Dick Cheney went a- hunting for pheasant in Dutchess County yester day, trailed by an ambu lance embedded in a 15-SUV entourage in case the vice president’s ticker – or trigger finger – went awry.
But the veep only shot him self in the foot – by visiting the exclusive Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club in Union Vale, a sprawling preserve nestled along the western side of Clove Mountain, where a 5-foot-by-5-foot Confederate flag hung in a garage at tached to the club headquarters.
The Stars and Bars were clearly vis ible from the open-doored garage; there were no signs of the Stars and Stripes elsewhere.
“I am calling on Vice President Che ney to . . . denounce the club and apol ogize for going to a club that repre sents lynching, hate and murder to black people,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement.
“In this age of Jena and hangmen nooses all over the country, for the vice president to relax under the flag of the hangmen nooses is an unpardonable insult to all Americans, par ticularly blacks.”
A Cheney spokesman said the vice president never saw the flag.
And for most in this small town of 4,500, the visit was barely noteworthy.
“There really wasn’t that much hoopla,” said Town Supervisor Lisette Hitsman.
“They only have to block off three town roads.”
Not that Cheney wasn’t noticed.
“When all of a sudden you have a bunch of white SUVs, then some black SUVs, then a whole lot of men with dark glasses, we knew it was Dick Cheney,” Hitsman said.
She noted the town’s all-volunteer fire and rescue company was at-the-ready.
Cheney spent about six hours hunting, enjoying near-perfect temperatures in the 50s. He was gone by 3:45 p.m.
Deer hunter Bill Tryon, 48, who works on Clove Road, where Cheney’s motorcade sped by in the morning, said he had no problem with the veep taking aim at the local game.
“As long as he doesn’t shoot anyone in the ass,” Tryon said.
Cheney became a punch line in 2006 after he sprayed a hunting companion, lawyer Harry Whittington, in Texas.
The vice president came under fire for not going public with the incident for four days.
Cheney called the mishap “one of the worst days” of his life. But Whittington graciously forgave his pal, and chided the media for being so hard on the veep.