And who better to surmise that the Vice-President might have been trying to bump off his buddy than Ron Reagan, that primetime speaker at the Kerry convention who moonlights as an MSNBC "political analyst"?
Reagan appeared on tonight's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and in decrying the fact that the Secret Service apparently denied local law enforcement immediate access to Cheney, said the following:
"Law enforcement is entitled to investigate this case, to find out what happened, to find out if he had anything against Mr. Whittington, and to find out - again I don't mean to suggest anything - to find out if anyone had been drinking . . ."
Matthews, though seemingly scandalized by Reagan's suggestion, was unable to suppress a smile as he broke in:
"You just did [suggest something]. Are you crazy? You just threw that out there. There's no reason to believe this is anything but an accident and you know it."
After intimating the shooting might have been intentional, Reagan contradicted himself while trying to change the subject:
"I'm not suggesting it wasn't an accident but I'm saying one of the first questions the police would ask anybody is if there had been any drinking going on."
Matthews' other guest, notorious Bush antagonist Patrick Buchanan, was only too happy to pour inflammable liquid on the fire:
"Why didn't Cheney invite the sheriff in so the sheriff could find out what happened?"
So there it is. Approximately 13 hours after the story broke on the national news, a paid MSM analyst has suggested the possiblity that the Vice-President of the United States intentionally shot an innocent man.
Finkelstein lives in Ithaca, NY where he hosts the local TV program "Right Angle." Email him at: mark@gunhill.net
