Not sure what to make of this

[sophia jane]

WASHINGTON - Vice President
Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.


Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Whittington was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shot at a covey of quail late afternoon on Saturday.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and found a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told the Associated Press in an interview.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

She said Whittington was bleeding but not very seriously injured, and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington, holding his face and cleaning up the blood.

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year. She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

___

 

[Guest]

Ooops?

 

[kendo1]

We call it friendly fire, over here.

We're quite used to it.

 

[sophia jane]

We call it friendly fire, over here.

We're quite used to it.

To the politicians shooting their friends?

 

[ElizabethWest]

When I read that article earlier, I said to myself, "WTF?" Good thing the friend and his wife were understanding. My first thought before I realized they were friends hunting together was, "Is he a Republican or a Democrat?"

 

[3113]

My first thought: Why couldn't they have been duck hunting? Then he might have shot Scalia.

 

[kendo1]

To the politicians shooting their friends?

No.

Don't take it the wrong way.
In both Iraq wars, in the first days, more British soldiers were killed by friendly fire than hostile fire.

It happens.

 

[sophia jane]

No.

Don't take it the wrong way.
In both Iraq wars, in the first days, more British soldiers were killed by friendly fire than hostile fire.

It happens.

I knew what you meant. I was just making fun of Cheney. Cuz he's a dumbass.

 

[Guest]

My first thought: Why couldn't they have been duck hunting? Then he might have shot Scalia.

BWAH!

 

[impressive]

Day-glo hat. *nods*

 

[kendo1]

Cheneys are well known as such over here.

 

[oggbashan]

No.

Don't take it the wrong way.
In both Iraq wars, in the first days, more British soldiers were killed by friendly fire than hostile fire.

It happens.

It used to be a sick joke in Normandy after D-Day in WWII:

"When the Luftwaffe drops bombs, the Allies hit their foxholes.

When the Royal Air Force drops bombs, the Germans hit their foxholes.

When the Americans drop bombs, everybody takes cover..."

Og

 

[impressive]

I am SO going to hell ... 'cause I can't stop laughing.

How do you mistake a 78-year-old man for a fuckin' QUAIL?

 

[sophia jane]

I am SO going to hell ... 'cause I can't stop laughing.

How do you mistake a 78-year-old man for a fuckin' QUAIL?

*nods*
And what the fuck were the Secret Service doing?

 

[Guest]

*nods*
And what the fuck were the Secret Service doing?

Retrieving?

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Quail hunting will make accidental shotists out of a lot of people. When the covey is flushed, there is a lot of noise and people tend to be a little wild.

Colly(not allowed to quail hunt for a year after putting some pettes into dad's backside)

 

[impressive]

Colly(not allowed to quail hunt for a year after putting some pettes into dad's backside)

OMFG!

 

[sophia jane]

Retrieving?

*snort*

Quail hunting will make accidental shotists out of a lot of people. When the covey is flushed, there is a lot of noise and people tend to be a little wild.

Colly(not allowed to quail hunt for a year after putting some pettes into dad's backside)

Isn't that a dangerous hobby for the vp then???

 

[Liar]

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Should a guy who needs to have his own freakin ambulance posse really be allowed out in the woods and swamps and spinach like that?

And would you trust him with firearms?

 

[Stella_Omega]

My first thought wasn't partisian at all. it was this;
"BOYS!"

Four women from age three to age forty-two; "But WHY did you ride your trycicle off the porch steps???" (Five feet to the ground, be it understood)
One little boy age six; "I dooon't knoooow!"

 

[Colleen Thomas]

OMFG!

It isn't as bad as it sounds, I've been shot before quail hunting. Bird shot is very small, and while it stings and sometimes bleeds, you have to remember the effective range of a shotgun isn't very far at all. It's not uncommon in dove hunting either. Generally people space themselves out enough so there is no real danger.

Bird shot, from the relatively low brass shells used for hunting quail, isn't going to be fatal unless you are very very close or some freak accident happens. Getting peppered or rained on, is, in my expereince fairly common. I can't remember anyone ever needing hospitilization from it.