At Least Cheney is Sticking to His Guns

It has been nearly a month since the Vice President shot 78 year old Harry Whittington in the face while hunting for quail on a ranch in south Texas, and after all of the fall out from this accident, I will come to the defense of the Vice President. While many in the mainstream media have taken this opportunity to bash Vice President Cheney, I believe he was justified in shooting Harry Whittington.

All of the intelligence said that there were quail in the bushes that the Vice President was shooting into when he shot Harry Whittington. Everyone thought there were quail in those bushes. Put yourself in the Vice President’s shoes: you’re hunting for quail, and all of the information you and your hunting buddies have says that there are quail in the bushes. Wouldn’t you shoot? There was simply no way that the Vice President could have known that what he thought was quail would actually turn out to be a 78 year old man.

While some have suggested that the Vice President purposely misused this information so that he could shoot Harry Whittington, the Vice President’s office says that that is not the case. Jonathan Crotch, a spokesman for Vice President Dick, said in a statement after the shooting that “we all know that at one time there were quail in the bushes,” and that “there is no doubt over this because [ranch owners] had earlier put quail in those bushes.” In the statement, Crotch says that perhaps the quail had not been in the bushes for some time, but that the Vice President “could never have known that because the bush was full of prickly leaves, making detailed inspection impossible.” Crotch also suggested, however, that it is possible that someone simply moved the quail. “Perhaps the quail had been in the bushes, and Mr. Whittington moved them to some other bushes just before he was shot in the face. We can never know.”

Despite this clearly accidental shooting, the mainstream media has given the Vice President no credit for sticking to his guns. When asked recently if, knowing what he knows now, he would still have shot into the bushes, Vice President Cheney said that he would have. Even if he had had the knowledge that it was actually Harry Whittington in the bushes and not quail, the Vice President said “to not shoot into the bushes would send a message to the quail that America was weak” and that “the American people expect their leaders to be decisive and consistant; at that time I decided it was best to shoot what I thought were quail in the bushes, and I stand by that decision.”

I say we should be proud to have a stong and consistant leader like Vice President Cheney leading us; and after all, who is the media to question the way this administration wages a hunt on quail? By doing this, we are sending a message to the quail that we are not united in our commitment to hunt them. The Vice President believed whole-heartedly that there were quail in those bushes, and he acted accordingly. While he did actually end up shooting a 78 year old man in the face, at least he did what he felt was right and holds an unwavering commitment to that decision.