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Reader question: Please explain “he can’t shoot straight” in this: Why should we listen to Dick Cheney? Everyone knows he can’t shoot straight. My comments: Dick Cheney was the former Vice President to the George W. Bush. Without delving into his politics, we can safely infer that whoever makes the above remark didn’t like Cheney’s politics. Because “everyone knows he can’t shoot straight.” And this is a figure of speech because obviously he’s not talking about Cheney firing a pistol or rifle or some similar weapon. Rather he’s talking about what Cheney has to say in Congress or on television or somewhere. And by “he can’t shoot straight”, the speaker perhaps means to say that Cheney political views and criticisms of other politicians are not very good or accurate, to the point, or effective. Alright, literally, someone who can’t shoot straight is a person who misses the mark in target shooting. Shooters aim straight and directly at the target in order to score. If you consistently miss the mark, they people say you can’t shoot straight. This disparaging remark is American in origin and is another example of good American idioms which are simple and straight forward, easy to understand. Metaphorically speaking, if someone can’t shoot straight with something they say, then they don’t know what they’re talking about. Or if this is a remark about someone’s general level of performance at a job, it simply means they’re not very good at it. | 
