Vice President Shoots Man, Hilarity Ensues

Feb. 14, 2006 — -- W.W.J.S.D.?

This is the question the nation asks when a story of great political magnitude breaks, such as when our vice president accidentally shoots a 78-year-old lawyer in the face while quail hunting. It's not "What Would Jesus Do?" but "What Will Jon Stewart Do?"

Harry Whittington's injuries are certainly no laughing matter. The Texas lawyer was "peppered" with pellets in his cheek, neck and chest when Cheney fired his shotgun, but by all accounts, he's recovering nicely. So comedians on the Internet and on late-night television are mining this political comedy gold.

Dan Kurtzman, the editor of About.com's political humor Web site, says this is the funniest thing to come out of the Bush administration since the president choked on a pretzel.

"It has all the key ingredients for a great comic set-up: A gun-wielding, warmongering vice president who embodies the motto 'shoot first, ask questions later,' a bizarre case of mistaken identity, a dubious official narrative, and a lawyer riddled with birdshot. You can't make this stuff up," Kurtzman said.

The accident took place on Saturday afternoon, but the news didn't break nationally until more than 18 hours later, so bloggers had the first shot at the jokes.

A few bloggers played on Cheney's (and the administration's) well-documented disdain of trial lawyers.

Political Cortex's headline was "Cheney Accidentally Bags Lawyer Out Of Season," while Wonkette said, "Dick Cheney Finally Takes a Stand Against Trial Lawyers."

Jay Leno also pulled out a lawyer joke in his monologue Monday night: "Over the weekend, on a quail hunting trip, Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter, a 78-year-old lawyer. When people found out he shot a lawyer, his popularity is now 92 percent."

Ba-dum-cha!

Bloggers also had fun with the idea that Cheney would stop at nothing to bring down his "enemies." As Broken Newz suggested: "Dick Cheney Invites Jack Abramoff Bird Hunting."

Others suggested that Scooter Libby might be in the vice president's cross hairs.

"A spokesman for the vice president identified the shooting victim as Harry Whittington, but sources close to the incident suggest 'Harry Whittington' is a Secret Service code name for Cheney's indicted former chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby," wrote Bob Cesca, a writer and film director, who blogs on huffingtonpost.com.

And Jim Brady, the former Ronald Reagan aide-turned-anti-gun-advocate quipped: "Now I understand why Dick Cheney keeps asking me to go hunting with him."

Web satirists had fun with Cheney's own (fake) spin on the shooting, and a few reminded the American people that the rules were different during wartime.