A hunting tale peppered with discrepancies By Calvin Woodward, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vice President Dick Cheney said he didn’t immediately disclose his hunting accident because he wanted the confusing details to come out right. Instead, authorized accounts came out slowly – and often still wrong.

The result: a week of shifting blame, belatedly acknowledged beer consumption (not “zero” drinking after all) and evolving discrepancies in how the shooting happened, its aftermath and the way it was told to the nation.

“There’s a reason they call this crisis management,” said corporate damage-control specialist Eric Dezenhall, “and that’s because it’s a mess.” …

Although there is no evidence that beer impaired Cheney’s judgment, initial denials that he had consumed alcohol were wrong.

“No one was drinking,” Armstrong said at the outset. “No, zero, zippo.” She said the hunters washed down lunch with Dr Pepper. Later, she qualified her comments and said beer might have been in the cooler but she did not think anyone drank any. …

Cheney acknowledged Wednesday, “I had a beer at lunch” several hours before the group’s afternoon hunt, asserting “nobody was under the influence.” …

“If I recall,” Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said of Armstrong, “she pointed out that the protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington, when it came to notifying the others that he was there.”

The about-face came Wednesday when Cheney made his first public comment on the accident.

“It was not Harry’s fault,” he said. “You can’t blame anybody else. I’m the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend.”

I’m a very ‘lucky’ guy, says man hit by veep BY KENNETH R. BAZINET, DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Browbeaten by late-night comedians and an aggressive press corps, Cheney acknowledged he’d endured “a very long week.” Even loyal Republicans said the GOP has been hurt by Cheney’s stonewalling tactics and stubborn resistance to answer questions.

Potential GOP presidential candidate and Vietnam vet Chuck Hagel took a whack at Cheney’s five draft deferments that kept him from serving in Vietnam.

“If he’d been in the military, he would have learned gun safety,” the Nebraska senator told the Omaha World-Herald.