Kill the Wabbit

This just in: The Dick Cheney Quail Hunt, an interactive game courtesy of The Huffington Post.

It's not easy. Kept winging the Secret Service Agent.

Early Word has David Letterman's Top 10 Excuses why the vice president accidentally shot a hunting pal over the weekend.

No. 1: "Made a bet with Gretzky's wife."

The LA Times wrapped up the world's take on the shooting:

The Herald in Scotland wrote, "Cheney Bags a Lawyer," while the Sydney Morning Herald headlined its online story "Cheney Hunts Quail and Everyone Else Ducks."

It took a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter to break down what moved the mishap into the realm of comedy:

"You start with a person in a position of power and authority who screws up, that's funny," explained Lawrence Mintz, a professor and director of the Art Gliner Center for Humor Studies at the University of Maryland.

"That he's a Republican who strongly supports gun rights and the National Rifle Association, that adds another layer of humor. There is also the humorous irony that if the situation were reversed - that if Whittington had accidentally shot Cheney - then the Secret Service would've plugged him. You've got plenty of ironies making it a humorous incident."

Mintz pointed out that all the humor would be lost if the victim died or was gravely wounded. But Whittington is expected to recover....

"It's funny even if you like Cheney," he said. "But it's funnier if you don't."

It's gotten a little less funny: Whittington apparently suffered a minor heart attack.