Now look at this, David Ignatius, writing in the Washington Post – a paper characterised by some as the upscale PR office of this American administration (just look at how the arrogance claim comes coupled with “the most righteous politians”) – invokes An Arrogance of Power to explain the Dick Cheney’s silence after the shooting accident.

There is a temptation that seeps into the souls of even the most righteous politicians and leads them to bend the rules, and eventually the truth, to suit the political needs of the moment. That arrogance of power is on display with the Bush administration.

The most vivid example is the long delay in informing the country that Vice President Cheney had accidentally shot a man last Saturday while hunting in Texas. For a White House that informs us about the smallest bumps and scrapes suffered by the president and vice president, the lag is inexplicable. But let us assume the obvious: It was an attempt to delay and perhaps suppress embarrassing news. We will never know whether the vice president’s office would have announced the incident at all if the host of the hunting party, Katharine Armstrong, hadn’t made her own decision Sunday morning to inform her local paper.

Clearly, from a PR standpoint this incident was handles in the worst possible way. But this is not some straw breaking a Cheney’s back, this is a Trent Lott moment. We’ll see soon enough.

Speaking of straws… this might be one (via Brad DeLong).

Seriously, I’m starting to think that the US Vice President Cheney might have to step down because of the shooting accident… just look at the quote from Yahoo! News –

WASHINGTON – Vice President
Dick Cheney apparently broke the No. 1 rule of hunting: be sure of what you’re shooting at. …
Hunting safety experts interviewed Monday agreed it would have been a good idea for Whittington to announce himself – something he apparently didn’t do, according to a witness. But they stressed that the shooter is responsible for knowing his surroundings and avoiding hitting other people.”

Posing as a tough guy while not being able to shoot straight is something I imagine doesn’t go down well with a significant part of the VP’s constituency… it would be a blow to the administration, of course, but it’s just the kind of thing that cannot happen to a White House already on the defense. Sure, the President has been a little less under fire lately, after all, he pledged to spend the equivalent of about 3 hours of Iraq-money on figuring out a way how reduce the American dependency on oil. But still, with the positioning for the next race already in full swing, this is just the kind of thing that a President cannot afford.

While Cheney stepping down over this would prove each and every prejudice about the irrationality of US public discourse right, you’d just have to admire the irony – he’s been an active part of an administration which, slowly even by their own account, has been busy shooting without knowing what they were shooting at for the last 4 years. And now that did not intend to do that for once he’s actually hitting someone – and, in a way, himself, of course.

Gentle readers, I know I’ve been neglecting this lovely little kind-of diary recently, so, first off, welcome to the 2006 edition of almost a diary. And just in case you were wondering what to avoid this year – here’s my advice: don’t go hunting with Dick Cheney.

Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter in Texas Accident

“The vice president was concerned,” said Mary Matalin, a Cheney adviser who spoke with him yesterday morning. “He felt badly, obviously. On the other hand, he was not careless or incautious or violate any of the [rules]. He didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to do.”

PR people… He didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to? Quite frankly, I bet he wasn’t supposed to shoot the guy. But on the other hand, now we know that Mr Cheney can indeed feel bad about something… or do we?