My Two Cents:Time To Put Cheney Shotgun Saga Out To Pasture

I will not deny it has been great fun taking pot shots at Dick Cheney's hunting skills around the water cooler these past few days. But it might just be time to put the matter to rest.

I had a little fun with Dick's excellent adventure on this blog on Sunday, when the incident finally made its way into the public domain, but I have mainly let others in the blogosphere and on late night TV do most of the (quail) roasting.

Cheney has now taken full blame (see this AP report) for the shooting of his hunting buddy Harry Whittington, which is good. But he still - despite all the angst of the Washington press corps - doesn't seem to understand that having his host tell the Goober Gazette is not the way to fully disclose the incident to the nation.

Whittington is expected to recover from his wounds, but the incident could have become even larger than it has if Whittington's wounds had been fatal.

I can't fathom that anyone really believes Cheney shot at his friend on purpose, but why were local law enforcement agents kept away for hours? It just gives those who want to (and believe me a lot of people want to) a chance to taunt Cheney about an unlikely possibility.

And why not fully disclose the incident ASAP? "I shot my friend. It was an accident. He's undergoing medical care. Let's all pray for him" Boom! It's out there. It's over with. Maybe there's a few late-night jokes. And the issue goes away.

But the press, tired of being raked over the coals by the bloggers and the public for being hoodwinked, stonewalled and otherwise rendered inept by this administration in Bush's first five years in office has made it clear it is not going to be shut out any more.

Yet the administration still doesn't seem to get that a bit of transparency can go a long way, especially when your credibility with the majority of Americans is so shaky.

Instead we have Scott McClellan, the president's press secretary, facing volley after volley, day after day, from a press corps that has had it with spin and deception. (Some feel sorry for McClellan, but I say if you sign up to be punching bag you're going to get punched).

With so many bigger issues to deal with it's hard to imagine that this administration allowed this incident to take up so much of it's time for so long.

Having said all that, for those of you who need just one more chuckle or 10, check out this collection of political cartoons courtesy of MSNBC.com