Bang! Bang!

What a card, your Cheney, Bush! He goes out gunning for quail and he bags his hunting chum! I was going to say something yesterday, when I first heard the news, but held back because I thought it would be a cheap shot (excuse the pun!) He certainly came in for a lot of those on late-night television.

On second thoughts, though, is it really so damn funny? I mean, isn't the first rule of gun-toting of any kind to be sure what's in your sights before you pull the trigger? All very well for your Cheney's folks to imply it was the victim's fault (creeping up behind him without warning, standing in the line of fire of the Vice President of the United States!) My understanding is that it's the man with his finger on the trigger who's responsible for the direction of his bullets. Suppose, I wondered--I suspect we all have wondered--suppose this guy had not merely been injured, but had died as a result of Cheney's carelessness? An inch or two either way, a shift in elevation, a moment's change in relative positioning... who knows? And would we then have been so inclined to laugh the incident off? The Vice President of the United States on a manslaughter charge? And even had he managed to avoid any legal repercussions, how would we all have processed such a mind-boggling event?

Hmmm.... So my indulgent smile turned to a certain, less forgiving anger as I mulled this over. An accident, of course. But even in an accident, there's usually some human inattention that's to blame. And in the work I do with men, Bush, we have an oft repeated adage: "There are no accidents." If there's some truth to that, then maybe we should be taking a good look at what it was about your Cheney that gave him permission to pull the trigger on a hunting friend? Could it be that in his arrogant self-assurance he felt he could do no wrong? Is he possibly addicted to his own overweening power? Does he secretly nurse a fuck-you attitude to the rest of the world? A habit of dangerous mindlessness?

Not funny, then. Especially not funny when you begin to see what an apt metaphor this incident is for your adventure in Iraq--of which your Cheney, as I recall, was a prime instigator. Shoot first, in haste. Hit the wrong target. Then muddle through the consequences as best you can. Blame the victim. Delay exlanations and stall questions for as long as you can. Then spin for all you're worth. Not funny, Bush. Not funny at all.