lieu: “El_Kabong, are you making fun of Dick Cheney because he’s a Republican?”
E_K"Nope, I can categorically state that I’m making fun of him because he flew in a large government-owned jet from Washington DC to Ligonier, PA, a mere three-hour’s drive away, for the expressed purpose of shooting as many pheasants and ducks as he could in a half-day or so. I’m not one to begrudge a man his hobbies, but Jeez Louise. If he were a Democrat, I’d probably be making even more fun of him than I am now. Anyway, I stayed well clear of the ‘Dick’ jokes, didn’t I?"
Well, there you have it, folks.
BTW, I grew up about a half-hour’s drive from Ligonier, and went to the Rolling Rock steeplechases a couple of times. This is the first I’d heard that RRCC staged these kind of “hunts”, and frankly I was blissful in my ignorance. Nevertheless, the story appears to have been covered more or less accurately, so there it is.
Well this one’s as easy as shooting pheasants in a barrel…it’s because that place quite likely didn’t make the news until Cheney went there. I’ve been against that type of hunting (it’s for pussies, really) ever since I’ve known about it, for years. I don’t care if Jesus Christ did it, it’s a bunch of bullshit. The fact that the VP of our country did it is just icing on the cake. It merely reinforces the fact that he’s an asshole.
Well, none of those sites talk about hundreds of birds per hunter… 30 or 40 ducks is the largest number I´ve read; not that is a smal number of ducks to shoot down anyway.
I can accept hunting as an activity when done properly, but this people look like German flak gunners in the winter of ´44.
Yeah, it or the other three hundred and fifty freakin’ seven in Pennsylvania alone. It’s not like they’ve been trying to hide. Heck, there’s adverts everywhere. Yet no one’s outraged until it’s Cheney. Heck, nothing’s been said about the other members of the party, a couple of which are well known, one maybe even more so than Dick.
Again, this type of hunting’s not my cup of tea but the VP can’t always be running off to South Dakota for the real deal just any afternoon. He’s known for being an excellent shot and I’m sure given a choice he’d likely prefer the real deal. I wouldn’t do it but it’s completely legal and it’s what the birds were raised for.
I understand disliking the clubs. I don’t agree with making selective political hay.
I hear you. Tell you what, if someone can find me a liberal who’s gone and done this, I’ll be happy to rip them a new one, too. Maybe Clinton or Gore (or Kerry or Clark or Edwards, etc) may have done such things, too…
Clinton’sbeen on them too, as have Scalia, Bush Sr., etc. It’s just that Cheney is apparently one hell of a lot more adept at hitting what he’s aiming for.
Well, screw him, too. He’s only 1/70th as bad as Cheney, though, using that yardstick. Actually that would pretty much correlate to the ratio of evil involved in getting a BJ from an intern to sending a bunch of our country’s finest to die in the invasion of Iraq (under false pretenses).
Strike that last sentence, as you did say screw him too.
I’m not going to selectively bust Cheney’s chops here. I don’t know his situation and there’s been woefully little credible information that’s come out. One employee violating the club’s policy and talking about an average experience is about it.
At the risk of incurring more wrath, I would point out again that it’s not the hunt that bothers me, it’s the excess involved in this particular example. It seriously creeps me out, particularly in light of Cheney’s single-minded pursuit of dominance in the Middle East long before he made it to the VP job.
The mindset required for wholesale slaughter is disturbing in anyone, to say the least, but in someone who is a heartbeat away from the presidency, it’s downright frightening. It matters not in the least to me that the results were donated to a food bank. I don’t care if he personally cooked the birds and spoon fed them to lepers (although that would actually demonstrate some humanity in the man). It was bloodsport, plain and simple; mindless killing for the sake of killing.
I’ve met him twice Chefguy, the second time giving him a demonstration of our software when his company bought ours in a friendly takeover. He strikes me as a thoroughly decent guy… intelligent, thoughtful and definately able to see through the extraneous bullshit straight to the heart of a problem. I admire him and have no problem giving him the benefit of the doubt here, especially with details and corroboration in such short supply.
Obviously some aren’t going to believe me, but not once during that presentation did he emit a nervous cackle.
Spinning this as skill and talent? Skill doesn’t really equate with Cornyn’s description of the event, and he was there. Or didn’t you read the linked article on the first page.
The numbers do boggle the mind, indeed. What was it, 417 Iraqi pheasants? Say what? 417 American pheasants? Well, how does that make it any more attractive?
If I were ever invited to such a shindig (well, it’s a great country and anything is possible here, right?), I think I’d shot me 4 or 5 birds and head for the bar. But what do I really know? It might be a nice morning, young sun rays are chasing away the morning chill, air is crisp, colors are bright, dogs are barking, guides are hollering, my companions are blasting away like there is no tomorrow… it just might be possible to get carried away, who knows?
Clinton went duck hunbting in Arkansas with some guys while in office.
The news showed one duck in the back of the truck.
Perhaps they accomplished something else.
