The Veep on Fox

"The press corps is outraged that the White House waited 20 hours or so to disclose that Vice President Dick Cheney had shot a hunting companion, and we can see why. Don't these Bush people understand that the coverup is worse than the crime?

"In the name of media solidarity, and in the interest of restraining the Imperial Presidency, we have put together the following coverup timeline with crucial questions that deserve to be answered:

"· 5:30 p.m., Saturday (all times Central Standard Time). Mr. Cheney sprays Harry Whittington with birdshot, and the Secret Service immediately informs local police. Who is Harry Whittington and whom does he lobby for? Does he know Scooter Libby?

"· 6:30 p.m. White House Chief of Staff Andy Card informs President Bush that there's been a hunting accident involving the Vice President's party. Did Mr. Bush ask follow-up questions? Was he intellectually curious?

"· 7 p.m. Karl Rove tells Mr. Bush that it is Mr. Cheney who did the shooting. Why was this detail withheld for a full 30 minutes from the President? Who else did Mr. Rove talk to about this in the interim? Was Valerie Plame ever mentioned?"

Expose the Left really sinks low:

"Cheney . . . has not killed anyone, yet, and you better believe liberals are praying (sorry forgot that they are Godless) that Whittington dies."

Yeah, those libs will be popping the bubbly if a 78-year-old man dies, just so Cheney will look bad.

Slate's John Dickerson gives a hunter's-eye view of the controversy:

"I own a rifle. I treasure it. (It was my Dad's Winchester .22, which he was given when he was a boy.) I will teach my kids how to shoot when they're old enough. I grew up hunting squirrels and birds but stopped 23 years ago. I've shot skeet a fair amount. I wouldn't mind learning how to hunt with a shotgun, though I'm too much of a wuss to kill any animal my kids might watch talking to them on Saturday morning. I would not like to learn with Dick Cheney because I don't want to get peppered, sprayed, or wind up dead, which is a condition without appealing euphemisms. . . .

"Maybe the disclosures above will allow me to ask a political question without readers assuming I hate gun owners: Shouldn't hunters and those who care about the Second Amendment be taking the Cheney accident just a wee bit more seriously? Be sanctimonious, get enraged, but it seems hypocritical (and unsafe) to have talked for so many years about the American tradition of gun ownership and the responsibility that inherently goes along with that tradition and then go wobbly on safety when your ally has a misfire."

Another earmark scandall? USA Today has the details:

"Sen. Arlen Specter helped direct almost $50 million in Pentagon spending during the past four years to clients of the husband of one of his top aides, records show.

"Specter, R-Pa., used a process called 'earmarking' 13 times to set aside $48.7 million for six clients represented by lobbyist Michael Herson and the firm he co-founded, American Defense International. The clients paid Herson's firm nearly $1.5 million in fees since 2002, federal lobbying records show.

"Herson's wife, Vicki Siegel Herson, is Specter's legislative assistant for appropriations."

Meanwhile, this Michelle Malkin post is rather scary:

"Last Tuesday, during or immediately after my appearance on Fox News Channel to discuss the Mohammed Cartoons, this blog was hit by a large, foreign-based denial of service attack. Last night, my hosting service notified me that it is receiving ongoing threats from individuals vowing to take down this site--and others along with it--which will presumably continue until I take down the cartoons. For now, we are on guard and continuing with business as usual."