In the interview today with Fox's Brit Hume, Cheney disclosed having a beer with lunch that day he shot his friend, but stressed that it was several hours before the shooting occurred. Eariler in interviews, ranch owner Katharine Armstrong had said no one hunting that day had any beer. Is someone lying? Does Dick have a history of alcohol issues? Court and police records obtained by The Smoking Gun show that Cheney was convicted of drunk driving twice during an eight-month period in the early 1960s in his home state of Wyoming. The two convictions came when Cheney was 21 and 22 and resulted in fines and a brief suspension of his driver's license.
This from Musselshell Outfitters: "As professional hunters we do not allow ANY alcohol to be consumed during the day unless you choose not to hunt that particular day. Drinking an alcohol at noon means that you are finished hunting for the day. Drinking alcohol responsibly after the day's hunt is permitted." http://www.musselshelloutfitters.com/hunts.htm
Before five guys come here to state the obvious, I'll just point out that the troll is already <b>fully aware</b> of its own hypocrisy.
I recall someone posting here that you are attending AA - is that true, Z? Also, I asked you in another thread whether you have ever been banned from this site, and if you have ever registered at this site with another username? You must have missed those questions, they were sandwiched between two long posts. I know that in the past you have always answered questions posed to you in a timely manner. Any information is appreciated. Thanks, Nik
Lawrence O'Donnell: Was Cheney Drunk? Lawrence O'DonnellTue Feb 14, 12:53 PM ET The L.A. Times is edging closer to the most likely reason for the 18 hour delay in reporting that the Vice President of the United States shot someone: "This was a hunting accident," said Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy of the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office. "There was no alcohol or misconduct." How do we know there was no alcohol? Cheney refused to talk to local authorities until the next day. No point in giving him a breathalyzer then. Every lawyer I've talked to assumes Cheney was too drunk to talk to the cops after the shooting. The next question for the White House should be: Was Cheney drunk? I have never gone hunting with ultra-rich Republicans on a Saturday afternoon, but I have seen them tailgating at Ivy League football games, so it's hard for me to believe that any of their Saturday lunches are alcohol free.
Alan Dershowitz: Dick Cheney's Delay Alan DershowitzWed Feb 15, 12:00 PM ET This belongs completely in the realm of speculation, but it is speculation based on my own experiences as a criminal lawyer. Why would a media-savvy and clever man like Dick Cheney delay notifying the press and the police about an accident when a) he knew it would eventually be covered by the press and b) he knew he would be criticized for delaying release of the story? A simple cost/benefit analysis suggests that he (or those advising him) must have believed that there was more to be gained than lost by a 14 hour delay that would eventually be made public. It is likely, therefore, that something happened during that 14 hour period which was worth the negative costs of the delay. What is the most likely thing to happen during a 14 hour delay that is worth the negative publicity? One possibility is that it takes approximately that period of time for alcohol to dissipate in the body and no longer be subject to accurate testing. It is fairly common for people involved in alcohol-related accidents to delay reporting them until the alcohol has left the body. There is no hard evidence that this is what happened here, but we are entitled to a better explanation. We should be told whether Vice President Cheney's victim had alcohol in his system when he was taken to the hospital. Was there any alcohol at or near the hunting area? Were any in the hunting party carrying flasks (which is apparently common among hunters)? What was Cheney doing just before he went hunting? Did anyone in the hunting party have a drink? We do know that Cheney had two drunk driving convictions when he was in his early 20s, but he has apparently been clean since then. There are certainly other explanations for the 14 hour delay, but simply postponing the inevitable publication of a damaging story is not one of them. Nor is the fact that Cheney is, by nature, a secretive man. The burden of proof has now shifted to the Vice President to explain why he made this stupid, or very clever, decision. We're waiting for his explanation.
16.86 Hi Z Just wondering if you could provide the information I asked about in my last post above? Thanks, Nik PS - There are a few other questions that are outstanding from other threads, questions based on your posts, that you must have missed because they were sandwiched between other longer posts. I will compile a list and post it here if you want. lmk...
Arianna Huffington Bio Blog Index RSS 02.15.2006 Cheney Talks, the Coverup Continues (26 comments ) READ MORE: Dick Cheney, 2006, New York Times, Tom DeLay Watching Dead-eye Dick Cheney break his silence on Fox, I kept thinking: This is what it looks like when a man who is used to getting away with covering up the truth finally has to explain himself. He did a lousy job -- especially on the key question of why it took so long to let the public know. He offered a host of reasons for the 18 hour delay: he was more concerned with taking care of his friend than about notifying the press; he wanted to make sure Whittington's family got the news before it hit the airwaves; he "didn't know for sure what kind of shape Harry was in... and you need to really wait and nail it down"; and he wanted to make sure the "complicated story" was given to a reporter with "some degree of understanding" (as opposed to the first reporter Katharine Armstrong spoke to who "didn't now the difference between a rifle bullet and a shotgun"). Of course, none of these explanations explains the 18 hour delay or would have precluded the release of a simple announcement. Even Brit Hume was having a hard time buying into the vice president's justifications. Hume: The one thing that we've all kind of learned over the last several decades is that if something like this happens, as a rule sooner is better. Cheney: Well, if it's accurate. If it's accurate. And this is a complicated story. Hume: But there were some things you knew. I mean, you knew the man had been shot, you knew he was injured, you knew he was in the hospital, and you knew you'd shot him. Cheney: Correct. Nevertheless, Cheney insisted that keeping the story under wraps for so long was "the right call" and that he's "comfortable with the way we did it, obviously." Obviously. One good thing about your conscience no longer functioning is that you are comfortable with everything. Especially with whitewashing the truth. So, taking a page from Orwell, Cheney assured us -- again and again -- that by keeping the story hidden he was only trying to make sure the truth got out. Indeed, he used the words "accurate" and "accuracy" 8 times in his short chat with Hume. Never has accuracy been invoked more in the name of inaccuracy. Watching Cheney continue the shooting story coverup, reminded me of my own experience with being stonewalled by the Vice President and his staff this summer when I stumbled upon the story that Cheney, while in Vail for a speech, had been taken to the hospital for an EKG. Check out the four posts I did on the story here, here, here, and here and you'll see a similar pattern to the way the much bigger shooting story has been handled. In Vail, over the space of 48 hours, I got three different stories: First, denial that Cheney was ever at the hospital. Second, an acknowledgement that he was at the hospital after all, but only for an old knee injury. Third, that after he was checked for the knee injury, he was taken to the cardiac unit to have an EKG, but only prophylactically. In Texas, Team Cheney went from saying nothing to having the story brought out in a way that maximized the administration's control over it to another round of silence to, finally, giving an exclusive -- though far-from-forthcoming -- interview to a partisan outlet. The constantly shifting explanations and multiple levels of denial are utterly familiar -- as is the refusal to level with the American people. P.S. The Hume interview contained a pair of TiVo-worthy moments that left me wondering "Did I really hear that?" and reaching for the replay button. TiVo Moment #1: After Cheney walked Hume through the specifics of the shooting, including a cataloguing of Whittington's injuries ("He was struck in the right side of his face, his neck and his upper torso on the right side of his body"), Hume inexplicably followed up with this jaw dropper: "And I take it you missed the bird?" The VP has just painted a verbal picture of blasting his friend in the face and Brit is wondering about... the bird?! TiVo Moment #2: Hume asks Cheney if the shooting will "affect your attitude toward this pastime you so love in the future?" Cheney: I can't say that. You know, we canceled the Sunday hunt. I said, look I'm not -- we were scheduled to go out again on Sunday and I said I'm not going to go on Sunday, I want to focus on Harry. Wow. How many guys out there would be willing to cancel a Sunday hunt to focus on the fate of the man they just blasted in the face with birdshot? Not many. Self-sacrifice in the face of overwhelming temptation. That's Dick Cheney for you.