Obama on Byrd and West Virginia: 'All America shares your loss'

[quiet.american]

USA TODAY: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/07/obama-biden-byrd-funeral/1

President Obama lauded the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd for keeping faith with his family, his state of West Virginia, and his beloved U.S. Constitution.

"All America shares your loss," Obama told thousands who gathered for Byrd's funeral on the steps of the golden-domed West Virginia statehouse....

A variety of speakers traced the eventful 92-year life of a former gas station attendant who became a fiddle-playing, Shakespeare-quoting senator who strongly backed the new health care bill, fiercely opposed the Iraq war, and enthusiastically directed many federal projects to his home state. Elected to the House in 1952 and the Senate in 1958, Byrd was the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history.

Obama also alluded to less admirable aspects of Byrd's life, including his youthful membership in the Ku Klux Klan and his early opposition to civil rights laws. The nation's first African-American president said Byrd once told him he had regrets about his past.

"I said, 'none of us are absent some regrets, senator,'" Obama recalled. "That's why we enjoy and seek the grace of God."

[Cha]

1. Yes Senator Byrd regreted

his past that dealt in bigotry and that's the measure of the man.

[Hekate]

2. My favorite thing about him was the way he grew, keeping what was best in his upbringing,and

... transcending the rest.

That and the way he would wave his pocket copy of the Constitution while speaking about Bush-Cheney's latest outrage. :patriot:

Rest in peace, Senator Byrd. Thank you for your long service to your country.

Hekate