Gunning for Cheney

"It is unfortunate that upland bird hunting has gotten this kind of bad press because of irresponsible hunting practices by a prominent member of the upper class. Hunting preserves open spaces for use by all; hunting connects younger generations with the land and with traditions; hunting is about conservation. As a hunter and conservationist, I feel misrepresented by Cheney and his ilk. They portray hunting as a sport for the rich, carried out on vast private lands, where pulling the trigger takes priority over everything else."

Ed Morrissey rips The Post's Dana Milbank for appearing with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in an orange cap and orange safety vest:

"No, this isn't a tryout for America's Worst-Dressed Nerds; it's Milbank trying to be funny and only succeeding at being funny-looking. Since when do serious journalists pull stunts like this? Heck, most bloggers I know wouldn't be dumb enough to dress like this on national TV even as a joke, not if they wanted to maintain any credibility.

"Memo to the Exempt Media: it was an accident. Report it and get over it, and then shut . . . up so that we can listen to the real comedians make fun of Dick Cheney. Anyone want to guess how much higher the ratings for Jay and Dave will be tonight?"

I missed the memo. When did we become the exempt media, and what are we exempt from ? The normal rules of human discourse?

"And while we're at it, can we all just calm down about the White House waiting all of eighteen hours to release the news of the shooting? When the shooting occurred, I for one am glad that the first thought through Cheney's mind wasn't 'Gee, how soon do I need to put out a news release?' I understand that the White House press pool feels put out because the story got covered by a local Corpus Christi newspaper instead of the courtiers in DC, but all this fuss over eighteen hours is sheer silliness. It's not a cover-up, people. It's not even a crime to have a hunting accident, and it's certainly not a crime not to report it to the Exempt Media, no matter how mad it makes them."

Wonkette takes a stand on the orange-outfitted Milbank:

"Journalistic ethics? Pish posh! We're more concerned about his fashion transgressions."

The heavily exercised White House media contingent is late to the party and missing the point, says the Nation's John Nichols x

"The White House press corps, taking a break from its usual stenography duties, actually roused itself to ask truth-impaired spokesman Scott McClellan some tough questions about Dick Cheney. Unfortunately, while it was good to see a few reporters rise from their bended knees, they were asking the wrong questions about the wrong issue.

"What got the press corps all hot and bothered was the fact that Cheney and his aides kept details about the vice president shooting a man secret for the better part of 24 hours, and then slipped the story to a local paper in the city nearest the Texas dude ranch where the incident took place.

"Most of Monday's 41-minute-long White House press briefing was taken up with questions about the gun-slinger-in-chief's penchant for secrecy and the bloody details of the shot Cheney's hunting buddy took to the face. But what was especially clear was that the members of the press corps do not like to get scooped on the story of a vice presidential shooting sprees by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. . . .

"To be sure, a trigger-happy vice president makes for good feature stories -- not to mention good comedy. But where were the demands for answers, where was the cries for accountability, where were the shows of righteous indignation last week, when it was revealed by the National Journal that Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, had told a federal grand jury he was 'authorized' by Cheney and other White House 'superiors' to disclose classified information to journalists as part of a plot to defend the Bush administration's manipulation of prewar intelligence to make the 'case' for going to war with Iraq."

I checked, and Cheney's office had no comment on that story. What a shock.

Betsy's Page wonders if this is just Beltway myopia:

"I suspect that the great majority of the American people realize that this was an accident. They know that Cheney must feel awful about injuring his friend. But they also know that the American people didn't suffer by having to wait a day over the weekend to learn the story. I wonder how many of the Washington press corps have ever been hunting in their lives."

Actually, Cheney probably does feel awful about injuring his friend. But how would we know that since he hasn't uttered a syllable in public?

The LAT , meanwhile, describes how Abramoff, for $1.2 million, kept calling Karl Rove until he got the embattled prime minister of Malaysia a meeting with Bush.