Jewish World Review Feb. 17, 2006 / 19 Shevat, 5766

Cheney giving ammunition for slanderers?

By Tucker Carlson

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The problem with liberals is not that they dislike the Bush administration, but that they dislike the Bush administration for all the wrong reasons. I could bore you all day with examples, but let's start with the latest White House micro-scandal, Dick Cheney's hunting trip.

Critics are angry that Cheney took so long to inform the press about the shooting of his 78-year-old hunting partner, and that when he did, he had a friend call the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, rather than a big city newspaper or network. To which the obvious response is: Who cares? Cheney was hunting on his own time, on private property. The shooting was an accident. No function of government was impaired. Does the public have a right to know what happened? Yes, and the public does know. Does the New York Times or ABC News have a right to know first? Nope. Protests to the contrary are just vanity, and one of the many reasons people dislike journalists.

Other, more fervid critics see a vast conspiracy at work. Leftwing bloggers have suggested that Cheney delayed the announcement of the shooting because his mistress was on the scene. But wait a second: What about all that Clinton-era talk from liberals about how a politician's private life ought to remain private? Forget it. That was then.

Whether or not it's fair to raise it, the allegation is almost certainly wrong anyway. The woman in question brought her husband on the hunting trip. So unless Cheney is a whole lot weirder and more adventurous than any of us ever imagined, he's not sleeping with her. As you may have noticed repeatedly over the past six years, many of the administration's angriest critics are not only monomaniacal, but also badly informed.

Which is not to say Cheney did nothing wrong. He did. He drank before shooting. Yes, it was just one beer. No, it's still not acceptable, as every hunter well knows. No booze before shooting. Everyone understands the rule, which on most hunts is strictly enforced. Upland bird shooting is dangerous; dogs, hunters and birds move quickly in all sorts of unexpected directions, and it's easier than you'd think to shoot a friend or, worse, his dog. Again, everyone knows this, which is why so many otherwise frequently drunk hunters are so uptight about alcohol in the field.

The irony in all this is that Cheney, a genuine small government conservative, may end up helping to bring about more unneeded regulation of hunting. Drunk guys with guns firing at anything that moves? That's the stereotype of hunters. It's false, but it endures because it suits the agenda of those who favor gun control. Some of the most decent, responsible people I know are bird hunters. As a group, they know and care more about the natural world than the professional environmentalists I've come across. It's painful to see them slandered, and it's even worse to see Cheney give ammunition to the slanderers.