I was struck by the positive spin attached to the  Associated Press article appearing this morning in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, entitled "Cheney peppers fellow Texas hunter with shotgun blast" ?

One rarely hears of convenience store clerks merely being "peppered".  Generally the term used for this sort of incident would be more along the lines of "gunned down".  Mobsters are "taken out". You can be "done-in". Shootings are usually described as "tragic", "inexplicable", "justifiable" or "under investigation".  They may be "drive-by", "drug-related", or "in self-defense". More often "in Cold Blood".

It would be interesting to get Mr. Whittington's take on being "peppered". Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.  I am sure Mr. Whittington felt the same way about Mr. Cheney.

What could he say? It was obviously all his fault. Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

 "This is something that happens from time to time," Armstrong said. "You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," Armstrong said.

Assaulted and peppered would be more like it.