Was Cheney's Shooting A Godfather-like Message To Scooter Libby?

Has anyone seen this column from Barry Saunders at the Raleigh News and Observer? He postulates that:

Just as surely as a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest means "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes," that shotgun blast to Whittington's face was meant to convey that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby had better bite his tongue and forget about testifying against Cheney, his former boss, in the Valerie Plame spy case.

What'll it be, Scooter: a case of amnesia or lead poisoning?

   Now Saunders may be kidding (or may NOT be kidding), but it would be pretty apt timing for such a message to Scooter, would it not? Perhaps our fearless quail-hunter just made an honest error...he's understandably under a lot of stress and he thought a nice pseudo-safari might help him relax or feel like a big man or whatever...I'm not quite sure of the motivations here for a frightening draft-dodging warmonger like ol' Dick.
   But perhaps there's something to this theory. I'm still not convinced Libby would be so quick to betray his boss as he surely knows what the guy's capable of. If Cheney would plan an unprovoked war against a country that posed no threat and would craft a flatly immoral and illegal torture policy...As he's had a thirty year thirst to spy on American citizens and he now gets to act like the dictator he's always wanted to be...is there any doubt that Libby would probably know what he could be in for if he was to stab Dick in the back? Those that don't play his game, Joe Wilson and his wife for example, have certainly learned that even treason isn't off-limits for our VICE President if you cross him. Nevertheless, this could have served as a timely reminder. As Attorney General Gonzales said of the terrorists during his wiretapping hearings, "They sometimes forget."

•  I'm sure any threats to libby

  would not be so public.  To accidental shootings would be a little hard to buy.

  by sgilman on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:13:29 PM PDT

  •  Doh

    to = two

    by sgilman on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:13:48 PM PDT

•  Yeah, when I want to threaten someone

  
  I wing a senior citizen. That really sends the message loud and clear.

  by howth of murph on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:18:21 PM PDT

•  that's crazy talk

  There are infinitely less costly ways to get the message across...  like, you send a guy to visit Scooter and he makes the consequences known.  It's not like in the movies, where some Hollywood hotshot who pretty much is king of his world needs to be reminded with a horse's head that there are other powers.

  Libby knows what threats can be made; there's no need to risk KILLING a faithful Republican ally.  I don't know how they keep all of GWB's coke-snorting buddies quiet for decades, and how they keep all of his TANG buddies certain he did his time, but I'm sure Libby has some idea.

  The WH is already screaming in pain over the way the VP's office has been handling the media.

  This is crazy talk.  Stop it.  

  by Pondite on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:18:46 PM PDT

•  This administration isn't so subtle.

  They would send the whole body with a note attached.  Sadly, they'd probably get away with it.

  by tjb22 on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:21:03 PM PDT

•  I'm Going to Assume You're Kidding

  So I don't have to use words like "stupid" and "absurd" (since BushCo came to power I find I'm usually kinda short on those, I use them up pretty quick)...

  by The Baculum King on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:21:09 PM PDT

•  Hey I'm not saying I believe it...

  I'm just saying it's an interesting take on the story that nobody seems to have brought up thus far. For just a simple hunting accident, there's been a whole lot of dissembling even for this lot...

  by methodishca on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:23:59 PM PDT

  •  It's Really Pretty Simple

    Neo-Cons believe, based on their Holy Book, that they will literally burst into flame if they ever admit screwing up.

    I don't know exactly what happened, but any time you are hunting quail and shoot a lawyer, you have screwed up, just as surely as shooting a quail while hunting lawyers. They dreamed up the scenario that would put the least possible blame on the only person with any responsibility for it happening, the guy with the gun. The fact that the scenario is not merely implausible but actually physically impossible matters little.

    Keeping Darth Cheney from bursting into flames is what counts.

    by The Baculum King on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:32:26 PM PDT

    •  You make a good point...

      and you made me laugh! No matter what happened, quail hunting sounds like the lamest sport of all time. Perhaps it's time for a Nerf hunting set for those tired of battling the pesky quail...

      by methodishca on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:40:04 PM PDT

      •  This Wasn't Quail Hunting, It Was Shooting

        Quail hunting is an afternoon walking the fields watching a superbly-trained pair of dogs do what they were bred to do, what they live to do, and when they do everything just right you do your best to hit the quail when it flushes, so you don't get the look a bird dog will give you if you miss and don't give it a bird to retrieve...

        Quail shooting is the inefficient slaughter of poultry, nothing more.

        by The Baculum King on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 09:00:04 PM PDT

        •  funny...

          the Vice President and the ranch owner seem to THINK they WERE hunting...maybe that's why I'm confused... I didn't think this activity of theirs sounded like real hunting. I didn't think real hunters pull up in a truck and just hop out and start shooting.

          by methodishca on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 09:09:22 PM PDT

          •  Cheney is a Game Hog

            He keeps score by body count and enjoys the killing.

            Three hunters out behind a pair of good dogs, hunting wild birds, will be perfectly happy if the afternoon produces a dozen solid points, where the pointing dog nails the bird down (there is a chess game within the game between the bird on the ground and the dog), and the second dog solidly "backing" the point, and maybe 8 birds.

            Cheney prefers to shoot 71 pen-raised (poultry) pheasants...

            by The Baculum King on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 09:21:19 PM PDT

            •  Dogs

              I guess i hadn't thought about the role of the dogs...
              So where were the dogs?
              why was the Whittington guy going for retrieving his dogs bird?  
              I would imagine with all the money these fellas have and this big ol ranch they wouldve had highly trained dogs to do the retrieving.
              If that be the case then maybe he W'ton, wasn't retireiving the bird as the story says....
              just doesnt make sense
              

              by SouthPaul on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 09:44:01 PM PDT

              •  The Absence of Dogs Makes This a Canned Hunt

                If you take pen-raised quail out and turn them loose near or in a patch of cover, a brush pile or patch of tall grass, they will "hold" in that cover for several hours unless you drive up and "kick them out".

                Cheney physically can't follow dogs hunting wild birds.

                by The Baculum King on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 09:48:39 PM PDT

  •  Sometimes imagination gets too close to truth

    It's hard to know what to believe given the track record of these habitual liars.  Occam's razor says to me that they simply hoped thought that the 78 year-old target suffered only superficial wounds that MEN could laugh off later.  Then when later was determined to include extensive time in ICU... the (original) jig was up.  

    They didn't have a very good backup plan (blame victim, blame media, blame anybody ELSE)... but then... this kinda shit isn't supposed to happen... is it?

    The tinfoil side of me says... I might believe it if Cheney was bold enough - or stressed enough under the current set of conditions - that if a member of his hunting party were to mention to DICK that PERHAPS this little NSA wiretapping thing oughta be brought under some ummm ... what's the word, damn... oversight... yeah, that's it... we might... BLAM !!!

    At which point DICK might ask... anybody else wanna challenge my authority?

    I look at the current administration as an American version of the mafia.  It's a wholly owned (R) crime syndicate.  Powerless to police itself any longer.

    by dalemac on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 09:24:33 PM PDT

•  If Brownie didn't wake up to

  a horse's head yet, it's clear these guys don't have the whole mob intimidation thing down yet....

  But then with all the blackmail material you can cull from unrestricted eavesdropping and data mining..... why kill an innocent horse?

  But then the Machieavellian might be thinking that the US corporatocracy is starting too get nervous and is looking for a way to get the hicks from Mayberry out of office before the whole damn economy collapses..... there's a limit to a tolerance for incompetence.... when it starts interfering with business....

  by xrepub on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:51:12 PM PDT

•  *My money's on DRUNK*

  As in pissy, sloppy assed drunk. I think that's why they wouldn't let law enforcement interview him until the next day. Gotta make sure any witnesses are all on the same page, too, and nobody strays off the reservation and mentions how much Dick had had to drink.

  by cackyp on Tue Feb 14, 2006 at 08:58:25 PM PDT

•  Scooter already knows his role

  'the aspens are turning because their roots are intertwine' etc. As more than one person noticed, they burn together for the same reason. In the end the courts/juries will probably find that Cheney set an atmosphere where there could be the 'casual disbursment of classified info' because Cheney apparently can declassify info at will (some say there is a protocol others say not, in any case IANAL). Anyway the charges of conspiracy and deliberately outing a CIA agent are very very hard to prove, so Libby can easily draw out the prosecution for perjury and obstruction past 2008, get a pardon, and Cheney gets off free. My vote: shooting is not a warning.

  by sailmaker on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 01:08:18 AM PDT