It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Dick!

The Vice President of the U.S.A. flew into Casper, Wyo., Monday to raise money for a beleaguered Barbara Cubin, the rep who allegedly represents Wyoming citizens in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mostly what she does is tap-dance to the tune played by the Bush/Cheney team. She also is beholden to the oil and gas interests who run our state, not to mention the country and the world.

Cubin was defeated handily in Laramie and Teton counties in the August primaries by Repub challenger Bill Winney. She squeaked by in Natrona County, which is the place that gave us both Dick and Lynne Cheney. Dems hope that Gary Trauner from Teton County can defeat Cubin in the general election and provide us with someone intelligent and responsive inside The Beltway. Trauner's coming on strong and battling push-polling and nasty TV ads from Cubin's puppetmasters in the Repub Party.

I was in Casper at a bookfest meeting while Cubin and The Cheneys fed their faces, raised huge amounts of lucre, and patted each other on the back for Mission Accomplished in Iraq. I was saddened to see our former senator, Al Simpson, on the stage with the D.C. Bozos. He's a Republican who thinks for himself, an endangered species these days. It may be the Repubs are really worried about these elections and they are dragging out all the big guns.

Cheney gave Cubin his full support, which may not mean much this year, even in Wyoming. Then he and his wife, the woman who tried to dismantle the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities during the 1990s, departed, presumably back to The Death Star.