EDITORIAL: Cheney's friendly fire
Staff Editorial
Independent Florida Alligator (U. Florida)
02/13/2006

(U-WIRE) GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Liberals, get your joke-writing pens ready.

Last weekend, gun advocate and Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally injured a companion while hunting on a ranch in Texas. Harry Whittington, Cheney's 78-year-old hunting buddy, was in stable condition Sunday after Cheney blasted him with shotgun pellets.

First, all jokes aside, we're glad that Whittington is doing well.

But despite Cheney's screw-up, we feel compelled to pre-emptively jump to his defense. Of course the obvious humor of the situation isn't lost on us; a gun-wielding, second-amendment-promoting vice president shot his friend on a hunting trip.

And we can't wait to see the Daily Show's story on it tonight.

But to extrapolate beyond the current situation is too forward. The accident doesn't imply anything about Cheney's ability to govern; he isn't senile, unqualified or otherwise.

The bottom line is that people make mistakes. And sometimes, those people happen to be holding shotguns.

Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong put it best when she said, "This is something that happens from time to time. You know, I've been peppered pretty well myself."

And even hardcore liberals will agree that having Cheney pulling the strings backstage in the Bush Administration is better than letting Dubya run the show himself.

Copyright ©2006 Independent Florida Alligator via UWire

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