Bloggers Battle Over Cheney Misfire

Left And Right Clash: Shooting A Cover Up Or Much Ado About Nothing?

(CBS) 
But conservative Mark Coffey derides liberal bloggers for raising Cheney's lunchtime drink as an issue: "… By the same token I drank before I came to work today — it was weeks ago, but it was before I came to work today," he jokes.

Some liberal bloggers turned to conservatives for ammunition.

Liberal blog Think Progress said conservative pundit Tucker Carlson said on air it was “totally unacceptable” for Cheney to drink prior to hunting. “I’ve been on dozens of hunts, there’s no beer served as lunch. You can’t drink a beer if you shoot, period. Doesn’t matter if you’re shooting five hours after, you’re not allowed to do it,” Carlson said.

It's not the first time Cheney's drinking habits have been in the spotlight. A 2000 Rolling Stone article recounts Cheney's time at Yale before he was forced to leave after completing one full year. "He spent his time partying with guys who loved football but weren't varsity quality," recalls Stephen Billings, an Episcopalian minister who roomed with him during Cheney's freshman year at Yale.

A Smoking Gun investigation also revealed several of Cheney's brushes with the law over drinking. Cheney's first DWI conviction came in November 1962 when he was 21. According to a docket from Cheyenne's Municipal Court, Cheney was charged with drunkenness and "operating motor vehicle while intoxicated."

A Cheyenne Police Judge found Cheney guilty of the two charges and his driver's license was suspended for 30 days. Cheney also had to forfeit a $150 bond posted at the time of his arrest. In a second incident, Cheney was arrested in July 1963, and fined $100 for his second DWI conviction.

But conservatives said the liberals were just blowing smoke.

Conservative radio commentator Brian Maloney thinks liberal bloggers are just on the prowl for information to bad-mouth the vice president. "Evidence, who needs evidence? On the left, it's conspiracy-huntin' season," Maloney blogs. "Without hesitation, one could easily expect the left to go ballistic were conservatives to make similar baseless charges against a Democrat."

By week's end, mainstream media interest in the Cheney story had waned, but the battle raged on in cyberspace.