WASHINGTON - During an interview with the Fox Television anchor Brit Hume yesterday, President Bush twice referred to seventy-eight year old Texas lawyer Harry Whittington as “Pellet Face.” Whittington was accidentally shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a near-tragic quail hunting accident on a Texas ranch two weeks ago. “Our hearts and prayers are with Mr., er, Pellet Face and we know he’ll be up and around in no time” said the President.Sensing that the President was struggling to remember the name of the central figure in the recent mishap that has provided material for comedians around the world, Hume asked “if the President meant Mr. Whittington.”
“Yeah, old Pellet-Face,” said Mr. Bush, smiling. “You know, Dick yelled 'duck,' and Pellet-Face started to say 'don’t you mean quail' when he took a mouth full of buckshot. Isn’t that hilarious?” The President broke into laughter before Mr. Hume reminded him that “the tape was rolling.” The President swallowed hard. He then lunged at Hume, knocking him off his chair. Aides reportedly had to separate the two men. In a briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan responded to questions about the President's use of the expression “pellet face” by saying that “any attempt to impute a pejorative connotation to the nickname assigned by President Bush to his dear, recently maimed, hideously disfigured, turkey-necked crony, Harry Whittington, is both insensitive and wrong.”
