Calling All Wingnuts

Sometimes I screw up.

The text of the email I sent to Lars (coupled with the audio) will have to be explanation enough for you all… What can I say? On the third call of the day, I got sloppy.

Anyway, Lars might have a surprise for us later in the week. If he comes through, it will be something I think both sides of the political divide will enjoy.

Here is the email:

To: Lars Larson
From: Mike Stark
Subject: More on Cheney

OK - did some digging. Smoking gun has police report up. Says explicitly that there was no drinking.

That is the official story.

But… here is some more whacky stuff.

Karl Rove was in touch with the hostess within 90 minutes of the incident:
The shooting, which occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, left a prominent Austin lawyer and Republican campaign supporter, Harry Whittington, wounded by shotgun pellets in the neck, shoulder and chest.

“Chief of Staff Andy Card called the president around 7:30 p.m. to inform him that there was a hunting accident,” a statement released today by the White House said. “He did not know the vice president was involved at that time. Subsequent to the call, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove spoke with Mrs. Armstrong. He then called the president shortly before 8 p.m. to update him and let him know the vice president had accidentally shot Mr. Whittington.”

But the police were not allowed to interview the Veep until the next morning:

CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports Texas authorities are complaining that the Secret Service barred them from speaking to Cheney after the incident. Kenedy County Texas Sheriffs Lt. Juan Guzman said deputies first learned of the shooting when an ambulance was called.

But the Secret Service told a different story, saying agents had informed the local sheriff of the shooting about an hour after it happened and that the vice president had been interviewed about the accident by local authorities on Sunday morning, CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reports.

In case you did not catch that, it worked like this: the ambulance and sheriff get to the scene. The sheriff could not speak to Cheney - and law enforcement complains. The next morning, however, Cheney accedes to an interview.

Now, if it was you or me that put a guy in intensive care, I am pretty sure there would have been questions asked of us at the scene. I cannot think of any good reason for that procedure to go unfollowed. You either are or you are not above the law.

Anyway, with all of that said, I was wrong to impugn all hunters without a good reason. And yeah, I listened to the phone call, and that is exactly what I did. I think I could have raised all of the preceding points without pissing off the vast majority of hunters that take safety seriously. Ugh. Good thing I am not a politician…

I tried, as you know, to get through and tell you about the SmokingGun.com story in which they had the Police Report that said alcohol was not a factor… I do not know how they could have known without having investigated at the scene, but it is what it is…

I will be in touch.