I sympathise with Cheney, to a point

Everyone over here is getting their knickers in a twist, just because the Vice President shot one of his friends. It could happen to anyone. You're out in the woods slaughtering a few small birds all alone (except for your security detail) when you hear something creeping up behind you. It could be a terrorist, or worse yet a rapacious predator, so naturally the only adviseable course of action is to shoot now and ask questions later. As it happens it was a lawyer, which is more or less the same thing.

Personally, I don't think shooting lawyers will do his political career any harm. Cruel though it may seem to some, culling is the only way of keeping the population down, so this may in fact be the most environmentally friendly thing he's done in a thirty year political career. Also, it makes him seem more human - after all at some point in our lives we've all felt the need to open up with both barrels in a lawyer's face.

I do worry that there might be implications if he makes a habit of it though. Verminous pests they may be, but there are other species in the ecosystem (e.g. estate agents, accountants, newspaper editors) that depend on a healthy herd of lawyers.