I am not a hunter and never have been. In fact, I've never held any kind of gun. So as all the stories and spin swirl around about the Cheney shooting, I can't really connect it to any personal experience I've had hunting quail in the brush.
But Mike Hendricks can. Hendricks is a columnist for our staid local paper, the Kansas City Star, and he is an experienced hunter. In today's column he does a superb job of blasting holes (sorry, everyone else is having fun with the puns, so I have to join in!) in two key pieces of misinformation about the Whittington shooting that Cheneyco has tried to spread through the media. At the same time, he pokes fun at all the media folks trying to talk about hunting when it is clear that they, like me, have no idea what hunting is all about. Jump down for more.
Misconception #1: In describing the shooting, Cheneyco tries to make it seem that there's nothing unusual about hunters just blasting away willy nilly, and everyone else around just has to hope they aren't in the line of fire. Hendricks points that nothing could be further from the truth, and that hunters always put safety first:
Look, pal. No matter how Scott McClellan spins it, standard procedure is not to shoot first and ask questions later. That's our defense policy, not the rules of engagement on a hunting trip.
As a hunter, you never shoot unless you're certain the field of fire is clear of dogs, trucks, farmhouses and 78-year-old lawyers from Austin.
Misconception #2: This is the most important point that Hendricks makes. Cheneyco has tried to spin this story to say that it was Whittington's fault for not "announcing himself" to Cheney and for getting in the line of fire. Hendrick states in no uncertain terms that in the sport of hunting the shooter is always responsible for his or her actions, and is always responsible for making sure they don't shoot anyone:
It wasn't Whittington's fault. Virtually the only time getting shot while hunting is your own fault is when you shoot yourself by accident. Or if you're wearing antlers as a joke during deer season.
But as I said, it's understandable how McClellan and some members of the press corps got that wrong.
Good chance they don't hunt. And, if you want to know the truth of it, these days neither does Cheney.
Hendricks goes on to criticize Cheney for the type of hunting he favors, going to private game farms to shoot farm-raised birds: "If that's hunting, then the guy with the stun gun at the packinghouse needs a hunting license, too."
But my favorite piece from the column is a term Hendricks uses (which I haven't seen mentioned on dkos yet) that he is sure will become the standard phrase hunters will use from now on to describe a hunting accident: "Pulling a Cheney."