My questions are why did it take so long for information to come out?
Why wasn't the president immediately notified that the Veep was the trigger puller in a hunting accident?
Why did it take an hour for any news of this incident to reach the President.
Here's a timeline from MSNBC:
2/11/06:
4 p.m.: Vice President Cheney begins an afternoon quail hunt with four other hunters on the private Armstrong Ranch in south Texas. They had been hunting earlier in the day, but took a break for lunch.
6:30 p.m.: Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter Harry Whittington while aiming for a bird. Secret Service agents and medical personnel with Cheney tend to wounds on Whittington’s face, neck and chest.
7:20 p.m.: An ambulance takes Whittington to Christus Spohn Hospital Kleburg.
7:30 p.m.: White House chief of staff Andrew Card tells President Bush there was an accident, but Card is unaware Cheney was involved.
7:50 p.m.: The head of the Secret Service office in McAllen, Texas, calls the Kenedy County sheriff to report the accident. The sheriff asks to speak to Cheney, and they schedule an interview for 9 a.m. Sunday. At the White House, presidential aide Karl Rove tells Bush that Cheney was the shooter, after talking to ranch owner Katharine Armstrong.
Almost an hour and a half later the sheriff is called??? What?
If this injured hunter was transported by EMS to the hospital, why wasn't LE sent to the scene because guns were involved? Why didn't the hospital notify LE that a patient came in with gunshot wounds. that's all pretty standard around these parts.
Saturday Evening:
Cheney and the rest of the hunting party sit down for dinner at the ranch. At some point, sheriff’s deputies who heard reports of the ambulance responding to an accident at the ranch stop at the front gate to see if anyone needs help, but are told no one needs assistance. The Secret Service earlier had said the deputies were seeking to interview Cheney, but on Tuesday they said that was not the case. Armstrong says no one at the dinner discussed announcing the accident to the public because they were all focused on Whittington’s well being.
What? The VP can't multi-task enough to think this needs to be reported??? If you're calm enough to sit down to dinner and enjoy a meal, you'd think he would have been on the horn to his boss.
How many "Aides" go with Cheney when he is on a trip?
Not one of them thought to make a statement? Why didn't the President's Office make a statement?
2/12/06
6 a.m.: White House press secretary Scott McClellan is awakened by a phone call from the White House situation room, informing him Cheney was the shooter. McClellan contacts the vice president’s office and urges that the information be made public quickly.
9 a.m.: Kenedy County sheriff’s deputies interview Cheney. Armstrong begins calling a reporter at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and leaving messages. Armstrong says she told Cheney she wanted to tell the local paper what happened, and he agreed.
Noon: The reporter returns Armstrong’s call.
2:48 p.m.: The Corpus Christi Caller-Times posts a short report about the accident on its Web site after confirming the account with the vice president’s office.
3:34 p.m.: The Associated Press, following up on the local story, moves a news alert about the shooting.
Early Sunday evening: Cheney visits Whittington in the hospital before flying back to Washington.
2/13/06
6:20 p.m.: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issues its hunting accident report, which says the main contributing factor was a “hunter’s judgment factor” when Cheney sprayed his fellow hunter while aiming at flying birds. The report says both Cheney and Whittington were violating state game law because they did not have required $7 upland game bird stamps. Both are issued warning citations.
7:20 p.m.: The vice president’s office issues a statement saying it was not aware that Cheney needed the $7 stamp and that he has sent a check for that amount to the state.
Cheney's office staff allegedly took care of all permits and licenses needed for this hunt somehow that new stamp was overlooked by the state.
I have a strong dis-like for the white house press corps and media in general but I can't blame them for jumping all over Scott McClellan for not having better answers during his press conference. His repeated statements that you'll have to talk to the vice-presidents staff for more info just made me even more mad.
The handling of this incident has been a goof-up for the Bush Admin. If I shot another hunter and waited to notify LE or the PGC I'd be in serious trouble. How bad would GW have looked if a reporter would have blind-sided him on this before he had the full story?
