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02/17/2006:

"Bush 'Satisfied' With Cheney Response"

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 — President Bush said Thursday that Vice President Dick Cheney had handled the disclosure of an accidental shooting of a hunting partner "just fine" and that the incident had been a "traumatic moment" for Mr. Cheney as well as a tragic one for the victim.

Mr. Bush's comments were his first on the matter since Mr. Cheney wounded the victim, a 78-year-old lawyer, Harry M. Whittington, on a quail-hunting expedition in Texas last weekend and his first public reaction to an interview that Mr. Cheney gave about the incident on Wednesday to Fox News.

The remarks came on the same day that the local sheriff's department investigating the shooting said its inquiry was closed and no charges would be filed.

The president's words appeared to be an effort to tamp down widespread talk about tensions between him and Mr. Cheney. Mr. Bush's aides had made little secret all week that they wished Mr. Cheney had handled the matter differently — in particular by disclosing it more quickly and via a more established channel than the Web site of a local newspaper in Texas. And on Wednesday, the White House signaled that Mr. Bush was sympathetic to that view. The incident was not made public for more than 18 hours.

"I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation," Mr. Bush told reporters in the Oval Office, speaking of Mr. Cheney's interview on Fox. "This is a man who likes the outdoors, and he likes to hunt. And he heard a bird flush and he turned and pulled the trigger and saw his friend get wounded. And it was a deeply traumatic moment for him, and obviously it was a tragic moment for Mr. Whittington."
nytimes.com