Totally unexpected, this was:
President Bush and local authorities said Thursday they are satisfied with Vice President Dick Cheney's account of how he accidentally shot a 78-year-old hunting companion over the weekend.
As sheriff's department officials announced there would be no charges filed against Cheney, Bush said that his vice president handled the situation well.
"I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine, and I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation," Bush told reporters after meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. "I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave."
I guess that explains it.
Bush, a former Texas governor, also said that he knew Whittington, an Austin attorney and major player in Texas politics, and that he and Cheney were concerned about Whittington's condition.
Look, the guy was there because he wanted to kiss Cheney's ass and ingratiate himself even further with the Administration. I'm sorry the guy got shot, but these things happen, especially if you hang out around a drunk with a gun.
Oh, there's no proof the Vice President was drunk, of course. That comes with the territory when you can just put off the sheriff's office for 12 hours while you hit the bunkhouse and oxidize. One only need look at the diffference in the statements Katharine Armstrong and Cheney himself made about beer consumption during the hunt to realize that something is a mite fishy.
If I didn't know better, what with the release of more Abu Ghraib photos, and with "Scooter" Libby's assertion that White House higher-ups authorized the release of classified information, I'd think that Cheney asked Whittington to take one for the team and occupy some front page space for a few days. Too bad the Veep's shaky aim actually caused his pal some mortal danger.
Nah, that's too much like cartoon supervillainy, even for him.