Two Stories

The first story is that the Vice President shot Harry Whittington, a big donator and a 78 year old lawyer, on a hunting trip. They then chose not to reveal that information for 24 hours (during which time the owner of the land they were hunting on notified the press. It's unclear if they would have unburdened themselves if they hadn't had to). A bird pellet entered Whittington's heart and he has suffered a heart attack, but will apparently recover.

A few points.

1. This probably was an accident, and isn't that significant other than another chance to mock the Vice President.

2. The Vice President is going to have to take his lumps from comedians (and bloggists) over the next couple of days, and that is the only price he will probably have to pay.

3. The White House and the Vice President's office screwed up by delaying mention of this accident.

4. There is a lot of speculation on Democratic Underground and elsewhere on the real story behind this accident.

5. The vast majority of this speculation is based on nothing but a surety that Cheney is an evil guy.

6. This accident does come at a fortuitous time for the Vice President and this administration, given that it distracts away from Scooter Libby's testimony and Michael Brown's testimony.

7. You shouldn't read to much into point 6.

8. It's entirely possible that I am completely full of crap.

Second story, Ann Coulter made some highly inappropriate comments lately, this time centered around the Danish Cartoon Controversy.

Iran is soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. So far, only Ted Rall, Garry Trudeau, and the NY Times have made submissions.

Well Ted Rall doesn't think this is very funny - so he is soliciting opinions on whether or not he should sue Ann Coulter for Libel.

I'm torn myself - anything that exposes Ann Coulter is certainly appealing to me, but I'm not certain this particular action would do that. For one thing, as Rall admits, she's almost certainly going to say that she was only joking. She will attack Rall for not having a sense of humor (although the "humor" in Ann's comments eludes me). So, I'm not sure he could actually win this particular case.

On the other hand, if there is even a chance at embarrassing Ms. Coulter, won't I hate myself for not supporting it? Anyway if you want to send Mr. Rall your opinion, do so.