Hysterical, in the precise meaning and origin of the word, describes the journalists. The WH press secretary should release a few white mice in the press room and tape the reaction.

So, the vice president shoots someone. And you defend him. What does this administration have to do before you realize that their feet are made of clay?

It’s not like this was an actual hunt anyway. The quail were canned for gods’ sake!

Andrew, how do you know that? Can you link to anything that shows this hunt was "canned", in your lingo? I suspect that you're making the same mistake that thousands of others have made and are mixing up the quail hunt from this weekend, and the pheasant shoot in PA from a few years ago.

And what exactly is your bobwhite hunting experience? Every quail hunter I know, and they are legion here in Texas, recognizes the situation for what it is -- a very unfortunate hunting accident that arises from a situation that is common on quail hunts. And we're all laughing our asses off at the maroons.

That's not an apology or a defense for shooting your hunting partner, but this is life, in Texas, out in the field. It happens, and in every case, it's sad. Everybody who's ever picked up a gun is saying to themselves "There, but for the grace of God, go I." The ones who are honest with themselves do, anyway.

I admit, my gun handling experience is limited to a few weeks in the woods. You know the first think I learned? Every gun is loaded. And the second rule: never fire unless you know you’re clear...

Now, everyone I know who owns a gun is pissed at Cheney for this. Most of them (including some Texas hunters) are calling for him to have is license revoked and perhaps pay a fine. But definitely not handle a gun again...

Me? Well, I keep thinking: If I’d run over a friend in my car, and put him in the hospital, and endangered his life, what penalty would I face? I’m thinking jail time...

bumper snicker

I'd rather go shotgunning with Cheney, than ride shotgun with Kennedy.

From what little description of the accident that I have read, It was the fault of both men, although, of course, Cheney bears the largest part of the blame for making an understandable error, Nobody was supposed to be to his right side.

I own a gun and I'm not pissed. I surveyed my gun-owning poker buddies on Monday and Tuesday, and none of them are pissed. Because I, and they, are sentient enough to recognize it for what it is. We all actually have been quail hunting in Texas, though, so we're also experienced enough to recognize it for what it is. In short, your few weeks in the woods don't qualify you to honestly discuss the mechanics and protocols of quail hunting. But please do keep typing -- you're provinding a perfect illustration for the point of John's post.

If I’d run over a friend in my car, and put him in the hospital, and endangered his life, what penalty would I face? I’m thinking jail time...

You gonna stick with that? Is it really your position that all inflictors of accidental injuries should be punished by jail time? And here I thought it was supposed to be the Republicans and theocrat conservatives who were prison-happy.

But it does raise an interesting question. Let's say you're at your friend's ranch, and yall are working on a truck. You accidentally cause the truck to roll forward and squish him. Do you take him to the hospital, and then go turn yourself in to the coppers for, I don't know, reckless endangerment? If not, why not?

In reverse -- you are at the hospital after your friend squishes you. Do you demand that the cops come down and arrest your friend? If not, why not?

How about chainsaw accidents? Sharp knives? Wasp nests that you should have knocked down or copperheads that you should have killed?

I expect that you still won't see why people find the press' and the left (sorry for the redundancy) reaction to be laughable.

Well, I’m not a lawyer. But perhaps one could tell us: What penalty does one face for accidentally running someone over?

And you’re right, my gun experience hardly qualifies me to know about hunting in Texas. But the people I know, from Texas, who hunt, are pissed. The people I know who sell guns for a living, are pissed...

Oh, and Cheney is taking responsibility
"'I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend,' Cheney said in an excerpt of the interview broadcast this afternoon. 'That's the bottom line.' "

You don't have to be a lawyer to answer the question. It's a philosophical question, and practically rhetorical, and ultimately moot. If you want a legal answer, then you have it, right here in front of you. We're not building prisons to house convicts who are criminally involved in automobile accidents (civil trial courts to handle the resulting lawsuits, on the other hand...) Still, I'd like to know if you're sticking with that angle?

Yes, Andrew, we know who is responsible for pulling the trigger. Cheney never denied responsibility for shooting the man, nor did anyone else. Was this somehow in doubt in your mind, or mine, or John's? Or are you just angry that he wasn't out there on the toob making a big splashy ratings-bonanza mea culpa that today's mediots love so much? And do you feel better now?

Andrew, suppose I heard that you had jacked-up a car, and your friend was hurt when it fell off the jack while he was changing the tire...

I would ASSUME that you had done your best, and it was just an accident. Or, if you had been at fault, I would ASSUME that you would be feeling terrible about it, and there would be no need to criticize you or punish you.

That's how GROWNUPS act.

The way you Democrats have leaped on this with such obvious HUNGER is pathetic. Weak, shabby and stupid. Childish. Not to mention revealing that you have no serious political ideas to fight for or challenge the Vice-President with.

No conservative can ever apologize enough to satisfy a liberal. It's better not to even bother. Cheney doesn't owe anyone but his friend an apology.

Andrew Cory writes:

If I’d run over a friend in my car, and put him in the hospital, and endangered his life, what penalty would I face? I’m thinking jail time...

I forget: Did Teddy actually serve time in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne? Oh, right, she didn't wind up in the hospital, nor was her life endangered, ergo, no criminal penalties.

A couple of troubling points about the shooting, aside from the delay in reporting it:

The injuries are not consistent with the reported 30-yard distance. As noted by Powerline's correspondent, that's a very small shotgun, and someone thirty yards off is not going to end up with 200 pellets in his body. Depending on the type of birdshot used, that could be as much as 2/3rds of the total shot load. No choke is that tight.

The contradictory statements about alcohol consumption. First it was denied, now it's admitted. Combined with the delay in reporting the accident to the appropriate authorities, it's understandable that some people are suspicious about the possibility of shooting while intoxicated. And although beer and guns may be acceptable among some good old boys (my grandfather being one--he went hunting to get away from his WCTU wife, or so the family legend goes), shooting and alcohol are really a zero-tolerance situation.

However, I will note that speculation about the role Cheney's heavy heart drug load played are probably off-base. Deborah, who is medically trained and works for a cardiologist, says that there aren't that many heart drugs that interact with alcohol.

Actually, I was apparently wrong about the shot pattern. A photographer for a Corpus Christ newspaper tried it and his target did pick up about 200 pellets at 90 feet. Mea culpa.

You might find this article about quail hunting interesting, also by a hunter.

That's a good article.

My dove hunting experiences were on land my Dad owned in the Imperial Valley, when I was a teenager. The line was always stationary, and the birds high, so there was almost no danger.

They would be inbound in the morning, from the desert to the fields, and outbound in the evening. And in the middle of the day it was too hot for them or us to do much of anything.

I was in paradise, and mostly took it for granted...