First Cheney Statement for Press Did Not Admit He Was Shooter

The Sunday morning televison talk shows featured blistering attacks on the press for going overboard in its critical coverage of the Cheney shooting incident last week. Cheney aide Mary Matalin accused NBC reporter David Gregory of going on a "jihad" gainst the vice president.

However, one more revelation could fuel more speculation, as it contradicts earlier explanations that Cheney wanted to get the full story out, he was just a bit tardy about it. The passage reads:"At about 8 a.m. Sunday, a Cheney aide called strategist Mary Matalin, who regularly advises the Vice President. The aide read her a statement about the accident that Cheney had considered releasing before he decided to encourage Armstrong to go to the (Corpus Christi) Caller-Times. "But the statement 'didn't say much of anything,' Matalin says—not even that Cheney was the shooter.

Matalin then spoke with a second aide and with Cheney's family and heard different versions of what had happened in the shooting. She decided no statement should be released amid the confusion. Matalin spoke with Cheney, and, she says, they agreed that 'a fuller accounting, with an eyewitness,' would be preferable."

Time also reports a poll showing that almost two-thirds of Americans (65%) think Cheney should have taken immediate responsibility for the shooting incident. His approval rating stands at 29%; President Bush's approval rating is 40%.

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