CHENEY SPEAKS

I hope that Britt Hume's interview on Wednesday with Vice President Cheney will get the lib attack dogs to back off.

Cheney describes last Saturday as "one of the worst days of my life." Imagine how you would feel if you ACCIDENTALLY injured someone.

Detailing what happened Saturday afternoon was obviously painful for him. Imagine reliving such a horrible experience in front of cameras, for the world to watch and scrutinize.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the Vice President. The guilt he feels must be overwhelming.

If you've ever had the experience of waiting to hear news about the medical status of a loved one or friend, you know how stressful it is. Those hours of uncertainty over Mr. Whittington's condition had to be agonizing for everyone involved.

Clearly, Cheney was shaken by the accident. Appropriately, his concern was for his friend, not alerting the press.

Transcript

I found this part of the interview to be interesting, since it's what the White House press corps, with David Gregory leading the charge, has been consumed with.

HUME: Now, it strikes me that you must have known that this was going to be a national story —

CHENEY: Oh, sure.

HUME: — and it does raise the question of whether you couldn't have headed off this beltway firestorm if you had put out the word to the national media, as well as to the local newspaper so that it could post it on its website. I mean, in retrospect, wouldn't that have been the wise course —

CHENEY: Well, who is going to do that? Are they going to take my word for what happened? There is obviously —

HUME: Well, obviously, you could have put the statement out in the name of whoever you wanted. You could put it out in the name of Mrs. Armstrong, if you wanted to. Obviously, that's — she's the one who made the statement.

CHENEY: Exactly. That's what we did. We went with Mrs. Armstrong. We had — she's the one who put out the statement. And she was the most credible one to do it because she was a witness. It wasn't me in terms of saying, here's what happened, it was —

HUME: Right, understood. Now, the suspicion grows in some quarters that you — that this was an attempt to minimize it, by having it first appear in a little paper and appear like a little hunting incident down in a remote corner of Texas.

CHENEY: There wasn't any way this was going to be minimized, Brit; but it was important that it be accurate. I do think what I've experienced over the years here in Washington is as the media outlets have proliferated, speed has become sort of a driving force, lots of time at the expense of accuracy. And I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible, and I think Katherine was an excellent choice. I don't know who you could get better as the basic source for the story than the witness who saw the whole thing.

More than the accident itself, the notification of the national press, or lack thereof, has fueled this story. The cardinal sin that Cheney committed was not immediately telling the White House press corps and allowing a local paper to get the story first.

If you believe that Cheney or anyone in the White House thought that the national media would not pick up on the accident, you are delusional. As the Vice President said, "There wasn't any way this was going to be minimized."

A statement about the shooting could not be released until Mr. Whittington's family was informed. Twenty-four hours is hardly a lengthy delay. Often in local news, the name of an individual injured or killed in an accident is not made public for more than a day.

I don't think complaints about "sitting on the story" are legitimate.

As far as Cheney's office not being the original source to release the story, I don't think that's a big deal. But I'm not David Gregory. Not surprisingly, the whiny White House press corps has turned it into the worst affront.

How many more days are the lib media going to bitch and moan about the proper protocol for releasing information?

I think they are acting purely out of spite. Because the Vice President didn't tell them first, they seem to be trying to turn Cheney's awful accident into grounds for resignation.

That's as ridiculous as it is heartless.

The way the American lib media have blown this hunting accident out of proportion is analogous to militant Muslims justifying the burning of embassies over some cartoons in a small Danish newspaper. The reaction has been so extreme. It's completely inappropriate.

Anyone could have predicted that the lib media would give this story as much attention as the first moon landing.

The Dems, the rabid lib media, and other assorted nutjobs are so horribly callous. They view everything through the prism of political opportunity and disregard the human element.

Vice President Cheney is a person, flesh and blood.

He's been so demonized by the Left, to the point of caricature, that I don't think they realize that they are being so cruel to a living, breathing individual who must now deal with the nightmare of ACCIDENTALLY shooting a friend.

Moreover, it should be remembered that Cheney has no political future beyond his current position. When Bush's second term is complete, the Vice President will return to private life. It's not as if he was trying to cover up the accident because it could harm his run for the Presidency.

The political chapter of his life will come to a close at noon on January 20, 2009. He won't be running for public office again. It's over. And unlike former Vice President Al Gore, there is no way that Dick Cheney will disgrace himself and the country when his term is up. I'm sure he'll conduct himself with honor.

I don't see Cheney as a self-serving politician. He's a public servant, meaning he serves the country, not vice versa.

I don't think he cares about his personal legacy; he cares about doing what's right. I think he cares deeply about accomplishing what's good for America. He has devoted himself to protecting us from enemies who want to destroy our freedom, our way of life.

He deserves the nation's gratitude, not its scorn.

During this personally difficult time for the Vice President, don't you think the Left's rabid attack dogs should be called off?

Compassion, anyone?