Robert Byrd, RIP
George Savage ·
Jun 28, 2010 at 6:40am
West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, the longest serving member of Congress, is dead at 92.
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Comments :
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
For all our political differences, I deeply appreciate Byrd's uncompromising stand on barbarism.
Seriously!
May '10
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
RIP, and comfort to his family and friends.
According to Hot Air, if he would have hung on for another week, the West Virginia constitution says that his replacement would have finished his out his term (ending in 2013). As it stands, their Democratic governor will nominate a replacement, and they'll hold a special election in November.
Jun '10
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
If he would have left in the days of Clinton he would have been remembered far better than he will be now. A democrat in perfect sync with the President, and his party who came through for his state.
There is something to be said about knowing when to leave.
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
Interesting example of media bias flagged by Newsbusters today.
New York Times headline today:
Robert Byrd, Respected Voice of the Senate, Dies at 92
Same paper, different senator in 2003:
Strom Thurmond, Foe of Integration, Dies at 100
Senator Thurmond dropped his opposition to integration decades before his death, just as Senator Byrd resigned his leadership position in the Ku Klux Klan decades ago. However, if you are a conservative Republican, your racial views in 1948 dominate the headline and third paragraph. But if you are a New Deal Democrat, your leadership position in a domestic terrorist group gets buried in the seventeenth paragraph.
Edited on Jun 28, 2010 at 12:24pmJun '10
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
For all that can be said of Robert Byrd, from whatever perspective, the image that came foremost to mind this morning upon hearing the news of his death was the photo that captured George W. Bush holding the hand of an ailing Senator Byrd as he navigated a set of stairs. It speaks well of President Bush, but it also spoke well of Senator Byrd that he accepted the assistance and gesture.
Humanity and decency should outweigh and outshine politics. Would that it were always so.
May '10
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
Lifetime of public service, getting best he could for West Virginia all those years, but I agree with Mark. I just think as one of 100 tasked with setting policy affecting generations to come, Senators should recognize when they are no longer able to devote the mental and physical energy required for such an important job and retire. Senators need to be reminded they do not sit in the House of Lords.
Jun '10
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
Just for a little balance, that we're not likely to see in the MSM this week:
A Senator's Shame, By Eric Pianin, Washington Post, 6/19/05 : Byrd wrote that he continued as a "Kleagle" recruiting for the Klan until early 1943, when he and his family left Crab Orchard for a welding job in a Baltimore shipyard. Returning to West Virginia after World War II ended in 1945, he launched his political career, but not before writing another letter, to one of the Senate's most notorious segregationists, Theodore Bilbo (D-Miss.), complaining about the Truman administration's efforts to integrate the military. Byrd said in the Dec. 11, 1945, letter -- which would not become public for 42 more years with the publication of a book on blacks in the military during World War II by author Graham Smith -- that he would never fight in the armed forces "with a Negro by my side." Byrd added that, "Rather I should die a thousand times, and see old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels."
Jun '10
Re: Robert Byrd, RIP
God bless and Godspeed Robert. One of us is correct and today you will find out which. I will have to suffer this mortal coil a bit longer before I receive the same revelation.