Quailgate: Covering Up for Drinking and Shooting

So now Quailgate gets to the real meat: Cheney and his buds were drinking "a beer or two" at lunch. It's no mystery why they waited to tell the world what happened: nobody wanted to take a blood alcohol test.

Lobbyist Katherine Armstrong had previously told the LA Times that the hunters had Dr. Pepper with lunch. Even NRA Gun Safety Rules say never to mix guns and alcohol. How come nobody gave Cheney a breath test or a took a blood alcohol level?

The American Gun Safety Foundation says:
Pointing a gun at a person is dangerous, and could be construed as a criminal threat....When hunting, do not shoot at a sound or movement. Be absolutely certain of your target. That sound of rustling leaves may be a deer, or it well may be another hunter, camper, or hiker.

Always Bring Along a Flak with a Flack Jacket
"I'm the guy that pulled the trigger and shot my friend," Cheney told CNN this afternoon. And he defended having Armstrong make the media announcement by saying, " I had no press person with me." Yeah, but he's the vice-president of the United States and all he had to do was tell his entourage of eight to call a flak. One would have come running in a flack jacket.

The secrecy and spin that are the modus operandi of this White House, have now bitten the veep smack on the arse. He's the butt of late night jokes, diminished only by the fact that poor 78-year-old lawyer Harry Whittington could, despite what we're being told, die from his wounds.

Is Whittington Cheney's Killer Rabbit or Chappaquiddick?
Cheney will have Qualigate as his legacy the same way President Carter is remembered for beating off a "killer rabbit" with a canoe paddle during his presidency. This sort of thing becomes part of a legacy that overshadows other issues and accomplishments. But hey, it's really not as bad as his image of living in a hole in the ground and only coming out for the State of the Union address every year.

Cheney Joins the Club
This situation recalls others where the most powerful men on earth have felt that they are simply not subject to the same rules as the rest of us slobs. The delusion -- based, ultimately in nothing more grand than cowardice and lies -- has crossed party lines to include: Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick, Dick Nixon at Watergate , and now Dick Cheney and Quailgate.

So what if one is about shooting innocent birds and a human friend, and another is about trying to get a lilttle sex, or a feeling of omnipotence. It's really all the same stuff abuse of power; delusions of invincibility most of us abandon at about age 13; and the fact that the careers of these guys go on, no matter what they do. Nixon still practiced law after he was deposed. Kennedy, never coinvicted of a crime, is still a Congressman. Cheney will still be the vice president.

Bloggers on the case
But the rules are changing. Bloggers add another dimension, and challenge mainstream media to dig harder than ever before so they don't get caught napping. The posts are spreading like birdshot, and the veep is going to get hit with a bunch more before some horrible atrocity puts this on the back burner. One thing's for sure: Cheney lost a few cards from his credibility deck and nothing he ever says or does will get them back.

Quailgate is a PR disaster that will have no winners.

Technorati Tags:
Cheney, Quailgate, Dick Cheney, Katherine Armstrong, Harry Whittington, NRA, alcohol and guns,

Comments

Posted by: Mel Headley at February 15, 2006 10:20 PM

Posted by: Stephen Brockelman at February 16, 2006 3:32 AM

Posted by: B.L. at February 16, 2006 11:52 AM

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