It could have been a felony charge...but....

Cheney will get off the felony charges because the Sheriff of Kenedy County agreed to wait until the next day to send deputies to talk to those involved. Good old boy network in Texas at work. Here is the scoop:

"Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting.

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited "visible signs" of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.

According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting "accident" and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the "one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day.

"This was a South Texas hunt," says one White House aide. "Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it.

...Oh this sounds SO Texas heh? Sigh.We let drivers and hunters drink and drive or shoot, no big deal. And...if you are a big wig the Sheriff will get you off. for more

And in a second story today, Doug Thompson noted

"It wasn't a story we went looking for. A friend who works in the Bush administration tipped us on the report late last week and I started making phone calls. By late Tuesday, I had all I needed to go with the story: three sources that said a Secret Service Agent filed a report claiming Cheney had consumed several drinks and "appeared inebriated" while hunting on the Armstrong Ranch on February 11.

Mr. Thompson noted that the bizarre antics of the Bush administration provided far more interesting fodder for stories than anything his imagination could possibly conjure up.