Cheney's interview shows his true priorities

In Cheney’s first public statement about shooting Harry Whittington (his interview with Brit Hume of Fox News), he spouted some bullshit in attempting to explain and justify the delay in disclosing the shooting to the public. As shown below, Cheney claimed that the key factor was Whittington's medical condition, but a closer look shows otherwise.

And guess what? There is some indisputable evidence directly controverting one of Cheney's major claims.

Cheney's explanation of the disclosure delay in general

Cheney’s explanation of the delay in informing the media just does not make sense. The discussion in the interview began with Brit Hume asking this question:

Now, what thought did you give, then, to how -- you must have known that this was -- whether it was a matter of state, or not, was news. What thought did you give that evening to how this news should be transmitted?

Cheney began his answer with a tactic that–as I have said before–is part of the Bush administration SOP, namely saying something that nobody can or would dispute but that really is irrelevant to the issue:

Well, my first reaction, Brit, was not to think: I need to call the press. My first reaction is: My friend, Harry, has been shot and we've got to take care of him.

Nobody would expect Cheney to think first about notifying the press. Probably 99% of people who accidentally shot a friend would think immediately about the victim’s health. That is not the issue here. The issue is why it took almost 24 hours for the public to learn of this incident. Cheney went on to explain that there were concerns as to Whittington’s family:

That evening there were other considerations. We wanted to make sure his family was taken care of. His wife was on the ranch. She wasn't with us when it happened, but we got her hooked up with the ambulance on the way to the hospital with Harry. He has grown children; we wanted to make sure they were notified, so they didn't hear on television that their father had been shot. And that was important, too.

Well, of course that sort of thing is important. Again, nobody can dispute that, and, again, that is largely irrelevant to this matter. It did not take 24 hours to get Whittington’s wife “hooked up with the ambulance.” In other words, she found out very quickly that her husband had been shot. As for the Whittington children, does anyone that any mother is going to wait to try to contact her children in the event that their father has been shot? Does anyone think that any mother is not going to insist that someone contact her children as soon as possible in the event she cannot do so personally? I can certainly understand waiting a few hours in order to make sure that all family members had been contacted, but 24 hours? There has been no statement that the Whittington children for some reason were incapable of being notified within a few hours. As a result, from the facts which have been disclosed, this part of the “explanation” from Cheney is bullshit.

Cheney’s answer to Hume’s initial question about the delay concluded with something that on the surface seems to make sense:

But we also didn't know what the outcome here was going to be. We didn't know for sure what kind of shape Harry was in. We had preliminary reports, but they wanted to do a CAT scan, for example, to see how -- whether or not there was any internal damage, whether or not any vital organ had been penetrated by any of the shot. We did not know until Sunday morning that we could be confident that everything was probably going to be okay.

I can come up with an explanation that makes this reasoning very legitimate, but as I will explain later, Cheney did not give that explanation and instead it is clear that Cheney’s primary concern was not Whittington. Notice that Cheney simply said “Sunday morning” without any clearer definition. Was it 12:01 a.m. or 11:59 a.m.? Obviously, Cheney wants to give the impression that it was well after 12:01 a.m. because that way the delay between that time and when Armstrong actually contacted the media would be shorter. However, I have been unable to find any statement as to when on Sunday morning it was determined that "everything was probably going to be okay."

Moreover, from what I have found, there are strong indications that determining Whittington's condition was not a factor in deciding when to notify the public. From the AP article cited in previous posts:

Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said no one discussed notifying the public of the accident Saturday because they were so consumed with making sure Whittington was OK. She said the family realized in the morning that it would be a story and decided to call the local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said she then discussed the news coverage with Cheney for the first time.

“I said, Mr. Vice President, this is going to be public, and I’m comfortable going to the hometown newspaper,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “And he said ‘you go ahead and do whatever you are comfortable doing.’ ”

The Washington Post reported the following:

In a telephone interview, Armstrong said that she, her mother and her sister, Sara Storey Armstrong Hixon, decided on Sunday morning after breakfast to report the shooting accident to the media. "It was my family's own volition, and the vice president agreed. We felt -- my family felt and we conferred as a family -- that the information needed to go public. It was our idea," Armstrong said.

Notice that there was no mention of Whittington's condition being a factor in deciding to contact the media. Notice also there was no mention of Cheney saying that Whittington's condition was a factor in deciding to contact the media. These facts indicate that Whittington's condition did not play a role in deciding when to contact the media, and that indication is even stronger in light of the following from the New York Times:

Ms. Armstrong and her guests insisted that the focus Saturday was solely on Mr. Whittington and that no one talked about whether or how to put out the news of the incident. "I'm telling you, there was no discussion at all, there wasn't," she said.

*******

That night, Ms. Armstrong said, Mr. Cheney and the others ate a somber roast beef dinner, overshadowed by concern for Mr. Whittington. Dr. Willeford and Mr. Hixon returned from the hospital in Corpus Christi to brief them further. They went to bed around 10, she said.

She said she was up Sunday by 6 a.m. and the other guests drifted in to breakfast around 7:30. It was then, she said, that they first started discussing how the news of the shooting was to be released.

Thus, if Armstrong's statements are accurate, there was no discussion of when to disclose the incident until 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. That means no one--including Cheney--discussed when the story would be disclosed, and it follows that Whittington's condition as an element in that decision was not raised, if at all, until 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. As shown below, Deputy Sheriff San Miguel arrived at the Ranch approximately 30 minutes later to interview Cheney and Armstrong, and, according to a column in the Caller-Times, Armstrong first tried calling reporter Jaime Powell's cell phone (Armstrong did not call the paper's office initially) about the time San Miguel arrived. That means any discussion about Whittington's condition being a factor in deciding when to publicly disclose the incident had to take place between 7:30 and 8:00. However, as shown above, Armstrong apparently simply informed Cheney that she and her family had decided to contact the media and Cheney conceded. Consequently, the facts as known to date strongly show that information on Whittington's condition was not a factor in deciding when to contact the media.

Also, it seems to me that in some ways the fact that Cheney shot Whittington and Whittington's condition are two distinct matters. Whittington's condition does not alter the fact that he was shot, nor does it have anything to do with the facts surrounding the shooting. By Saturday night, all the relevant facts about the shooting incident were known. Cheney, Armstrong, and the others on the scene all knew what had happened. This was not a case to be solved by forensic detectives. Within a few hours of the shooting there were no more facts to be determined outside Whittington's condition. So why would a lack of information on Whittington's condition justify delaying public disclosure of the incident for almost 24 hours? As I said, I can come up with an answer to that question, but Cheney never did give a similar answer. Moreover, this does not in any explain why informing the public of this incident was left to the discretion and responsibility of Armstrong, but that is another topic.

"My explanation" is as follows. Obviously, a media frenzy would (and did) develop as soon as the shooting was disclosed. As soon as possible, media would have swarmed to the hospital in Corpus Christi, and that atmoshpere potentially could have caused stress and adversity to Whittington and his family which might have affected his condition. Cheney could have given this explanation. Not only would it have made some sense, but it would have fit perfectly with his claim that his top priority was Whittington's well being. However, Cheney never said anything like this. Instead, he spoke at great length about something else upon which he placed greater priority.

Cheney's real priority: CYA

Cheney's expressly said his main concern was accuracy, but his real concern was covering his own ass. His expressly stated priority was established in this exchange:

Q: Well, did it occur to you that sooner was -- I mean, the one thing that we've all kind of learned over the last several decades is that if something like this happens, as a rule sooner is better.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, if it's accurate. If it's accurate. And this is a complicated story.

Again, I stress that the facts concerning the shooting itself were known by Saturday night. What's so complicated about that? The incident itself could have been reported with full accuracy well before late Sunday afternoon. So what was left to be sorted out? What was so complicated that disclosure of the incident had to wait?

It turns out that that the answer is Whittington's condition. This was made clear in the following statements from Cheney:

But one of the things I'd learned over the years was first reports are often wrong and you need to really wait and nail it down. And there was enough variation in the reports we were getting from the hospital, and so forth -- a couple of people who had been guests at the ranch went up to the hospital that evening; one of them was a doctor, so he obviously had some professional capabilities in terms of being able to relay messages. But we really didn't know until Sunday morning that Harry was probably going to be okay, that it looked like there hadn't been any serious damage to any vital organ. And that's when we began the process of notifying the press.

Let me see if I understand this. The process of notifying the public of the shooting started when it was clear that Whittington was going to be okay. In other words, as soon as it looked like Whittington was not in serious danger, the decision was made to start informing the public. That sure sounds like Cheney's top priority was not even accuracy but rather covering his own ass. Once it could be said that Whittington was not seriously injured, it would be easier to try to pass this whole thing off as an unfortunate, but harmless, accident. Cheney's first concern was not Whittington. If it had been, he could have said something along the lines of the explanation I came up with, but he said nothing of the sort. Accurately informing the public of Whittington's non-dangerous condition at the same time as disclosing the shooting was the top priority. The public could have been told about the facts of the shooting (which, again, were known by Saturday night) along with a statement of what was known about Whittington's condition, with an assurance of updates to follow. Why was this not done, if not to cover Cheney's ass?

CYA and the Sheriff's investigation

Anyone think my tin foil hat is too tight? I do need a new one, but that is beside the point. The investigation conducted by the Sheriff's Department provides support for my CYA theory (though it does not prove it). The official report from the Sheriff's department, which was released on Feb. 17, is an interesting read. NOTE: The link for the report is to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, which requires registration to get the document. A February 17 New York Times article has information from the report.

Part of the report was written by Sheriff Salinas. Therein, he stated that before the Secret Service contacted the Sheriff about the incident, Captain Charles Kirk called him (Salinas) to say that he was going to the Armstrong Ranch to get information about a possible hunting accident. Minutes later, the Secret Service called Sheriff Salinas, and then

Captain Kirk called me back and said he'd made contact with a Border Patrol agent at the Armstrong Gate and that the Agent told him that he didn't know anything about the incident. I then told Captain Kirk that it was fine and that I would contact somebody on the ranch.

So far, so good. After that phone call with Kirk, Sheriff Salinas

contacted Constable Ramiro Medellin, Jr., former Sheriff of Kenedy County, and asked him if he had any information about the accident. Constable Medellin stated that he would call me right back.

Constable Medellin returned my call and said, “This in fact is an accident.” He stated that he had spoken with some of the people in the hunting party who were eyewitnesses and that they all said it was definitely a hunting accident. I also spoke with another eyewitness and he said the same thing, that it was an accident.

Again, so far so good. But now things get a little confusing to me. Salinas then stated

After hearing the same information from eyewitnesses and Constable Medellin, it was at this time that I decided to send my Chief Deputy first thing Sunday morning to interview the Vice-President and other witnesses.

(emphasis added). Now this is where I have some questions. I am not a law enforcement officer, but as a lawyer, I know that the sooner one can get information in relation to a given occurrence the better. Why then did the Sheriff decide waiting until the next day would be sufficient? Why not try to get statements from witnesses--including Cheney--on Saturday night, especially when Captain Kirk was at the Ranch shortly after the incident happened? I'm not saying that Salinas did anything wrong. It very well might be that for the purposes of the Sheriff's investigation there was no need to get statements from Cheney and Armstrong until the following morning (the Caller-Times published an article which provided Salinas's reasonable explanation). Then again, I fail to see any overriding reason not to get those statements on Saturday night. As I keep saying, all the witnesses knew all the relevant facts that evening. In other words, Cheney and Armstrong knew on Saturday night what they witnessed, so why not get their statements Saturday instead of Sunday?

Still, I think the timing of Deputy San Miguel interviewing Cheney and Armstrong is significant not because it might show an improper delay in taking such action. Instead, I think the timing of those interviews had a direct impact on the delay in publicly disclosing the incident. Once the interviews were done, Cheney would be able to say that once the incident was publicly disclosed an official, objective investigation had been done, meaning that whatever facts were disclosed to the media by Armstrong could be corroborated by statements given to law enforcement officials, thus giving whatever Armstrong said to the press a veneer of credibility. In other words, waiting until after San Miguel arrived at the Ranch on Sunday morning to start "the process of notifying the press" was just another part of the CYA effort.

Admittedly, I could be wrong about this portion of the CYA effort, but unless further facts come to light, I say my analysis is within the realm of possibility. However, there is another part of my CYA theory that I know is based on incontrovertible facts.

Oh such sweet, delicious irony

Still think I am a lefty loon? Well, I might indeed be, but that is also beside the point. Remember that Cheney insisted that the delay in telling the public about the shooting was necessary to make sure that the story was accurate.

With that in mind, let's review a few facts. Here's another set of statements Shotgun Dick Cheney made to Brit Hume regarding the overriding need for accuracy:

There wasn't any way this was going to be minimized, Brit; but it was important that it be accurate. I do think what I've experienced over the years here in Washington is as the media outlets have proliferated, speed has become sort of a driving force, lots of time at the expense of accuracy. And I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible, and I think Katherine was an excellent choice. I don't know who you could get better as the basic source for the story than the witness who saw the whole thing.

(emphasis added). Now let's review what Cheney's best choice to make sure the accurate story was told actually said. From the AP article cited in previous posts:

Armstrong said the shotgun pellets broke the skin. “It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn’t get in his eyes or anything like that,” she said.

(emphasis added). And then there's this from an interview Armstrong did with KRIS TV in Corpus Christi:

Katharine Armstrong owns the ranch as was an eyewitness to the accident. She said, "It happened really quickly, but the first thing I noticed was that Harry was communicating and that really gave me a great piece of mind."

(emphasis added). Now--just for grins--let's compare Armstrong's accurate eyewitness account with what Shotgun Dick told Hume he saw when he got to Whittington.

Q: And Mr. Whittington was conscious, unconscious, what?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: He was conscious --

Q: What did you say?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I said, "Harry, I had no idea you were there." And --

Q: What did he say?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: He didn't respond. He was -- he was breathing, conscious at that point, but he didn't -- he was, I'm sure, stunned, obviously, still trying to figure out what had happened to him.

(emphasis added). But wait, there's more:

Q: His eyes were open when you found him, then, right?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes. One eye was open.

(emphasis added). So Armstrong--the best possible source to get the accurate story out--said that Whittington was talking when Cheney got to him and that both his eyes were open, but Shotgun Dick said that Whittington was stunned and not responding and that only one eye was open. Now some of you might be thinking that the discrepancies are not that great, to which I would say I am not the one that insisted that it was vital to get the story as accurate as possible.

The bottom line--established by conclusive evidence--is that Armstrong got the facts wrong. The facts also establish that 1) Cheney knew she had misstated some of the facts, and 2) he did nothing for three days to correct those misstatements. And all of this means that Cheney's explanation that accuracy was a prime reason for waiting to go public is just flat out bullshit.

And that also means that my CYA analysis doesn't seem quite as crazy now, does it?