The Shot Heard Round The World...except at the White House
Listen, the real issue is less that the Vice President accidentally shot a man...accidents do happen, and millions of people get accidentally shot all the time...the real issue is that I can raise the following questions at all. All relevant questions should have been answered, and answered convincingly, by the Vice President or an official White House spokesperson immediately after the event.
Why did it take so long to inform the President of the accident?
Is there something wrong with the communications system, during a time of war, which allows information to be quickly and accurately transmitted between the VP and the President?
Why was local law enforcement turned away by the Secret Service?
Why did a private citizen, the ranch owner, give the first public statement instead of the White House or Vice-President's office?
Was the eye witness coached during the 22 hours it took to give her eye witness account?
Why was the Vice President hunting without the proper credintials, and therefore was hunting illegally?
Regardless of any criminal charges, who was at fault in the shooting? Can it be reasonably claimed that Harry Whittington was responsible for the situation which resulted in his being shot by the Vice President?
Is Harry Whittington already dead?
Call me conspiratorial if you must, but that last question seems very relevant to me. If the wounds were as superficial as originally described, with Whittington all but laughing off the "peppering", why has he been in intensive care for three days? How did a "peppering" of shot result in a pellet getting through his chest and into his heart? How close was he to Cheney?
22 hours would be plenty of time for the US Government to arrange for someone the Vice President killed, even by accident, to a hospital where some time after the fact complications due to age rather than directly resulting from the shooting would give a cause of death less politically damaging than manslaughter. Let me be clear, I am not making that accusation. I am angrily pointing out that secrecy creates doubt, which is more damaging to a democracy than a shotgun blast to the face and chest.
Consider the contempt it must take for this administration to choose deception and secrecy by default while claiming to spread a doctrine of democratic freedom which inherently demands an informed electorate.
Why risk, given the age of the victim and the seriousness of any gunshot wound, why risk hiding anything at all when it will only give rise to suspicion? Unless the truth is even worse than anything the unimformed public might possibly suspect?
It makes no sense, until you accept that they don't care.
They would care if they had any reason to care...and the evidence is that they don't care what we think, suspect, or even ask.
You stopped caring, so they don't have to.
Come on, people. Blame George and Dick if you want, but I don't care where Truman said the buck stops...we've got the government we deserve, and unless we start caring, the people we put in power never will.
I bet some of you out there are saying, just like Luke Skywalker said to Princess Leia, "I care."
Well, prove it.
Don't stop following the shooting story, but don't follow it so closely you don't pay any attention to the fact that Scooter Libby just testified that he was authorized by "superiors" to leak the Plame information, and that Plame was a covert agent owing to the fact that she had travelled as a covert agent to Iran to work on WMD issues during the required 5 year period before the leak was made.
Cheney has done worse than shooting a 78 year old man who got between him and a quail raised in captivity for the sole purpose of being shot by rich "hunters" on the weekends.
HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE.
This administration may be a joke, but it is no laughing matter.
Why did it take so long to inform the President of the accident?
Is there something wrong with the communications system, during a time of war, which allows information to be quickly and accurately transmitted between the VP and the President?
Why was local law enforcement turned away by the Secret Service?
Why did a private citizen, the ranch owner, give the first public statement instead of the White House or Vice-President's office?
Was the eye witness coached during the 22 hours it took to give her eye witness account?
Why was the Vice President hunting without the proper credintials, and therefore was hunting illegally?
Regardless of any criminal charges, who was at fault in the shooting? Can it be reasonably claimed that Harry Whittington was responsible for the situation which resulted in his being shot by the Vice President?
Is Harry Whittington already dead?
Call me conspiratorial if you must, but that last question seems very relevant to me. If the wounds were as superficial as originally described, with Whittington all but laughing off the "peppering", why has he been in intensive care for three days? How did a "peppering" of shot result in a pellet getting through his chest and into his heart? How close was he to Cheney?
22 hours would be plenty of time for the US Government to arrange for someone the Vice President killed, even by accident, to a hospital where some time after the fact complications due to age rather than directly resulting from the shooting would give a cause of death less politically damaging than manslaughter. Let me be clear, I am not making that accusation. I am angrily pointing out that secrecy creates doubt, which is more damaging to a democracy than a shotgun blast to the face and chest.
Consider the contempt it must take for this administration to choose deception and secrecy by default while claiming to spread a doctrine of democratic freedom which inherently demands an informed electorate.
Why risk, given the age of the victim and the seriousness of any gunshot wound, why risk hiding anything at all when it will only give rise to suspicion? Unless the truth is even worse than anything the unimformed public might possibly suspect?
It makes no sense, until you accept that they don't care.
They would care if they had any reason to care...and the evidence is that they don't care what we think, suspect, or even ask.
You stopped caring, so they don't have to.
Come on, people. Blame George and Dick if you want, but I don't care where Truman said the buck stops...we've got the government we deserve, and unless we start caring, the people we put in power never will.
I bet some of you out there are saying, just like Luke Skywalker said to Princess Leia, "I care."
Well, prove it.
Don't stop following the shooting story, but don't follow it so closely you don't pay any attention to the fact that Scooter Libby just testified that he was authorized by "superiors" to leak the Plame information, and that Plame was a covert agent owing to the fact that she had travelled as a covert agent to Iran to work on WMD issues during the required 5 year period before the leak was made.
Cheney has done worse than shooting a 78 year old man who got between him and a quail raised in captivity for the sole purpose of being shot by rich "hunters" on the weekends.
HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE.
This administration may be a joke, but it is no laughing matter.
posted by Archie Levine at 7:48 AM
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