From Time:
But that did not happen right away. Cheney insisted on carrying out a strategy he had worked out with the ranch owner, Katharine Armstrong, in which she was to call a trusted reporter at the local paper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, to disclose the news. Caller-Times Managing Editor Shane Fitzgerald told TIME that the newspaper had done its usual nightly checks with local law enforcement agents on Saturday and had been told nothing was going on. Armstrong started leaving messages at the newspaper at 8 a.m., reached a reporter by 11 a.m. and the newspaper posted its story on the Web at 1:48 p.m. local time Sunday. At 3:34 p.m. eastern time, The Associated Press finally flashed the news: “Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a hunting trip in Texas.” Fitzgerald said he is “mystified” about the chain of events and that the public should have been notified much earlier, even if the shooter had been some random guy. Even on Monday, the newspaper struggled to get a copy of the accident report. “I think it has become a bigger deal than Mr. Cheney and/or the White House anticipated,” the editor said.
That is perhaps the understatement of the day. McClellan endured two of his testiest briefings ever, with NBC’s David Gregory saying at an off-camera morning briefing that the Administration neglected its duty to put out the information and that White House reporters “don’t care if some ranch owner calls a local paper.” McClellan accused Gregory of grandstanding: “Hold on. Cameras aren’t on right now. You can do this later.” That infuriated Gregory. “You don’t have to yell,” McClellan said. Gregory shot back: “I will yell. If you want to use that podium and try to take shots at me personally, which I don’t appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that’s wrong.” McClellan said: “Calm down, David.”
I don’t even believe this story about Cheney orchestrating the leak to the local paper. But let’s pretend. What did Katherine Armstrong say?
“He got peppered pretty good,” Ms. Armstrong said. “He fell with his head toward me.” She said she ran over to Mr. Whittington, who had fallen, but stayed out of the way while Secret Service agents tended to him.
“There was some bleeding, but it wasn’t horrible,” she said. “He was more bruised.”
Right. It wasn’t horrible. He was bleeding a little and he was bruised. Never mind this:
“Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart … in what we would say is a minor heart attack,” said Peter Banko, administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.
Give me a f’ing break. Cheney blasted this guy so hard that a pellet penetrated his chestplate and lodged in his heart. It’s obvious the reason that no one in the White House made any statements for 20 hours….they were not certain the man would live.
Can we impeach Cheney already? Or just fucking resign. You’re a disgrace.
I’m not a doc, but this topic was covered by at least a couple of sources pre-heart attack, in the context of what the victim’s doctors need to watch for.
The pellet did not have to “penetrated his chestplate”. All it had to do was penetrate an artery or vein big enough to carry the pellet to the heart. Look in a mirror. Chances are pretty darn good that you can see such a possible access point, on your neck, just beneath the skin and often not even covered by cloth.
Whether or not that’s what happened in this case, I dunno. And nobody else here does either.
(That said, add me to the list of hunters (ex-hunter, in my case) who call bullshit on Cheney’s spokesdroid blaming the victim. Accidents do unfortunately happen, but it’s a no-brainer that this accident was the Veep’s fault.)
The pellet is not blocking an artery and it is unlikely it travelled to the heart in an artery.
Could you please translate the medical jargon? Thanks.
anytime there is muscle damage the myoglobin goes up…it is an enzyme…anytime there is a cardiac involvement the triponins go up..meaning inthe case of a heart atack…if these go down quickly, it is a symptom of something that is not actually acute but needs further evals for the reason for this occurence. IN at. fib. this can occurr but is tempory. but one needs to be on cardiac antiarrythmatic drugs.
Seems to me this is more serious than it is being made out to be. This being in intensive care for so long tells me that something is serious. And I am only going by the following: My late father had several heart attacks before having an emergency quadruple bypass at age 70–came thru the surgery fine. Was in itensive care for 2 days.
4 days after surgery, his cheeks were pink, he was sitting up in bed, doing a crossword puzzle and bitching because he couldn’t have coffee. In other words, he was back to his usual self. (And, he was on rx’s for most of his adult life.) Before the surgery, he was so pale, could hardly move, w/o one of the machines buzzing. (That was scary as hell.)
Freaked when I saw Dad afterward–on day 4. He toughed it out–“No big deal, just had a bypass.” Of course he showed off his scar too.
yes, most ppl do recover quite well after a bypass surg.
not really. The guy has two problems. A pellet is touching his upper heart. And the pellet is causing inflammation of tissues around the heart which is applying some pressure.
The pellet is not blocking the blood flow from any artery but is messing up the blood flow anyway.
I’m not a doctor but I don’t believe a 2mm pellet can get lodged in an artery without obstructing the blood flow in that artery.
So, I conclude this pellet did not migrate through the circulatory system, but basically blasted through his breastplate and lodged near his heart.
I could be wrong.
actually anything foreign in the body, can cause problems…infection, inflamation such as this. Pain and swelling is a sign that something is occuring and needs immediate attention, especially in the area of the vital organs..of which the heart is. The heart is a smooth muscle and it can develope many minor/major complications such as pericarditis myocarditis and that is if not dealt with adaquately is a killer.
If in fact a pellet landed, such as shrapnel in soft tissue, it can stay there for years and not cause any problems, of course until it decided to move. Also, the ammo itself is contaminated too, which could cause inflamation and that can be dealt with as well, but in the heart muscle itself, it can lead to very serious problems. One definatley does not want thsi foreign body in the blood stream…no no no!!!!
Add in the fact that the elderly generally have weaker immune systems, are slower to heal, and usually have some type of cardiac disease and/or reduced organ function present, and its definitely not a pretty picture.
actually you are right. and also considering that the man got hit int he face as well, which is full of nerves that are vital for a lot of things. I think we do not know the full ramaifacation of this whole affair, if you ask me.
it is of my opinion that a person of this age group, may already have had a pre-condition of at. fib. and this is just the cover story..but then again this is just me. We simply do not know the mans medical condition prior to the accident, so we can presume to know much of anything except what is given to us via the press. BTW, a silent MI or mycardial Infarction or heart attack is a problem that diabetic have to worry with too.
Read my mind.
I don’t believe a 2mm pellet can get lodged in an artery without obstructing the blood flow in that artery.
I agree with you there.
you got that one right. I think that is why they did the cardiogram to see for themselves if one is in there. or possibly if an occlusion is in fact a reason to be worried. He may also suffer from Coranory artery disease too, for all we know.
That’s the way I remember hearing my late father’s heart condition described–pre-bypass. But, you said earlier that most recover from a bypass. Is what I described earlier re: my Dad’s bypass normal? I mean, the change in him was so dramatic–he could barely move, then 4 days later, back to normal? I still can’t get over that. Most amazing thing I have ever seen.
link
Yes to answer your first question. REason is better and proper aeration of the blood, causing rosey cheeks and feeling better and more lucid and better in spirits. Feeling like they were young once again. Second question, Like I have described here in trying to help you all understand the medical things, is if we knew the patients medical physical history prior to the accident we could probably know better on how to think about all of this. If the Dr.s at the medical center said the patient had good vascualr properties, then we have got to take them at their word. But this is not the only thing this patient has against him, as I see it. Henseforth the discription of mycarditis/pericarditis. Even possiblally pulmonary problems as well. We shall see, wont we????:o)
Feeling like they were young once again.
Even in the hospital, a the day before he was discharged, the surgeon came to see how he was doing, and he told the surgeon that he had never felt better. This was in the mid-80’s when there was actually real medical care in hospitals.
Had pneumonia thru last month, at one of my dr visits, one of the staff said, “A hospital is no place for a sick person.”
Swear to God!
:o)…well a hospital is like a school with lots of sick kids.. In a hospital, a nosicomial infection is always possible if not dealt with in proper ways. This goes without saying. When one has PNX, one can spread the germ that causes PNX too and others can catch it if their immune system is weakened for any reason. I have to be very careful when taking care of patients that they do not give to me their germ..so good hand washing, wearing of a mask, outer covering if appropriate is necessary. Everyone in the hospital setting is sick…so if you want to get better you have to mind what the nurses say and do good hand washing and covering of your mough when coughing, etc..now do I sound professional enough….just kidding with you…
Always blame the victim. Just one of the many odious principles that the lunatics of the Bush regime live by.
everybody would just assume as a matter of course that they were drunk, especially given the peculiar instant coverup, the delay that just happens to defeat the breathalizer.
Around here in the Midwest, hunters are pretty much always drunk. That’s what it’s all about. Every fall, stupid white men emerge from their exurban chateaus like cicadas to head up to the Wisconsin woods. In their designer camo, equipped with sonar or radar or whatever, they stagger about in armed gaggles hoping to kill a deer. Mostly they form circular firing squads and hit each other. The local papers run daily frontpage tallies of the casualties.
Everybody around knows you don’t go for walks in the woods during deer season or bird season because to the drunks everything that moves is fair game. But even these manly men don’t stoop to going after tame little cage-raised birds with bigass shotguns. I guess that’s kind of a specialty for the sort that like to shove firecrackers up frogs’ asses. I wonder if they have a club or a magazine or something — Outdoor Sadism maybe? Even among the manly hunter culture, Cheney and the gang seem to be something special.
Some Dem types are moaning that this story is taking all the air out of more important issues. Maybe, sorta, but it’s also the money shot of what the ruling classes in America really are all about: impunity, stupidity, childish deceitfulness. Maybe this was the shot heard ’round the world, and we’ll finally shake the dirt off and kick worthless assholes like this back to the hellish void they sprang from.
fuck it. No one pays attention to the other stories except us.
given the history of cheney and his heart conditions, he would be very foolish to have been drinking any booz. But then again, this is not a rational man, now is it.
‘Course, he does travel with his very own medical unit (which was what made his election campaign stops in ’04 so very complicated). I’d imagine he feels practically immortal.
On ‘more important stories’: I, personally, bear in mind that we’re dealing with a form of ‘leadership’ that is comprised mainly of perception — and extremely simplified perception, too: Bush the ‘rancher’, Cheney the ‘sportsman’ etc. For better or worse (I vote worse), this is how many people ‘connect’ with these cretins as their leaders; on very simple, iconic terms.
Ergo, a story about Cheney the ‘sportsman’ will resonate in ways that no other matter concerning Cheney will — thanks in no small part to the cultural fact that ‘gun lore’ & gun violence is pushed into every young child’s consciousness as soon as they can sit up in front of a tv/movie screen & keep their eyes open.
Many experienced hunters, too, are finding great interest in the story as something they can relate to on a personal basis.
Now that was a GREAT post, Dave!
Damnit Booman… now I have that song in my head!
😀
“Shot Thru the Heart and You’re To Blame”?
“He Got Peppered Pretty Good”?
“He Was More Bruised”?
“Give Me a F’ing Break”?
“It Wasn’t Horrible”?
“You’re a Disgrace”?
All seem singularly fitting for this special day of love.
Really? I have “Cheney’s got a gun” running through mine.
okay I was drinking iced tea when I read that!! LOL
Good One! 🙂
…somehow never applies to these guys.
What a hateful and incompetent gang they are!
ATRIAL FIB. is a condition that does need medication. If it is nto corrected it can cause further damage to the sinus beat of the heart causing other complications. If not corrected it can cause blood clotting elsewhere inthe body and would most likely cause damage inthe lungs,heart or brain. causing a cardiac condition like Myocardial infarction, blood clot of the lung or infarct in the brain leading to a stroke. It is more serious if the patient has hypertension of diabetes or other medical conditions. So do not kid yourself, this is and can be a very serious condition. They need to adaquately treat such a condition to prevent further complications from occuring.
I wonder if Scalia has any plans to go hunting with the Veep in the near future?
..if he does, I am quite sure he will have a full body armor on and a helmet covering his face and neck too….:o)
So true!
Day 4: Is Cheney at an undisclosed location? Has he surfaced, been heard from directly-not through spokespersons who think it funny?
so much for personal responsibility.
my neighbor is a hunter…. there’s some xplaining needed. How do you shoot someone who comes up from behind you?-less than 30 feet or or even yds away, if the reports have the distance right.
Can you imagine a Kerry, Bill Clinton or Al Gore? The impeachment managers would’ve already assembled.
Not good.
Now that Cheney’s crime spree has finally led him to shooting his own human being personally, will this taste of blood further inflame his sick pathology and lead him to intensify his pattern of murderous criminality like it does with other serial killers and mass murderers?
If so, let’s lock him in a room with the rest of the Bush Administration and not let him out until he’s finished. Then let’s convict him and execute him.
Maryb, I’d say we can just leave him there indefinitely & make absolutely sure his location remains undisclosed.
I’m actually anti death penalty. Which only goes to show you that the most reasonable people can find the most unreasonable statements coming out of their mouths (or, in this case, fingers).
Put him in a cell with Barbara Comstock or Kate O’Bierne. They’d take each other out within 24 hours.
The local sheriff’s office kept its distance, apparently. The Kenedy County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release linked to the Corpus Christi Caller website, http://www.caller.com. It omits stating the timing upon which the sheriff: (1) was notified, (2) began an investigation, (3) interviewed Mr. Whittington, and (4) received the Vice President’s statement. Nevertheless, it concludes that “there was no alcohol or misconduct involved;” and “Mr. Whittington’s interview collaborated Vice President Cheney’s statement.”
The second paragraph reads, in part:
“Due to a lack of communication the personnel manning the front gate upon Kenedy county Officer’s arrival did not have any information and were unaware of the incident. Sheriff Salinas was informed shortly after the incident by Secret Service Agents by phone due to incompatability of radio equipment….”
Incompatibility of radio equipment?
Breaker, breaker.
Just a heartbeat away, folks, a heartbeat away….
Oh I get your point!!!! very clearly…over and out…roger that one….
Isn’t radio incompatibility a pre-9/11 problem?
Has anyone followed up on that? Is this bonafide or bogus?
If the sheriff was kept away for a day or so, how can they be sure than no alcohol was involved?
after McClellan had been informed about the victim’s worsened condition. The question is asked by Carl Cameron from FOX and not surprisingly, is a nice softball:
Scotty knew very well that Mr. Whittington didn’t “seem to be fine” at all.
If Whit was walking to the VP and the Sun was behind him. VP claims he couldn’t see Whit because the Sun was behind Whit. And VP was shooting at ducks that were in the “Sun”. How could he see the ducks in the sun and not see Whit??????????
I am asking because it seems that if Cheney raised his rifle to carefully aim in the direction of the birds, since Whit was shot in the face, that Whit would have seen the raising and aiming of the gun, and made some vocal indication, or perhaps moved out of the way, unless he does not see very well, or unless Cheney’s raise and aim was extremely sudden and rapid, and involved less aim than one usually associates with game shooting. And if Whit does indeed suffer from low vision, why was he walking around in an area where hunting was taking place?
Another question I have, Whit is said to have been shot from some distance, yet his injuries, from what know of them, sound very severe for bird shot injuries from such a great distance.
It also inspires the question, if Cheney was using such a large spray of shot, from a gun of such force that could inflict such injuries on a human being from a long distance, if he had hit the birds, would they not be blown apart and therefore not edible?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/politics/15heart.html?_r=1&oref=slogin