. February 13, 2006 SouthAmerica: I thought that one âJackassâ in the Whitehouse it was enough â but it seems to me that we have two instead of one â the president and also his VP. ******* âCheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunterâ By LYNN BREZOSKY and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers AP â Associated Press â February 13, 2006 CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - 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. Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday. "He is stable and doing well. It was almost like he was spending time with me in my living room," said hospital administrator Peter Banko, who visited Whittington. Banko said Whittington was in the intensive care unit because his condition warranted it, but he didn't elaborate. Whittington sent word through a hospital official that he would have no comment on the incident out of respect for Cheney. The accident occurred Saturday at a ranch in south Texas where the vice president and several companions were hunting quail. It was not reported publicly by the vice president's office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on its Web site Sunday. 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. Each of the hunters was wearing a bright orange vest at the time, Armstrong told reporters at the ranch about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. She said Whittington was "alert and doing fine." "He is very, very lucky that nothing seriously was injured," Sally Whittington said in a story in Sunday's online edition of The Dallas Morning News. She said her father was being observed because of swelling from some of the welts on his neck. "It looks like chicken pox, kind of," she said of her father's face. Armstrong told The Associated Press emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington before an ambulance â routinely on call because of the vice president's presence â took him to a hospital in Kingsville. From there, Whittington was flown by helicopter to Corpus Christi about 40 miles awayâ¦. .