While critics have often accused Vice President Dick Cheney of not being a straight shooter, this was not what they had in mind. During a hunting trip this past weekend, the vice president accidentally shot a hunting companion with a pellet gun, hitting him in the face and chest.
Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, Texas was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital after the accident.
Hospital administrator Peter Banko said Whittington was doing well given the circumstances. 'He is stable and doing well. It was almost like he was spending time with me in my living room,' Banko told reporters. He refused to elaborate further on Whittington's condition out of respect for Cheney.
The incident took place Saturday at a ranch in south Texas. The vice president and his companions were on a quail hunt.
Curiously, the vice president's office did not report on the accident for almost 24 hours after it took place and only mentioned it after the 'Corpus Christi Caller-Times' posted the story on its local Web site.
The owner of the ranch, Katharine Armstrong, told the Associated Press that Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun and that Whittington was about 30 yards away when he was hit in the cheek, neck and chest.
Armstrong said Whittington 'came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself.'
'The vice president didn't see him,' she added. 'The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good.'
The vice president's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president visited Whittington at the hospital on Sunday. She said Cheney 'was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits.'
Whittington is a private practice attorney who has long been involved in Texas Republican politics. In fact, George W. Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission when he was serving as the governor of the Lone Star State.
Cheney, an avid hunter, did have a license to hunt at the time of the incident. He returned to Washington Sunday evening.
