Washington Post sluthing, a few days ago, gives us this - any reader comments, one way or the other on political correctness, are welcome:
Byrd: Relieved That Cheney Apologized for Incest Joke
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) was hospitalized Monday shortly after he released a strongly worded statement condemning Vice President Dick Cheney for making an incest joke at the expense of his great state. Today, Byrd is feeling "much better," according to his spokesman, and had just one burning question for his staff during a conference call with aides this morning: Did the vice president apologize yet to the people of West Virginia?
"He was happy to hear about Sen. Ted Kennedy's successful surgery and he also wanted to know if Dick Cheney had issued an apology to the people of West Virginia," Byrd spokesman Jesse Jacobs tells The Sleuth.
The nonagenarian senator was relieved to hear that Cheney's spokeswoman -- though not Cheney himself -- had, in fact, issued an apology late Monday afternoon. At the National Press Club Monday, Cheney said he recently realized that his mother was descended from a Richard Cheney, adding, "So I had Cheneys on both sides of the family and we don't even live in West Virginia."
Byrd's office issued a statement Monday attributed to the senator saying, "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. Now that he or the administration he represents no longer needs their vote, Mr. Cheney apparently feels that he is now free to mock and belittle the people of West Virginia."
By Mary Ann Akers - June 4, 2008; 12:41 PM ET [photo: Google images]