Curiouser and curiouser

E&P reports -- More Questions Raised About Delay in Reporting Cheney Misfire -- you decide (emphasis mine):

NEW YORK The more than 18-hour delay in news emerging that the Vice President of the United States had shot a man, sending him to an intensive care unit with his wounds, grew even more curious late Sunday. E&P has learned that the official confirmation of the shooting came about only after a local reporter in Corpus Christi, Texas, received a tip from the owner of the property where the shooting occured and called Vice President Cheney's office for confirmation.

[...]

While E&P was first to raise the question about the delay Sunday afternoon, Frank James, reporter in the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau, put his how spin on it later in the day, asking, "How is it that Vice President Cheney can shoot a man, albeit accidentally, on Saturday during a hunting trip and the American public not be informed of it until today?"

Indeed, others raised questions as well. "There was no immediate reason given as to why the incident wasn't reported until Sunday," The Dallas Morning News observed. "The sheriff's office in Kenedy County did not respond to phone calls Sunday."

Interesting, the sheriff isn't speaking to the press? That's odd.

It gets curiouser.

In an odd disparity, Armstrong told the Houston Chronicle that Whittington, 78, was "bruised more than bloodied" in the incident and "his pride was hurt more than anything else." Yet he was airlifted to a hospital and has spent more than a day in an intensive care unit.

The Chronicle also reports Monday that hunting accidents are amazingly rare in Texas. In 2004, it said, the state's 1 million-plus hunters were involved in only 29 hunting-related accidents (19 involving firearms), four of which were fatal.

[...]

"When a vice president of the U.S. shoots a man under any circumstance," James noted, "that is extremely relevant information. What might be the excuse to justify not immediately making the incident public?

"The vice president is well-known for preferring to operate in secret....Some secrecy, especially when it comes to the executing the duties of president or vice president, is understandable and expected by Americans.

"But when the vice president's office, or the White House, delays in reporting a shooting like Saturday's to the public via the media, it needlessly raises suspicions and questions of trust. And it may just further the impression held by many, rightly or wrongly, that the White House doesn't place the highest premium on keeping the public fully and immediately informed."

Questions of trust. Indeed. This is the same guy who would have us "trust him" to spy on Americans without a warrant. Isn't it interesting that the administration's initial reaction is to cover-up? They are nothing if not consistent in their behavior: Do wrong. Lie about it. Cover-up.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The Viceroy of Vile came pretty close to causing only the fifth fatality in Texas due to a "hunting accident". He is now officially a statistic as only the second U.S. Vice President to shoot another man while in office.

More similarities:

In this troubled time, the end of President Jefferson's first term, Aaron Burr stepped down from the Vice Presidency, and began preparations for a military expedition that was either-- depending upon whose views one solicited--treasonous or patriotic. At its core, however, the Burr Conspiracy clearly was about conquest and adventure.

Treasonous or patriotic. Yep, that about sums it up. At least Burr waited until he was out of office. Cheney didn't bother and goaded Preznit DoWrong into launching a war of aggression against a sovereign nation while in office.

Burr was tried for treason, one can only hope and pray that Cheney will be too.

Cheney's got a gun
Cheney's got a gun
The whole world's come undone
Lawyers on the run
Tell me now it's untrue
What did the veepee do?
He whacked a fellow hunter
The man has got to be insane
They say the spell he put us under the lightning and the
thunder knew that someone had to stop the pain