Clinton Says Secrecy Inflamed Cheney Issue

President Clinton said the Bush administration’s “enormous penchant for secrecy” sparked the strong reaction to Vice President Dick Cheney’s shooting mishap.

“We have people quite often who are shot in quail incidents, so I didn’t feel the need to get into the pile-on,” Clinton said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Cheney has been criticized for not disclosing the Feb. 11 shooting of Texas lawyer Harry Whittington until the following day.

“I think the White House should have said something about it sooner,” Clinton said. “I think that it’s gotten a little more light than it would have because the administration has an enormous penchant for secrecy for not telling anybody anything about anything.”