Cheney takes blame for shooting

But Cheney also used the interview on Fox News to defend his decision to let the co-owner of the Texas ranch where the accident happened break the news to a local newspaper, which resulted in the White House not confirming the matter for 20 hours. That delay -- and the absence of a public apology by Cheney -- had created a firestorm for days that the vice president finally sought to quell by giving the 27-minute interview.

''I thought that was the right call," Cheney said. ''I still do."

For Cheney, who prefers to operate behind the scenes of the Bush administration and shuns most requests to speak to the press, the one-on-one interview with Fox News anchor Brit Hume seemed a wrenching exercise in damage control. Step by step, a contrite Cheney went through his version of what happened Saturday -- from the way he aimed at quail to the sudden realization that he had blasted his friend, Harry Whittington, with birdshot.

Whittington, an influential Austin lawyer and prominent Republican, suffered a slight heart attack Tuesday when a birdshot pellet lodged in his heart.

''The image of him falling is something I'll never ever be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. ''I fired, and there's Harry falling. And it was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life at that moment."

After Whittington collapsed, ''I ran over to him," Cheney said. ''He was laying there on his back, obviously bleeding. You could see where the shot struck him.

''I said, 'Harry, I had no idea you were there.' He didn't respond," Cheney said.

When Hume asked whether the hunting party had been drinking, Cheney answered: ''No. You don't hunt with people who drink. That's not a good idea."

Cheney then acknowledged that he ''had a beer at lunch" a few hours before the accident. ''We didn't go back into the field to hunt quail until about, oh, sometime after 3 p.m.," Cheney said. The shooting happened at about 5:30.

The sheriff's office in Kenedy County, Texas, ruled out alcohol as a factor in a statement released Monday. A final incident report is pending, according to Diana Mata, the department's communications supervisor. A hospital spokesman would not say whether Whittington's blood-alcohol level was tested when he arrived in the emergency room Saturday night.

Speaking in his trademark monotone, Cheney described how Whittington left the hunting party to retrieve a quail he'd shot. The vice president then spotted a quail to his right.

''I turned and shot at the bird, and at that second, saw Harry standing there," Cheney said. ''Didn't know he was there . . . I saw him fall, basically. It had happened so fast."

Addressing the delay in reporting the shooting -- which many observers say compounded the matter -- Cheney said he agreed with ranch co-owner Katharine Armstrong, that it was better for her to tell a reporter she trusted at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times the next morning. Armstrong, a lifelong hunter and family friend, called the newspaper Sunday morning, and the paper put the story on its website.

''I thought that made good sense, because you can get as accurate a story as possible from somebody who knew and understood hunting and then it would immediately go up to the wires and be posted on the website, which is the way it went out, and I thought that was the right call," Cheney said.

In interviews with other reporters Sunday, Armstrong blamed Whittington for the accident, saying he didn't warn Cheney that he was returning to the hunting party. Asked who was at fault, Cheney's aides pointed to Armstrong's statement.

But a game warden's report said Cheney shared the blame by swinging his firearm to shoot at the quail -- something the vice president didn't acknowledge until his interview yesterday.

At one point in the interview, Cheney tweaked the White House press corps, which has spent days hammering White House spokesman Scott McClellan about the delay in reporting the incident. McClellan had directed many of the questions to the vice president's office.

''I had a bit of the feeling that the press corps was upset because, to some extent, it was about them: They didn't like the idea that we called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead of The New York Times," Cheney told Hume. ''But it strikes me that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is just as valid a news outlet as The New York Times is, especially for covering a major story in South Texas."

The vice president's decision to talk only to Fox News -- which Democrats maintain has a pro-Bush bias -- enabled Cheney to dodge an adversarial no-holds-barred news conference with an agitated White House press corps. That rankled some Democrats, including Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York.

''Doing an exclusive interview with any single news organization is not enough," Schumer said. ''The vice president hasn't had a press conference in three and a half years, and he ought to have one to clear the air not only on this issue, but more importantly on the many other issues that have been shrouded by a veil of secrecy."

In Corpus Christi, officials at Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital said Whittington's heart was beating normally and his blood pressure and vital signs were stable, said Dr. David Blanchard, chief of emergency services in Corpus Christi.

Whittington was sitting in a chair, eating regular food, and had planned to do some legal work in the hospital yesterday, according to hospital spokesman Peter Banko. But the heart attack has led doctors to keep Whittington under observation for at least six more days.

Julia Hood, editor of PR Week, which monitors the public relations business, said the accident revealed friction between McClellan, the official White House spokesman, and the vice president's office. ''It is always the worst thing when a crisis exposes your weaknesses internally," she said.

Moreover, Hood added, ''Any hint that the victim was at fault was obviously a poor way to position this, so [Cheney] did the right thing in saying: 'It is my responsibility. It is the worst day of my life.' That is the right thing to say."

Les Smith, past president of the International Hunter Education Association, said it was ''really important that [Cheney] give that message" that he was to blame for shooting Whittington. ''We are trying to instill in the rising generation of hunters that they are responsible for the safety of themselves and the other hunters in the area," he said.

Cheney, meanwhile, said Whittington ''has been fantastic" during the fallout over the accident. ''He's a gentleman in every respect," the vice president said. ''He oftentimes expressed more concern about me than about himself."

Kranish reported from Washington, Bender from Corpus Christi, Texas. Material from wire services is included.Michael Kranish can be reached at kranish@globe.com.