Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

1.  Although the incident occurred at around 5:30p.m. on Saturday, the Administration kept the story secret and under wraps until 4:15pm today.

2.  When the story was finally released, it was accompanied by a statement by Katherine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch, that blamed the victim for negligence and cast Cheney as totally innocent:

Cheney, Whittington and another hunter had gotten out of a car to shoot at a covey of quail at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Armstrong, who was in the party of four at her ranch.

After Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in tall grass, Cheney and the other hunter - whose name was unavailable - moved to another spot. Cheney turned to shoot a bird as Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or announce himself," Armstrong told The Associated Press.

"The vice president didn't see him," Armstrong told the AP. "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 ... It 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."

3.  Katherine Armstrong is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, whose entire family are all made members in the Texas Republican party, and whose wife was on Halliburton's board when Dick Cheney was hired (Hat tip Brad Blog). (Hat tip Brad Blog).

So, what we have is an event shrouded in secrecy for almost twenty-four hours which, when disclosed, was accompanied by a fawning statement by a Bush apparachik exonerating Cheney from any and all blame and/or liability.

Thus, this appears to be yet another example of the Bush Administration attempting to manipulate the press and perhaps hide the truth.  What really happened on that ranch yesterday?  Who the heck knows.  What we do know is that, regardless of what actually happened, the Administration spin doctors immediately jumped in and crafted a story that put Cheney in the best possible light.  And the "traditional media" reported that story without any skepticism whatsoever.  Nevertheless, in light of the circumstances described above, this story from Ms. Armstrong is really no more credible than the stories we first heard from the Bushies about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman.

Looks like just another day for the Bush White House and the pliant media.