Dick Cheney - Hard Target

This Cheney hunting incident is interesting, mostly for the way in which it's turned all of the American newsmedia into the Daily Show, although it was headed that way regardless. The Howard Kurtz column this morning explains how interested parties and commentators aren't sure whether this is just an unfortunate random (and really funny, unless you're the guy Cheney shot) incident involving the VP or whether it says something serious about the administration, in an indirect sense, while on the surface being just an unfortunate random (and really funny) incident involving the VP. Cheney's lack of accessibility and permanent scowl do nothing but compound the indirect significance, curiousness and hilarity of the incident.

Yes, the story does demonstrate in personal, easy to digest terms the degree of secrecy the VP likes to maintain, his discomfort with and distrust of the media, and his surprisingly good aim (that was a 30-yard head shot, after all.) Still, there's something about this incident that still doesn't make complete sense, even with these factors taken into account.

The shooting has been universally proclaimed an accident, but what kind of accident? I suspect that the VP's choice to unload while Mr. Whittington was in the line of fire is actually more understandable than we're being led to believe. I suggest that Whittington made the mistake of wearing a somewhat weathered jacket or a worn out pair of slacks, or had forgotten to shave for a few days and the Vice President reasonably mistook him for one of the homeless Vietnam veterans that he and his wealthy friends usually hunt on these trips. Certainly, that's a mistake we can all see ourselves making.

I anticipate that Lance Henriksen will appear at a press conference later this week, after which the press interest will fade.