Q So as the Press Secretary, are you satisfied with the way this was handled?Yes, indeed. So, the Veep doesn't think the news worthy enough or was he playing politics with the poor woman who owned the ranch? We might be right to ask exactly who's running this country altogether given the lackidasical approach the Veep had informing his boss of the mishap. Have a gander at more confusion at today's press briefing:
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I know that the Vice President's Office was working to pull together information and make sure that information got out. And the Vice President felt that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to go out there and provide that information to the public, which she did -- and she reached out early Sunday morning to do so.
Q And you're satisfied with the way --
MR. McCLELLAN: You can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job.
Q Well, it's not really a hindsight issue here. I mean, the Vice President made a decision about how the public should be notified that basically is at odds with the standard practice of how the President's own press operation and this White House notifies the public; isn't that right?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, this was handled by the Vice President's Office. The Vice President thought that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to give that information out, since she was an eyewitness.
Q But let's just be clear here. The Vice President of the United States accidentally shoots a man and he feels that it's appropriate for a ranch owner who witnessed this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper, and not the White House press corps at large, or notify the public in a national way?
Q But were you aware they were just going to allow a private citizen to inform a local paper of this, and not beyond that? Did you not have a suggestion on how to inform the public?Okay, there is a lot more to this line of query and I am going to have to sit down with a beer to effectively digest it. The time line is screwy as presented. You think the Press Secretary for the Prez would have this nailed down tight, but not on your life. What's going on over there is a legetimate question, no?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I'm not going to get into all the discussions or suggestions that I make about specific matters like that. I can only tell you the way I've done it in the past, for you all.
Q What time on Sunday morning did you learn that Vice President Dick Cheney was the shooter?
MR. McCLELLAN: It was early. I was woken up.
Q Do you have any -- was it 6:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m.? Can you give me at least just some sort of sense of how early --
MR. McCLELLAN: It was probably in the 6:00 a.m. range or so. Usually I'm up at 5:00 a.m., but it was Sunday.
Q And who woke you up and told you?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?
Q Who told you?
MR. McCLELLAN: I just had discussions with staff. I'll leave it at that.
Q Was it Cheney's gun? Is that his gun, that shotgun?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?
Q Was it the Vice President's gun?
MR. McCLELLAN: You ought to talk to the Vice President's Office and check that fact.
Q You don't know?
MR. McCLELLAN: You can check with their office.
Q You said this morning that the President was informed Saturday night by Karl Rove and Andy Card. MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, initially by Andy Card.
Q At that point, what was he informed? Was he informed that the Vice President had accidentally shot somebody?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think initially, again, Andy had the same report that I had, or a very similar report to what I had. And so we didn't know who was involved. But then there was additional information that was coming in later in the night, or later in the day and on into the morning.
Q They knew exactly what happened --
Q -- to not reach the Vice President to find out that he was the shooter? How is that possible?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Kelly, I can only tell you what the facts are.
Q This doesn't make any sense, though. This happens at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, and you're saying that until the morning, the President of the United States --
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I didn't say that. I said there was additional information coming in later that evening and into the morning hours of Sunday.
Q You've got to clarify this timeline, Scott; it just doesn't make any sense.
Q When did the President know that the Vice President was the shooter? What time?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, there was additional information coming in that night. And the details continued to come in throughout the morning, into the Sunday morning time period.
Q The Vice President did not call the President to tell him he was the shooter?
As of this point, btw, there is nothing about this incident posted on the Veeps official web location. Why is that? Where is he?
1 comment:
This may be a bigger story
After Dick shot Harry, the reason the story was so slow to come out could be because it was Dick who needed medical attention for the stress of having shot his friend. Who would have thought that someone who could so readily consign others to kill would be an old pussy cat.
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