We're into the second week of coverage on the non-story story about Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting partner and David Gregory is just now getting around the admitting that his behavior in the White House press conference where he practically got into a fist fight with Press Secretary Scott McClellan was "out of line". He even admitted that Vice President Cheney is a bit of the victim here. Apparently, since he's presumably a grown-up and doesn't have a mother to remind him to behave, that task was left, by Gregory's admission, to his wife.

Gregory however, didn't apologize for being aggressive in his questioning about the accidental shooting incident, again citing the ridiculous Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton comparison. It was the first time since then that a vice president had shot anyone, as if that is relevant, and the American public needed to know every last detail right down to microscopic examinations of the pellet wounds. Last time I checked, Whittington and Cheney didn't challenge each other to a duel and Whittington isn't dead -- in fact he looked quite healthy when he was released from the hospital the other day.

Another ridiculous assertion Gregory made is that he "is a proxy for the American people". Don't flatter yourself, Dave: You're nothing more than an inconsequential pompous ass with a terminal case of self-importance whose audience has been in a free-fall for years. News flash to Gregory: the American people aren't marching in the streets all pissed off because they found out about this accidental shooting the day after it happened. With the advent of on-demand access to news via the Internet and the dawn of the new media in the blogosphere, reporters like Gregory are an inconsequential as the turd my little dog left out in the yard to freeze in the four-degree Iowa cold this morning. You are a legend in your own mind, Dave. Get over yourself.

Nevertheless, the pompous just keep the pomposity rolling. Snide leftist New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd also appeared on the show to defend her assertion in such columns as this bilge that the delay in disseminating information about this non-story is a metaphor for the overall deviousness and secrecy of the Bush Administration in general, presided over and controlled by that Darth Vader-like figure, Vice President Dick Cheney, an assertion that, as Mary Matalin, another guest on the show, pointed out, is laughably absurd.

Matalin rightly pointed out that the sole source of the leftist media's indignation in general and Gregory's in particular was that a tiny paper in Corpus Christi, Texas got the scoop instead of them. Matalin left Gregory and Dowd both speechless with the correct assertion that, had she been in control of the Vice President's press office and called Gregory instead of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and said "pssst, hey Dave, I've got a scoop for you on the VP's hunting accident" Gregory wouldn't have responded with "sorry Mary, but as all of the White House Press Corps are proxies of the American people in this matter, it just wouldn't be right for me to scoop the rest of them. Please release this through normal channels." The little NBC scamp would have gone running to the nearest place he could have broadcast the world exclusive.

As much as this should be the end of it, you can bet it won't be. Newsweek is apparently taking a page from the Maureen Dowd school of hysteria and continuing the obscene Dick Cheney = Darth Vader = Bush Administration secrecy = 100% total evil. Look for this, as they say, to "hit the stands today", penned by Evan Thomas, that commie lib with the real commie for a granddad. Let's all hope that by next week the press will find some real news to cover.