Just us Lefties Pt 3

Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer

added to the growing criticism of Vice President Dick Cheney‘s handling of the weekend shooting incident in Texas, telling E&P this afternoon that it “crosses the threshold of news worthiness that ought to be announced and explained.”

Former Reagan and Bush Sr. press secretary Marlin Fitzwater

criticized Vice President Dick Cheney Tuesday for delaying the release of information about his hunting accident on Saturday, saying Cheney “ignored his responsibility to the American people.” He told E&P he was “appalled by the whole handling of this.”

US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX):

“I’m sure that they wish that they had handled it differently. I’m sure they maybe thought that it wasn’t so serious, but it has turned out to be,” said Ms. Hutchison, a member of the Senate GOP leadership. “I don’t know what their thinking was in not saying anything about it.

Former Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN):

“I cannot believe he does not look back and say this should have been handled differently.” Cheney “made it a much bigger issue than it needed to be.”

Current and former White House officials:

said Cheney’s refusal to address the issue or accept any blame has the potential to become a political problem for Bush because it reinforces the image of a secretive and above-the-law White House. Top White House aides are pressuring Cheney to discuss the incident as early as today, according to people familiar with the matter.

Comments

Nick in Beantown says:

February 15, 2006 at 1:21 pm

From MSNBC:

Foxâ€™s Brit Hume, who conducted the interview, said Cheney told him he had â€œa beerâ€ with lunch hours before the accident. Hume said Cheney told him â€œno one was drinkingâ€ while hunting.

Without law enforcement on the scene immediately after the event, a 30-rack could be a beer for all we know. Given that and the fact that no one could get their story straight until Monday, I gotta wonder…

Beyond that, it appears that Katherine Armstrong, who initially reported the incident to the local paper, is also a Republican lobbyist.
Nick in Beantown says:

February 15, 2006 at 1:35 pm

Oh yeah, and this link also has him on the record as accepting responsibility, almost 4 days after the event…
JimC says:

February 15, 2006 at 1:44 pm

Oh yeah, and this link also has him on the record as accepting responsibility, almost 4 days after the eventâ€¦

Please, publically accepting responsibility, let’s get it straight. He obviously took legal responsibility when he gave his statement to the police…
Nick in Beantown says:

February 15, 2006 at 1:58 pm

Please, publically accepting responsibility, letâ€™s get it straight. He obviously took legal responsibility when he gave his statement to the policeâ€¦

Consulting my trusty thesaurus, legal and public do not seem to be synonyms. Would you have been happier with me saying that this chicken shit finally spoke to the press? A police report is one thing, going back into the public eye and accepting responsibility in view of said eye is quite different.

Somehow I don’t think you could get it straight even if you were working with these guys.
matt says:

February 15, 2006 at 2:09 pm

He obviously took legal responsibility when he gave his statement to the policeâ€¦

no one here is talking about “legal” except for you.
Myself says:

February 16, 2006 at 5:29 am

He should take responsibilty, he shot the guy. Who else is going to “take responsibilty”?? I think the media should be focusing more on the administration trying to push thier domstic spying program to the American people, rather than a hunting accident. Takig away Americans freedom is a little more important. But, once again something comes about at a perfect time to take away the attention of the important issues. It seems this administrations luck (unfortunate for Dicks hunting buddy) of things happening to take take the spot light off important issues has become the norm!