Beer at the Dick Cheney quail shooting party?

Were alcoholic beverages available at the meal prior to the Dick Cheney hunting incident? Were Cheney, Harry Whittington, or others in their party drinking?

The "NBC Investigative Unit" report "Cheney's hunting host lobbied White House" originally contained this paragraph:

[Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong] also told NBC News that she does not believe alcohol was involved in the accident. She says she believes no one that day was drinking, although she says there may have been beer available during a picnic lunch that preceded the incident. "There may be a beer or two in there," she said, "but remember not everyone in the party was shooting."

That paragraph has since been removed...

Apparently she said this during a telephone interview. I can think of absolutely no reason to remove that paragraph, since the article was probably reviewed by an editor who listened to the (presumably taped) interview before it was published to the web.

There's a screengrab of the original version here, and more links here. The DUmmies discovered this.

UPDATE: Please contribute news about this incident to the new site TheQuailHunter.com Anyone can register to post entries.

Comments

Jim, he doesn't wish others to submit to the powers of law. He wishes others to submit to the powers of... pure executive power.

This story is developing such legs, because it just seems to representative of Cheney's overall style.

Agree or disagree with his policies (to be honest, I disagree), but the man himself has a very specific manner of dealing with things that I find very disturbing. He is arguably the most powerful Vice President in history, and he treats any mistakes as if they didn't really happen, or if they did happen they aren't any big deal, or if they are a big deal it's not his fault, but even though it's not his fault, any details are to be withheld and covered up as long as possible, then released in a spin. And any embarassing admissions made during this process are to be ignored rather than addressed, and the whole process is to be dragged out without resolution as long as possible, until some other news event hopefully intervenes.

It certainly doesn't speak well to the forthrightness of his character, or his willingness to submit himself to the powers of law that he wishes others to submit to.

I wath thober!

What do you care it isn't like you believe in freedom of the press or America's right to know!