The Magnificent Robert Byrd's Paean to The Constitution

[stopbush]

was just voiced on the Senate floor. He took INCREDIBLE shots at bushco, called on the Congress to take back the powers it had ceded to bush ("we should know better!"), warned of giving too much power to bush, laid the folly of the Iraq misadventure squarely at bush's webbed feet.

We as Americans, should be ashamed - ASHAMED - that we have not stormed the gates of the Capitol to demand that OUR representatives take their oath of office as seriously as does Sen Byrd. Who will second his thoughts? Where are the senators Kerry, Lieberman, Graham and Edwards? Why do they not step into the well to support and expand upon the beliefs and convictions of that white-maned, strong-spined defender of OUR POWER and the FREEDOMS guaranteed to US in The Constitution?

I'm sure the text of the speech will be available on his website later today. In the meantime, try to catch a replay on C-Span.

[displacedtexan]

1. isn't he a national treasure?

can you just imagine the quality of his staff?

[roguevalley]

2. go to takebackthemedia. com

and see the new flash movie. Coupled with this, it will be enough to push you into psychosis.

[KoKo]

3. If we lived in a different age.....I would nominate Byrd (in his old age)

for "Sainthood." He has become an "American Treasure!" Unlike Strom Thurmond.....this "elegant" old guy want's to leave a legacy of good.......fighting for his country....trying to "turn the massive ship away from the Iceburg."

One voice.......and the voice many of us DU'ers love the sound and music of.....

[Nixons Bastard Son]

8. i hate to pick on people for past sins...

...and i just posted something about Clark's support of Reagan not being an issue...but...i don't know. it just seems like Byrd should've stopped being elected, or having any voice whatsoever, when being a member (or former member) of the KKK became a "bad thing."

sure, all our favorite liberals have supported horrible things in the past. but...having been a member of the KKK is akin to having been a member of the Nazi party. it's just not something you live down, and you probably shouldn't be able to...

-seth

[Cheswick2.0]

11. You can't forgive someone for something that happened

60 years ago, for which he has apologised? You can't forgive a poor sounthern boy who grew up in a different time, where racism was ingrained, after he realized he was wrong and evolved?
Really?

[Yupster]

18. I forgive him for his being a kleagle in the Klan

but I don't want him anywhere near places where decisions are made for the country. For me, he forfeited that moral authority when he put on his hood.

Also, West Virginia was not a southern state. West Virginia broke off from Virginia when Virginia seceeded from the Union. West Virginia remained loyal, fiercely loyal during the Civil War.

Byrd did not join the Ku Klux Klan while it was respected and powerful. After the 1920's the Klan went through a series of scandals and highly publicized trials. It lost 80 % of its membership over a 10 year period as ordinary Americans who had joined the Klan were repulsed when they saw what the organization had done. The marches down Pennsylvania Avenue were long in the past. It was after this period of discrace that Byrd joined them, not in its heyday.


His present gives me no evidence that he is no longer a racist. Yes he's apologized, who wouldn't, but just a few years ago he was taped using the "N" word on tv, and in to me the most incredible bit of bad judgement, just this year he appeare as an extra in the movie "Gods and Generals" as a Confederate General. Now that may not seem like a big deal to some, but I would think if someone is in public service and was mortified that they once were a %$#%^$ Klansman, that they would run like the devil if some one brought out a Confederate uniform and said, "here put this on, and I'll take your picture." He was an extra. He could have said, "Ted, don't you have a uniform a little bluer? I am from West Virginia after all." Even Phil Gramm was smart enough to stay away from butternut when he appeared in the same movie and he is from a state that was part of the Confederacy.

I have no use for Senator Byrd, though I wish him no ill. Many of us have an old grandfather who's a bit of a racist (though no one in my family ever joined the $%$#% Klan). You nod your head, you listen, you smile, and you thank the lord that grand-dad isn't in charge of anything. That's the same way I feel about Byrd.

Live your last years, tell your stories, but I don't want you anywhere near any places of power.

[stopbush]

12. What an illogical statement.

I take it you have no belief whatsoever in people being reformed or in self-realization. If so, we may as well open all of the prisons as they're a waste of time. Or maybe we should deny criminals that have paid their debt to society the vote as they tried in Florida. That kind of people-can't-change belief is the major reason the middle east is such a basket case.

Robert Byrd's greatest contributions to our society came AFTER he renounced the KKK. I'd wager to say his voice in the Senate is more important now than it ever has been. Would you have him not in the Senate now, defending the Constitution and our rights?

[blessedleader]

13. I suppose. . .

one can tell if they're not a democrat by how much they can't stomach Robert Byrd irregardless of how big the D next to his name is. . . . color me an independent!

[stopbush]

15. irregardless?

I HOPE that was a coy use of a bushism.

[blessedleader]

16. irregardless. . .

y'know. . . means regardless. . . nonstandard speech. . . users of "irregardless" are looked down upon by the establishment, yet it's still in use. . . so. . . judge me. ;-)

[Yupster]

17. It's a neologism

A word that may not be gramattically correct, but is generally understood.

My pet peeve is people spelling a lot as one word.

[tom_paine]

4. Please post link ASAP!

Robert Byrd, for all his faults and flaws, may well go down in history as "The Last of the Americans"

(just as Brutus & Cassius, I believe, were known as the Last of the Romans)

[stopbush]

6. This link will take you to Byrd's recent speeches

but today's speech has yet to be posted.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?G4DA26EE5

[Pastiche423]

5. Robert C. Byrd

Is THE SENATOR.

Once it is posted, you can find his transcript here:

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_newsroom/byrd_newsroom.html

Signed,

One of his heroes

[kentuck]

7. I don't know why the younger senators don't appreciate his wisdom

Sometimes I think they believe they will be ridiculed by the Repubs? His is the voice of the Constitution and should be highly respected within the Democratic circles... He is The Senator.

[KoKo]

9. I remember when Senators such as Byrd would have had GREAT INFLUENCE!

But.....somewhere along the way.....during Gingrich and the Dem Scandals.....the Senate became controlled by the Lobbyists.......and Seniority and Oratory Skills.....took back seat...back of the bus...to "Compromise."

It's not the Senate or Government of "Checks and Balances that "I" grew up with........it's been perverted, canceled out, and used and abused by the "lobbyists."

There are reasons.....and "Politics can be a dirty business" ....forgeting who gave this quote....but.....we need to expect better from our electeds than we've seen in the last 20 years........

Robert Byrd.....is still a treasure.....He got it all correctly with Iraq and Bush.......I will be forever greatful for his voice and his rhetoric.......and his sense of history.....the ROMANS!

[leftofthedial]

10. I thought Bush's feet were cloven

not webbed

:shrug:


Byrd is the last of a dying breed of orator. I saw a bit of it. He's good.

[KoKo]

14. Kick against Annie Coulter!

A DU PROTEST!