Flipping the Byrd

Vice President Dick Cheney did a whirlwind tour through Richmond last week, flying in to stump (and raise a little money) for John McCain and heading back out again in a matter of hours. His speech reportedly focused on the traditional Republican issues of national security, lower taxes and limiting government.

One might wish he had stuck to those talking points at the National Press Club yesterday, where an ill-advised joke about West Virginian inbreeding turned into a media firestorm. The quote? "So I had Cheneys on both sides of the family -- and we don't even live in West Virginia." I've heard worse in almost every Aggie joke that has been thrown my way in the past thirty years.

Yes, the comment was in poor taste, especially coming from a sitting vice president. And sure, you would expect West Virginians to be grumbling about it, and even to hear the requisite wailing and gnashing of teeth from their representatives in Washington.

But nothing could have prepared me for this ironic response from West Virginia's own pride and joy, Senator Robert Byrd:

"That a man who has ascended to the seat of vice president of the United States would openly display such contempt and astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen is an insult to all Americans," Byrd says in a statement.

This, coming from a one-time Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan? And considering the Democratic Party's years of exploitation of the black voters who have unexplainably continued to support them, Byrd's next statement is even more incongruous:

"This pitiful comment is not entirely surprising when you consider the source," Byrd adds. "Vice President Cheney's words reflect the attitude of an administration and a party that says what they must to get elected and then turns their backs on those they promised to represent."

Pot, meet kettle.