Hunting Mishap Begrudgingly Reported?

Bill Plante Questions Slow Reporting In VP Shooting Accident

(CBS) 
The Secret Service reports that it informed the local sheriff of the accident about an hour after it happened, and that the sheriff interviewed the vice president the next morning.

McClellan himself did not learn that Cheney was the person who caused the accident until early Sunday morning, but then did not make the news known. He left it to the vice president's staff, which said nothing until the story began to break on the newswires mid-afternoon.

Reporters challenged McClellan's assertion that the focus on getting medical attention for the victim delayed reporting of the incident. The vice president is accompanied everywhere by a Secret Service protective detail that can communicate instantly with the White House. It seems unlikely that the Secret Service detail would not have known immediately — not only of the shooting but of the identity of the shooter. Reporters asked McClellan to get someone from the vice president's office who could respond in more detail; no promises were made, and at this writing no such briefing has been held.

By the end of the briefing, there were no answers. Why did it take so long for the president to learn that the vice president was involved? Why was the White House press secretary not informed until the next day? Why did the vice president or his office elect not to disclose the incident — and leave it to their hostess?

Bottom line: If the vice president had wanted this story out, it would have been public much sooner.