The Veep on Fox

"Our objective was to get the whole story out in a consecutive way. He wanted a long form. We had no desire for anything other than comprehensive and hard questions."

Matalin said Cheney considered holding a news conference, but that "would have meant a lot of grandstanding" by reporters. "Everyone asks the same questions so they can get on their networks," she said. Matalin said she didn't think "any purpose would be served"by the vice president doing further interviews because every news organization will excerpt the Fox session.

A New York Times review by Alessandra Stanley:

"Dick Cheney said there was nothing wrong with his handling of Saturday's shooting accident except, of course, his aim. . . .

"Most V.I.P.'s in trouble choose the safe waters of Larry King on CNN to do damage control. Mr. Cheney chose what this administration views as the even more secure location of a Fox News interview. The ritual of contrition and defiance is a time-honored television tradition, from Nixon's Checkers speech to James Frey's recent show trial on Oprah. But while Mr. Cheney is highly experienced at defending government policy on television, this was his first venture into the confessional TV close-up.

"He chose a proactive defense, accepting blame for what he had done but arguing that there was nothing wrong with what he had not done."

Ron Brownstein offers this LAT analysis:

"The Cheney shooting and the Katrina response have raised tough questions about what the president knows, when he knows it and how the White House shares information with elected officials and the public.

"The hunting imbroglio has sparked a related question about Bush's management style: whether he has provided the vice president too much autonomy in an administration in which Cheney has wielded as much influence as any second in command. . . .

"One GOP fundraiser close to the White House said he thought the administration's response to the news that Cheney had mistakenly shot a fellow hunter Saturday so closely replicated the Katrina experience that he wondered, 'Is this a bad dream we are seeing again?'"

Some insta-reactions, first from Andrew Sullivan:

"Well, I just watched the veep. He has a calming demeanor and an under-rated TV presence. But two things he dodged. The first was the question of whether he had been following the usual hunting protocols. I have no clue what those are and defer to others. But his formula of taking full responsibility, and giving the bottom line as "I shot the gun," doesn't answer the question of whether he was negligent in the way he was hunting. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt his old friend; and I'm sure his friend won't hold it against him. But it does make a difference if this was an accident that could happen under perfect hunting protocols or not. . . .