u235

The story has a bit more to it than that though. It was bird shot from a 28 gauge shotgun at about 30 feet. The reason the man was shot is that is walked into the target area unannounced to retrieve a bird. When Cheney took a shot at a bird, the extra shot fell to the ground, some of which injured Whittington.

Bird shot isn't a particularly dangerous type of shot. Many bird hunters will get "peppered" when hunting with friends. For the most part, the shot won't even do more than scratch. If he wasn't hunting with the VP, it's doubtful he would have sought medical attention.

In this case, he didn't just get scratched; he was taken to intensive care.

While this story is funny, I don't think it's at all meaningful. Hunting accidents happen; it's not a reflection on Cheney or the administration.

Actually while the event its self is just barely newsworthy - the fact that it was not openly reported to the media for most of the day does strike a note.

Putting aside that Mr. Cheney was hunting illegally (without the proper license to hunt game birds), the actual information was leaked to the press by the hunting party host and made only to a local paper.

What essentially was a minor incident was essentially "covered up" for bad press reasons. Of course Bush didn't even know, but then he doesn't know much anyway....

The guy was 78 too. At that age, a stiff breeze will break the skin. So I can kind of see the intensive care.

Hmm, lets think about this. If the guy just got hit in the face and neck it's damn hard for birdshot to enter his heart. Sounds more like he got blasted at point-blank.....