Americans React to Cheney's Accident

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

By a margin of 2 to 1, Americans believe the hunting incident involving Vice President Dick Cheney was a regrettable accident, not a serious error in judgment.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll reveals that just 27 percent of Americans say the incident raises serious questions about Cheney's ability to serve as vice president. Twice as many say it was "just one of those very embarrassing things that happens to all of us," despite the fact that only 36 percent of those polled expressed a favorable opinion of the vice president.

Republicans overwhelmingly called the shooting an accident and independents agreed with them by a margin of 2 to 1. But 46 percent of Democrats said the hunting incident calls Cheney's ability to serve into question, while 38 percent consider it an embarrassing accident.

Competition Reaction

That interview with Vice President Cheney didn't go over well with our competitors at CNN. Political commentator Paul Begala, who is also a Democratic operative, called FOX News, "the house organ for the Republican Party" and compared Cheney sitting down with FOX to "Khrushchev giving an interview to Pravda."

And someone named Jack Cafferty said, "It didn't exactly represent a profile in courage for the vice president to wander over there to the F-word network,” calling the interview, "a little bit like Bonnie interviewing Clyde."

What's more, while CNN had video clips of the interview available, it chose not to run them, instead using unattributed fullscreen quotes that did not mention that the interview was from FOX News.

Cartoon Comparison

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference has compared the controversial cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad to the murder of thousands of Americans on 9/11.

Meeting with European foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss a ban on religious defamation, the OIC leader said, "Unfortunately, people in the Muslim world feel that this is a new 9/11 against themselves. In Europe unfortunately Muslims have taken the place of Jews during World War II."

And while the Arab News reports that the secretary general claims his group "deplores" violent acts of protesters, he says, "we have to defend the rights of the Muslim Ummah for its holy values."

Illinois Discipline

The University of Illinois has suspended the editor-in-chief of its student newspaper after the paper joined the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Austin American-Statesman, and a handful mainstream media outlets in publishing those cartoons of Muhammad this week.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Daily Illini has apologized for running the cartoons, blaming their publication on "a blatant abuse of power" by "renegade editor," Acton Gordon.

Gordon says he was "defamed" and has hired noted Muslim-American civil rights attorney Junaid Afeef, saying, "My career is in jeopardy."

— FOX News' Dominique Pastre contributed to this report