The buck(shot) stops where, again?

I am not and almost certainly never will be a hunter, and I am in no position to judge the finer points of what happened on the quail-hunting expedition on which Vice President Cheney shot and wounded one of his hunting companions.

But the dance of denial, finger-pointing and cover-up that followed the hunting accident? That’s something anyone can see for the poor behavior it is — part of a pattern of secrecy and buck-passing that seems to be deeply etched in this administration’s DNA. Cheney and his retainers chose not to inform the press or the country in a timely manner. Then they decided that — in what even this city kid can see is a thoroughly unsportsmanlike fashion — the fault lay with the unfortunate victim, rather than with the veep with the wayward shot.

But I wouldn’t know a covey from a coven, so don’t take it from me — go read the Austin American-Statesman outdoors columnist, Mike Leggett, who writes,

Be a man. You shot a guy. That would be my unsolicited advice for Vice President Dick Cheney. You shot a guy. At least stay in town until he’s out of the hospital. You shot a guy. Don’t blame the sun or the wind or the rotation of the Earth. And for goodness’ sake, don’t blame Harry Whittington.