As David Brooks writes today about the Cheney shooting ($):

In normal life, people would look at this event and see two decent men caught in a twist of fate. They would feel concern for the victim and sympathy for the man who fired the gun.

But we in Washington are able to rise above the normal human reaction. We have our jobs. We have our roles.

On the other side of the op-ed page, Bob Herbert illustrates Brooks’ point perfectly, using the Cheney hunting accident as a pretext to call for the Vice President’s resignation ($).

Coming soon from Herbert: How Cheney’s failure to buy his $7 hunting stamp illustrates his reckless attitude toward fiscal policy.