If You Weren't Sitting in that Wheelchair, I'd Slap You Across the Face

Wyoming congresswoman issues apology

By Associated Press
October 25, 2006
CHEYENNE - Seeking to put an end to an incident that pundits say could tighten an already-close U.S. House race, Rep. Barbara Cubin issued a public apology Tuesday for a comment she made to a disabled Libertarian candidate following a testy debate.

"It was person-to-person and it was not an attack on the disabled," Cubin said in a telephone interview. "In retrospect, I was wrong in what I said, and I apologize."

But Libertarian Thomas Rankin said Cubin hadn't apologized to him personally, and he still considered it an "open issue" until she did.

"Barbara has been a loose cannon too long; she needs to be reined in," he said.

Rankin, who has multiple sclerosis and uses an electric wheelchair, said that after the debate Sunday night Cubin "walked over to me and said, 'If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face.' "

From Rush Limbaugh's disgusting smear of Michael J. Fox, to Ann Coulter's disgusting smear of the Jersey Girls, to Saxby Chambliss's disgusting smear of Max Cleland, the resounding message of the Republican Party is: If you weren't sitting in that wheelchair, I'd slap you across the face. And even if you are sitting in a wheelchair.