Brian House's Rooster's Perch: Shooting your buddy By Brian House, February 27, 2006 The Vice President shot his hunting buddy Harry Whittington on February 11. It was an accident by all accounts. The details on the incident are fairly straightforward. The Vice President and his friends were quail hunting when Whittington approached from behind without identifying himself and the Vice President swung and shot at what he thought was a quail. The blast struck Whittington in the face, neck and chest with at least one shot penetrating the chest wall, coming into contact with Whittington's heart and causing Whittington to have a heart attack. The Vice President went days without making a comment of any kind about the situation. Some Republican apologists came forward and said it was no big deal, that Whittington had only been "peppered" with birdshot. I'm sorry, I have only been a hunter for 40 years and I thought when a bullet or shot went through the chest wall and into the heart you were shot. Guess I was wrong when I killed all those deer with a shot through the heart. If they had known they had just been peppered they might not have died. It's easy to mistake a man for a quail. A quail weighs about ten ounces and is eight inches long. Whittington appears to be an average sized man who weighs about 200 pounds. I could see how the Vice President could become confused in the heat of the moment. Whittington's hunter orange vest and shotgun would be easy to miss trying to line up on the Whittington quail. Clearly the Vice President had not the slightest idea what he was doing when he swung and fired. An inch or two higher and Whittington would be in the market for a seeing-eye dog. That's what happens when you get peppered instead of shot. The whole thing is preposterous. It's more than embarrassing if you are a hunter. It's shameful. The first thing any child is taught about a gun is never point it at something you don't intend to shoot. Hunters go further in training their children and teach them not to pull the trigger until you are certain you know your target. My father taught me this and I have taught my son the same. It's a concept so fundamental to safe and responsible hunting that any hunter who breaches these fundamental principals of the sport may soon find himself without hunting partners or a citation for shooting the wrong animal or bird. Because our Vice President did this thing it matters a great deal. It is no secret that Mr. Cheney is sustained by a pacemaker and had circulatory problems serious enough that blood clots have been a problem for him in the past year. Was he even healthy enough to be out in the field lugging around a gun? Did he possess the reflexes necessary to hunt? Obviously not. He's just not healthy enough to be out and about anymore with a gun in his hand. Had the Vice President shot one of his grandchildren I know he would agree with me. Even more troubling though was the Vice President's refusal to be forthcoming with the American people about the whole affair. When he was elected to office he surrendered the privilege to remain an anonymous, private citizen. His life and how he conducts himself should be subject to our scrutiny so we can assess whether he is capable of carrying out the duties of President should anything happen to President Bush. How you walk, how you talk, how you manage everyday activities are the currency of life the American people understand and know how to evaluate in the lives of our public leaders. Our leaders know that and that is why they struggle to keep so much of it from us. In the final analysis of this shooting I conclude based upon the information the Vice President allowed me to have that he is a doddering old hunter well past his prime who could not tell the difference between a man and a bird and should hang up his guns. For once, I'm rooting for George Bush to stay in office. Getting down from my perch now. [Brian House, a London Kentucky attorney and freelance writer. Brian can be reached at bchouse@alltel.net.]