Dick Cheney: Shakiest gun in the Southwest

Let's see here. Laura Bush ran over and killed a guy in her teens. Bush was a cokehead and alcoholic. Now Rootin'- Tootin' Dick Cheney joins their ranks for assault with a deadly weapon. Note that no charges have been filed against the three.

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 Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington. She said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.

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.

I'm guessing Whittington wasn't the only lawyer present.

UPDATE: In an unsurprising revelation, it turns out that the shooting wasn't reported for a day, and Cheney's victim... I mean good friend, is in the ICU. And the announcement didn't come from the White House. It only became news after the owner of the land tipped off an area newspaper.

And there's more. The right-wing spin is that it's the victim's fault. Which just doesn't make sense in terms of hunting and gun safety. Let's face it-- you don't shoot just because you hear a noise, especially when you're with several friends.

UPDATE: (2/13) One other interesting point that's emerged on this story is the fact that Cheney wasn't really "hunting" at all. Unless you'd call standing over a barrel full of fish with a net "fishing." A derogatory term for what Cheney was doing with his wimpy 28-gauge shotgun (granted, you don't want two decrepit old men wandering around with elephant guns) is "canned hunting." Picture a stereotypical British Colonial ponce decked out in khakis, pith helmet and monocle, sitting in a lounge chair while native beaters chase game into his line of sight. He sets down his teacup, hoists his gun and kills whatever hapless creature has been served up for him. That sort of hunting. Apparently, these great white hunters had bagged scores of birds before the accident. Proving that even fake hunting is dangerous when it involves members of this administration...