Press Secretary hopes to end speculation about shooting
The White House today released a photograph of Austin lawyer and Republican contributor Harry Whittington with President Bush and Vice President Cheney taken at a fund-raising event in Houston in May 2004. The photograph turned up during an exhaustive search by White House staff members for any record showing Administration officials with indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Press Secretary Scott McClellan said he hoped the photograph would dispel any notion that the Vice President was at fault in spraying Whittington with shotgun fire from a distance of about 15 feet while hunting quail.
"I think you can all understand how an accident such as this could happen, even with an outdoorsman as cool and experienced as the Vice President," McClellan stated. "Dick Cheney is an excellent shot. It's not as though he's some Bill or Hillary Clinton, gunning down Vice Foster then covering it up. Mr. Cheney is a Wyoming rancher and all-around manly and statesmanlike figure."
Mr. McClellan went on to say that Mr. Cheney bears Mr. Whittington no ill will despite his ruining a day on which the Vice President bagged 500,000 farm-raised birds. Mr. and Mrs. Cheney have sent Mr. Whittington a get-well card and an orange safety vest emblazoned with the Vice Presidential seal.
McClellan added that the White House staff continues to be unable to find any relevant photographs of Mr. Abramoff.