Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Absolutely Amazing

At one point yesterday 4 of the 5 most viewed stories in the Washington Post were about the Cheney hunting accident. Today, 4 days after the event, 3 new stories are in the top 5.

I know the post is a 'hometown' paper and if focuses on the local industry. But it is also an international paper and it is amazing that so many people care so much about a hunting accident.

Today we see an op-ed about how this represents the arrogance of power (they are right), how Tuesday mornings jokes about wearing orange ended after the public report of the heart attack, and anger and concern over the VP's continued silence.

This whole affair still feels overblown, and where everyone is focused seems a little off.

Here is a distilled version. The VP went hunting. He and friends were shooting farm raised birds, placed into the fields only after they were ready to hunt. There have been media reports that there was drinking involved. This is normal, hunters drink while hunting. When they were out the VP shot someone when trying to hit a bird. The police were not allowed access to the VP until the next day, the world was not told of the event till the next day, and when the news was released, everyone tired to blame the guy that got shot.

Is this more important than the new Abu Ghraib photos, more important than the new Bird Flu cases in Europe?, Iraq's civil war, Iran's nuclear dreams or the Katrina report?

Based on what people are reading about it is.


UPDATE
Cheney has been forced to come forward and address the event. It is nice to see that he is taking the courageous route in doing this. He will appear on Fox news, the official state controled media of the Republican party.

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