunter's view of the accident, and on the media's acquiescence in allowing Team Cheney to blame the victim for getting shot...
WaPo's Dana Milbank has Scott McClellan trying to join in on the Cheney jokes, at just the wrong time...
Tags: Dick Cheney
