Cubin threat raises eyebrows nationwide
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Oct 24, 2006 Posted by Bill Luckett
After Sunday night's debate among Democrat Gray Trauner, Repubican Barbara Cubin and Libertarian Thomas Rankin, Cubin reportedly told Rankin, a wheelchair-bound multiple sclerosis patient, that she would slap him if he weren't "sitting in that chair." This story was first published on the Casper Star-Tribune's Website, but it quickly made waves across the state and country. In the Jackson newspaper, Rankin called on Cubin to resign. The Associated Press moved the story on its national politics wire, and this morning, popular politics blog MyDD posted this piece about the hullaballoo, and here is a posting on popular politics blog DailyKos, as well as this follow-up post. It is the Quote of the Day on Taegan Goddard's Political Wire, and it has been mentioned on several other political sites.
One thing I'd like to point out about this is that if she did not tell Rankin she wanted to slap him, she clearly would have immediately denied doing such a thing, but instead, her spokesman has tried to make excuses for why she said what she said to Rankin. Voters should keep this kind of behavior in mind when they decide who they want to represent them in Congress.
*UPDATE*
OK, so Cubin has publicly apologized to Rankin, though she didn't personally apologize to him, according to the AP. DailyKos provides some insightful interpretation of what is going on.
Public Television will rebroadcast this debate at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 31, if you're interested in watching to see what all the fuss is about (although Cubin's comment to Rankin occurred after the event ended and the cameras were turned off).