Sen. Byrd Fighting Back - GOP attacks ads

[Adelante]

Charleston (WV) Gazette 8/30/05

Byrd fires back at GOP with TV ads
Senator's ads will track Republicans', aide says

By Tom Searls
Staff writer

With the general election still 15 months away, U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd launched a television ad campaign this week to counteract commercials being run by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“It’s not the beginning of a campaign, but a response,” said Charleston attorney Ned Rose, who heads the Friends of Robert C. Byrd Committee.

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In a press release, Byrd called the GOP message “slick out-of-state ads” that use trickery and falsehoods.

Rupp called that a good response, noting West Virginians don’t like non-state residents being involved in their elections. “Don’t look at the messages, look at who’s picking up the tab,” he said.

Byrd’s ad, called “Truth,” features a veteran of the Iraq conflict from Wood County who says the senator is fighting for West Virginians. Byrd has been a harsh critic of the war and Rupp said the senator could be most vulnerable on that issue.

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http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2005080310?pt=0

[joemurphy]

1. Fight on old man!

Byrd has a sordid past, with KKK associations etc. But I think he genuinely regrets them. For me, he was one of the few Democrats that unequivocally opposed Bush's program to rush us into the Iraq War. There was something I found moving in that old man, his hand
shaking, repeatedly reaching into his coatpocket and pulling out his copy of the Constitution and inveighing against what the Republicans were trying to do.

Byrd hated the Iraq War Resolution because he correctly saw it as a blank check for Bush and a surrender of Congress' war powers. Byrd has always loved and respected the Senate and been wary of encroachments on its authority from the Executive Branch. Byrd was dead right in opposing the War and a reading of those Resolutions that were rammed through over his opposition is today, to say the least, highly interesting. I've already donated to his campaign although I'm not a West Virginian. Giving him a few dollars to ward off the outside Republican money that's trying to bring him down would not be a bad investment for any Democrat. He's a unique person. I want him to die in office.