# Does anyone really really care....? (News of Cheney shooting vs "real" news) \[Ed.\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 14, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380 "2006-02-14T01:15:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![\_Ava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/43a26b/32.png) [@\_Ava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Ava)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/81 "2006-02-15T06:55:34Z")
I’m a gun owner and I support hunting and have family members who’ve always hunted (I don’t have the patience or the eyesight myself). When I fish, I won’t fish in a stocked pond. The people I know who do this kind of “hunting” are pretty foul people (the kinds of guys who have all the expensive, good looking clothes but don’t know how to clean their own guns). Lots of attorneys. And they always tell you exactly how much it cost and how many hundreds of birds they shot. They (and Cheney) should have to eat each and every bird. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/82 "2006-02-15T07:06:36Z")
Go to back to the OP, which I didn’t answer the first time through: > [@spingears](#): > > Should the news media concern itself with relative trivia and neglect the momentous problem facing the nation and provide relevant information? It’s a little late for that, isn’t it? 😉 It’s hard to ask news outlets to ignore something that they know will get attention; that’s just not going to happen. Celebrity can be a factor in determining something’s newsworthiness. (Although if you watch the news on TV, you’d get the impression that that’s the ONLY thing that matters.) Even if it were incumbent upon them to do that, I doubt this qualifies as such a situation. But you’re not the first person to correctly note that newspeople have some screwed-up priorities. The problem is that everybody has a different opinion on what’s relevant - different news outlets, different journalists, etc. - and it’s not an absolute. And in addition to that relevance, they do have to get people to watch or read. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/83 "2006-02-15T11:40:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Unless the stain on Monica’s dress was the result of a drive-by shooting that was a deliberate act. It’s morally repulsive that a married man would abuse his position of power to shag an unpaid teenage assistant. > > That’s wholly different than a hunting accident where the intent was NOT to spray someone with a hot substance. Vice President Chaney is under no obligation to publicize the event any more than the media is obligated to report it. The proper authorities were alerted and more importantly, medical attention was rendered in a timely manner. Apparently, that’s only expected from Republicans. Oh have some sense. If I shot somebody in the chest and face because I was careless and stupid I’d feel a hell of a lot worse than if I were involved in an extramarital blowjob. Anybody that doesn’t feel that way has their priorities completely bass ackwards. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/84 "2006-02-15T13:52:48Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > This happened to Ann Richards during the 1994 election AGAINST dubya. Did it also happen to him at a later date? I don’t remember that. > > I DO remember reading in the paper in August that he had spent his time in Crawford clearing Brush and hunting dove, despite the fact that Dove Season always starts September 1st in Crawford’s region. Just wanted to correct myself. That was Bush in 1994. I am thinking of something else that Ann richards did in the 1990 election that was compared to this moment. Mea culpa. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/85 "2006-02-15T13:56:15Z")
> [@\*Ava\*](#): > > They (and Cheney) should have to eat each and every bird. Or find a family that needs some food. There are some wonderful programs in South Texas (where there are a LOT of poor people) that let you bring in game and they get them to needy families. My family takes a few extra deer every year to get some meat to these programs. The bottom line is don’t let it go to waste. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/86 "2006-02-15T16:19:52Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > Being “maybe” uncharitable isn’t the same thing as saying one is mistaken. > > And technically, one line responses that touch on no matters of substance and dance off point with a denigration of another poster are still drive-bys even if they are the second or third or fourth such foray into a thread, Mr. I don’t do drivebys. It seems you don’t do self-corrections either. Not content to cite the wrong number of birds as well as the wrong incident altogether — complete with a link to an all but irrelevant editorial — you attributed to me — in quotes, no less — something that I did not say. It might be that you consider brief posts to be some horrible evil mainly because you don’t do them, but I submit that fabricated numbers, red herring responses, and made up quotations are at least almost as bad. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/87 "2006-02-15T16:43:59Z")
> [@](#): > > It might be that you consider brief posts to be some horrible evil mainly because you don’t do them, Well, I guess I’m not on record as claiming that I don’t do them. I don’t know how horrible they are compared to, oh, say the Lisbon earthquake, but there you are. > [@](#): > > but I submit that fabricated numbers, red herring responses, and made up quotations are at least almost as bad. The numbers weren’t fabricated, the responses weren’t red herring. I didn’t mean anything as a direct quote, but rather a toned down version of the truly grostesque ends to which you are willing to stretch the word “love.” (\<----note, not a direct quote of anybody but an expression of someone’s sarcasm) And the worst you can say is that tit matches tat. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/88 "2006-02-15T16:53:14Z")
This diarist from from Daily Kos offers a good explanation for why this is more important than just the story itself; obviously, it was written before the details of the guy’s condition came out. [It’s the Metaphor, Stupid](http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/13/23432/4110) ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/89 "2006-02-15T19:13:44Z")
Ah [yes.](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHENEY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-02-15-11-27-34) I understand it was a toss-up between these guys and Al Franken. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/90 "2006-02-15T19:38:16Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > This diarist from from Daily Kos offers a good explanation for why this is more important than just the story itself; obviously, it was written before the details of the guy’s condition came out. > > [It’s the Metaphor, Stupid](http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/13/23432/4110) I stopped reading after this ridiculous exageration: “Cheney and friends were killing innocent creatures who were trapped in a pen”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/91 "2006-02-15T19:58:30Z")
> [@\*Ava\*](#): > > I’m a gun owner and I support hunting and have family members who’ve always hunted (I don’t have the patience or the eyesight myself). When I fish, I won’t fish in a stocked pond. I’d bet it’s more likely you’ve fished stocked pond and lakes and just didn’t know about it. Most inland lakes with decent fishing are stocked fairly regularly. Here’s a whole raft of stuff from the Michigan DNR about their fish hatcheries and stocking efforts. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/92 "2006-02-15T20:00:09Z")
Crap. Meant to include a damn link: [http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364\_28277---,00.html](http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_28277---,00.html) Notably: > [@](#): > > Fish stocking is one of the principal tools used in fisheries management. Approximately 40% of all recreational fishing in Michigan depends on stocked fish, including 70% of the Great Lakes trout and salmon fishery. Developing and maintaining hatchery facilities that can readily produce the fish needed for fishery management is essential. The goal of Michigan’s Fish Production program is to hatch, rear, and transport fish required for the management of both Great Lakes and inland fisheries. Stocked lakes are more pervasive than you may have been aware. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/93 "2006-02-15T21:03:01Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I stopped reading after this ridiculous exageration: “Cheney and friends were killing innocent creatures who were trapped in a pen”. :rolleyes: Exaggeration it is, but you gotta make allowances. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time Cheney and friends killed innocent creatures trapped in a pen. [_cough_Fallujah\*cough] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/94 "2006-02-15T21:27:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Exaggeration it is, but you gotta make allowances. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time Cheney and friends killed innocent creatures trapped in a pen. [_cough_Fallujah\*cough] What? Are you saying the insurgents at Fallujah were “innocent” and that they were “trapped”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/95 "2006-02-15T21:31:42Z")
OK. I didn’t remember [this:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falluja) > [@](#): > > On the evening of April 28, 2003, a crowd of 200 people defied a curfew imposed by the Americans and gathered outside a occupied local secondary school to protest the presence of Coalition forces in the city and demand its reopening. Following the discharge of some demonstrators’ firearms into the air, soldiers stationed at the roof of the building opened fire upon the crowd resulting in the deaths of 13 civilians. A protest against the killings two days later was also fired upon by US troops resulting in two more deaths. Although I don’t remember reading that the quail in Texas had discharged firearms… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/96 "2006-02-15T21:40:09Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > What? Are you saying the insurgents at Fallujah were “innocent” and that they were “trapped”? 😕 Not the insurgents. Practically everybody in town. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/97 "2006-02-15T22:27:10Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > Oh have some sense. If I shot somebody in the chest and face because I was careless and stupid I’d feel a hell of a lot worse than if I were involved in an extramarital blowjob. Anybody that doesn’t feel that way has their priorities completely bass ackwards. Lets start with your point of view. You’ve assigned stupidity to one person in an accident that includes the actions of 2 people. Hunting involves communication between both parties. If you include the Secret Service then you have an entire staff of spotters that should have caught the potential cross-fire situation. If a group of people trained to look for dangerous situations missed it then it’s a little premature to assume Chaney was careless beyond reason. I don’t even know where to go on your position of infidelity. Just looking at it from a relationship point of view I would think infidelity would do a lot more damage than an accidental injury. While working on projects with my friends (building houses) I’ve been shocked by electricity, hit with an 8 lb hammer and had a finger crushed in a concrete mold. While playing sports I’ve taken stitches in the face and had enough broken bones to lose count. All of them accidents and all of them forgiven. If this accident affects Mr. Whittington’s friendship with Vice President Chaney in even a fraction of what infidelity does to a relationship I would be very surprised. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/98 "2006-02-15T22:46:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > You’ve assigned stupidity to one person in an accident that includes the actions of 2 people. Hunting involves communication between both parties. If you include the Secret Service then you have an entire staff of spotters that should have caught the potential cross-fire situation. If a group of people trained to look for dangerous situations missed it then it’s a little premature to assume Chaney was careless beyond reason. > > I don’t even know where to go on your position of infidelity. Just looking at it from a relationship point of view I would think infidelity would do a lot more damage than an accidental injury. While working on projects with my friends (building houses) I’ve been shocked by electricity, hit with an 8 lb hammer and had a finger crushed in a concrete mold. While playing sports I’ve taken stitches in the face and had enough broken bones to lose count. All of them accidents and all of them forgiven. You can’t be serious. Before you shoot you make sure what’s on the other side of your rifle isn’t a person. That’s pretty much all there is to it. There’s just not a lot of variables here. A hunting accident happens one way - shooter is an idiot or careless or both. Or wasted. And you’re uh - unique. If my s.o. was ever confused which I’d prefer he do - have an unauthorized blow job or accidentally shoot me in the chest, I hope somebody would please tell him where I stand on this. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/99 "2006-02-16T03:14:10Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Unless the stain on Monica’s dress was the result of a drive-by shooting that was a deliberate act. It’s morally repulsive that a married man would abuse his position of power to shag an unpaid teenage assistant. So now 22=teenage. lol ---
**Author:** ![\_Ava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/43a26b/32.png) [@\_Ava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Ava)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380/100 "2006-02-16T03:35:22Z")
I’ve changed my original opinion somewhat. I still think that it’s no big deal that Cheney didn’t tell the press right away. But I had no idea that he didn’t report it to the police, and that his handlers didn’t allow Cheney to be interviewed right afterwards. I have no idea whether it was because he had something to hide from police (influence of alcohol) or whether he’s just that arrogant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-really-really-care-news-of-cheney-shooting-vs-real-news-ed/344380.md?page=6)