You wanna know what fries me about the draft-dodger, chickenshit chickenhawk Dick Cheney’s self-serving speech yesterday to the Wyoming legislature, whose members probably spent last night gargling straight bourbon after all that over-the-top histrionic screaming and cheering as Cheney stepped to the roster? (To replicate the sound, mix 500 Britney Spears screamin’ fans with those annual phony, pseudo-military SOTU hurrahs.)


Here’s what fried me: Dick waxing fondly about his cozy, early-married days while tens of thousands of other young men his age were dying in Vietnam.

The first years of our marriage were spent at Laramie in student housing, while Lynne taught in the English Department and I was a graduate student … [it’s] more than four decades since the first time I stepped foot into this chamber, back in 1965 …[…]


It was a very different time. In those days there was no legislative staff to speak of, one attorney, as I recall, who served both chambers, and a few secretaries; and two interns, one for each chamber. I was the Senate intern and also a first-year graduate student at the University of Wyoming. In addition, I was a newlywed — so you can bet I drove home to Laramie every night. (Laughter.)


Those 40 days in 1965 constituted the entire session of the Wyoming 38th Legislature, and for me the experience was one of life’s turning points. … (From the Wyoming speech, with its nifty title — “Vice President’s Remarks at the 2006 Wyoming Legislature Budget Session” — White House V.P. site)


What a sweet life, eh? Cheney got five deferments to keep that sweet life goin’ and his political career blossoming.


He gets to brag about having a hot sex life with Lynne every night (while she got through it by fantasizing about Lesbian lovers, no doubt). While other young men and women never got to get married or — if they were — see their spouses or their children again. Or even have children.

The modus operandi? “Let the other guys die and get shot up; Dick’s stayin’ alive. Let the schmoozing and networking begin. And, at times like this (after shooting a liberal Republican), boy aren’t those old buddies handy for a fuzzy wuzzy pump-me-up! session?”

Some observers were surprised — but we aren’t, are we — that Cheney’s canned speech mentioned his shooting victim, Harry Whittington, only once, almost in passing.

Keith Olbermann noted last night (no transcript yet) that Dick Cheney’s approval ratings have sunk to 29%. BooMan wrote that Peggy Noonan put up a WSJ trial balloon to see if this’d be a good time to dump the chickenshit chickenhawk. For certain, it’s a mess:

Vice President Dick Cheney said he didn’t immediately disclose his hunting accident because he wanted the confusing details to come out right. Instead, authorized accounts came out slowly ā€” and often still wrong.

The result: a week of shifting blame, belatedly acknowledged beer consumption (not “zero” drinking after all) and evolving discrepancies in how the shooting happened, its aftermath and the way it was told to the nation. … “VP Accident Tale Filled With Discrepancies,” A.P./Yahoo, 25 minutes ago

Taylor Marsh has interviewed many hunting experts and gives great credit to Alex Jones and others at INFOWARS.com who conducted a scientific ballistics test, available via video. Among their preliminary findings:


  • “Cheney claims that he shot Whittington at 90 feet” … “As Alex Jones says and illustrates in the video, most of the bbs go around the victim at 90 yards. In our own Dick Cheney field test, we discerned the same pattern …”


  • “”The pieces of shot didn’t even penetrate” the rubber dummy Alex Jones was using in his simulation video, shooting at 30 yards. Whittington had on three layers of clothing, an undershirt, a jacket and a safety vest, but Jones only used two layers of clothing. The pellets ‘simply bounced off.’ Some went in 1/10th of a millimeter, some went into the dummy 1 millimeter. The rubber dummy simulates human skin rather closely.”


  • “Jones reminds us that Cheney says he wheeled 180 degrees around, which is a real break in hunting rules. You never shoot anywhere but in front of you …” (There’s more)


Taylor Marsh, at the end of her piece, does offer this caveat: “Alex Jones has put forth many a conspiracy theories in his time, no doubt. You will have to consider that as well as you view the video. I certainly did.”


Also, a conservative blogger at Riehl World View Blog wrote a detailed description of his own scientific analyses, and comes up with an entirely different conclusion:

Either way, there’s absolutely no reason to conclude reports as regards the distance being 30 yards are inaccurate . It’s simply more wishful thinking by the Cheney hunting left. Frankly, given their accuracy, I think I’d prefer to hunt with the VP.


Since I know zilch about guns – and have no desire to learn – I’ll stay open-minded.


Taylor Marsh analyzes the scientific info further:

Alex Jones believes Whittington was shot at 15-18 feet. Our assessment, after our field test, was around 15 feet as well. Though very hard to view, this simulation is much better and more accurate than the previous one offered, though I understand it was well intentioned. It’s just that after our own research there is simply no way Dick Cheney was 30 yards away from Mr. Whittington.


The evidence is amassing so that the mainstream media will have to eventually pick this fact up, hopefully with other gun and bird experts weighing in.


One thing Jones also talks about is a one-foot area of birdshot. But as Dr. Bernadine Healy said earlier this week, reports also show that Mr. Whittington was hit in his lungs and liver, making the area closer to a two-foot pattern of birdshot. This actually makes Jones’ and our case stronger. In fact, Dr. Healy said that Whittington was actually “shot in the heart,” throwing question on the “mild heart attack” report, which others have also questioned.


As Jones also points out, as have doctors, it’s impossible to imagine the birdshot going through Whittington’s three layers of clothing, his skin, his muscle, ribcage, gristle, bones, the muscles around the heart, to lodge in his heart. It just doesn’t add up. We know the pellet couldn’t have drifted into the heart because the bbs were too large.


It’s obvious that the reason Dick Cheney refused to talk to authorities is he was covering something up. No other American could get away with ignoring authorities after a shooting accident. … (Read all, and get embedded links.)


Hey, I know this’ll probably go nowhere fast. But, as we’ve discussed here this last week, it’s part of the pattern. Most egegriously, a lack of responsibility. Then there’s the carelessness, the lack of consideration or even consciousness of other human beings’ lives, the self-serving lies and cover-ups, and the callousness:

Today, as you know, Whittington was kicked out of the hospital. I say it that way because there can be no doubt that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush needed Mr. Whittington out before the start of the weekend. (Taylor Marsh)


Keith Olbermann did a fine skeptic’s analysis Thursday night and Friday night (no transcript yet).

And, actor Alec Baldwin asks, “Will They Go to Court?” over at Huffington Post:

Cheney is a terrorist. He terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately. Who ever thought Harry Whittington would be the answer to America’s prayers. Finally, someone who might get that lying, thieving Cheney into a courtroom to answer some direct questions.


I doubt that Harry’ll ever go after Dick and expose more of his lies. After all, Whittington made an overt apology to Cheney yesterday, as if to brush the entire matter under the rug. (The ruling class takes care of each other too well to let petty lawsuits mess things up.)


I mean: Whittington’s so decent he actually cares about things like prison reform and treatment. What a loser.