Note to self: Don't ever date a WH Press Secretary

I can prevaricate with the best of them, but this man would drive me fully insane. Full transcript at Raw Story.

Q Let's just be clear here. The vice president of the United States accidentally shoots a man, and he feels that it's appropriate for a ranch owner who witnessed this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper and not the White House press corps at large, or notify the public in a national way?

MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, I think we all know that once it is made public, then it's going to be news and all of you are going to be seeking that information. And the Vice President's Office was ready to provide additional information to reporters. There was no traveling White House press corps with the vice president, as there is with the president in a situation like this.

I'm looking for a yes or no in this and don't seem to be able to find one...just a "well, there was no press corps, so we had to depend on the kindness of Mrs. Armstrong to take care of this for us cause, gosh darn it, we were busy -- 22 hours later -- making sure Whittington wasn't too spicy. So busy, in fact, that we and our massive leak machine just couldn't get the word out sooner than she could."

Q I just want to clarify one thing. Is it appropriate for a private citizen to be the person to disseminate the information that the vice president of the United States has been -- has shot someone?

MR. MCCLELLAN: That's one way to provide information to the public. The vice president's office worked with her -- well, I should say the vice president -- the vice president spoke with her directly and agreed that she should --

Q But you make it sound like it's up to her to decide when it comes out.

MR. MCCLELLAN: -- agreed that she should make it public, and then they would provide additional information.

Q But why should it be up to a private citizen to decide when it comes out?

MR. MCCLELLAN: It came out -- it came out Sunday morning. I've told you the way that I've operated and the way I've provided information in similar circumstances.

Q Certainly different --

Still no yes or no answer. This is more of a "This one ain't my fault, damn you all. I didn't want it to go this way, but we're talking about Cheney here. You thought Nixon was bad? You think Bush is bad? Cheney learned from Nixon and expanded on it and taught Bush, who's not the sharpest burnt umber in the box."

The entire thing is full of hair-pulling almost answers.The upshot (no pun intended) is that Cheney shot Whittington around 5.30pm and nothing was said until the next morning cause the White House had to "get all the facts" in place. And it was up to a "private citizen" to disseminate this information...to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Sounds like Scotty suggested an earlier notification timeframe and was overruled.

For the historical record, no man has been shot by a sitting Vice President since Aaron Burr plugged Alexander Hamilton on July 11, 1804. I do not believe that Hamilton in any way resembled a quail.

Waiting for the "I went hunting with the Vice President and all I got was a lousy ICU room and a face full of pellets" t-shirt.