Senator Birds passing...

[SteamWake]

No doubt that Mr. Bird had a looooong and storied influential background.

But watch the news coverage it seems a large piece of that backbround is missing. That is his past associations with the KKK.

It's not nice to speak ill of the deceased but its not nice to omit facts when your detailing someones history.

[Gerald]

No doubt that Mr. Bird had a looooong and storied influential background.

But watch the news coverage it seems a large piece of that backbround is missing. That is his past associations with the KKK.

It's not nice to speak ill of the deceased but its not nice to omit facts when your detailing someones history. about this,but media have some impact on story,even (KKK)....in the end I`ts speak for it self!

[Snestorm]

Can't say I'm sorry to see him go.

Always considered the bird to be a true pecker.

[SteamWake]

No it wont speak for itself because it will not be spoken of.

I just want to remind pepole that he was not the sterling example of society and politics.

[Gerald]

No it wont speak for itself because it will not be spoken of.

I just want to remind pepole that he was not the sterling example of society and politics.Was not to be incorrect,sorry for my translation above, /// V

[Tribesman]

But watch the news coverage it seems a large piece of that backbround is missing. That is his past associations with the KKK.

You need to look at the "liberal" media. The BBC has him down as a former white supremacist who filibustered against the civil rights act and was in the KKK
The Guardian has him down as a former member of the KKK
CNN has him in the KKK and calls him the king of Pork.

So when you say the media ain't covering those angles do you mean that Glenn Beck just told you they were not

[Gerald]

You need to look at the "liberal" media. The BBC has him down as a former white supremacist who filibustered against the civil rights act and was in the KKK
The Guardian has him down as a former member of the KKK
CNN has him in the KKK and calls him the king of Pork.

So when you say the media ain't covering those angles do you mean that Glenn Beck just told you they were not
They cover so much they can,or even a bit more

[Aramike]

Honestly ... Byrd's history, given his age, doesn't shock me. What shocks me is that somehow he died a US Senator.

[Tribesman]

They cover so much they can,or even a bit more
I was a bit disappointed, much of the "liberal" media has his civil rights issues and KKK involvement prominently featured, but I had to read all the way to the end on Fox before the KKK was mentioned

[SteamWake]

Well I watched some 20 minute documentry on the man on NBC and nary a mention.

[Skybird]

For a second, i felt adressed - and wondered... :lol:

[Tribesman]

Well I watched some 20 minute documentry on the man on NBC and nary a mention.
So one short program suddenly becomes the news coverage:doh:
Wow NBCs morning news mentioned it 3 times in as many minutes, are you sure you ain't making it up?

[FIREWALL]

Honestly ... Byrd's history, given his age, doesn't shock me. What shocks me is that somehow he died a US Senator.

I agree with you. He had no business being in office at that age.

It reaffirms the general public saying these professional politicians are in office for life.

[nikimcbee]

As a self-assigned protector of the Constitution, he argued against increased presidential power, no matter who was in the White House. And he deeply disagreed with going to war without congressional approval.

oh oh, now the road-block is gone...

[CaptainHaplo]

I disagreed with the man on almost everything..... but may his soul find shelter in the Hand of the Creator.

My sympathy to his family.

[tater]

It's not that they don't mention it, it's that it's a non-issue. if he had an "R" after his name he'd have been run out of Congress.

Saying something nice about someone formerly in the KKK at his birthday party is enough to get you booted from the Republican party leadership, after all. The current VP saying "we'll not see his like again" in a complementary manner, OTOH is fine.

Byrd was a scumbag, plains and simple. He abused his power to secure "pork" and was a member of an organization that would disqualify him for office with any electorate that had any decency.

[mookiemookie]

His words are especially poignant here amidst the partisan sniping.

"[H]atred is an ugly thing. It can seize the psyche and twist sound reasoning. I have seen it unleashed in all its mindless fury too many times in my own life. In a charged political atmosphere, it can destroy all in its path with the blind fury of a whirlwind. I hear its ominous rumble and see its destructive funnel on the horizon in our land today. I fear for our nation if its turbulent winds are not calmed and its storm clouds somehow dispersed."

Byrd hoped the nation would come together to heal. He hoped that "we can, together, crush the seeds of ugliness and enmity which have taken root in the sacred soil of our republic, and, instead, sow new respect for honestly differing views, bipartisanship, and simple kindness towards each other." And in words that ring true today as they did at the disgraceful end of the previous century, Byrd said, "We have much important work to do. And, in truth, it is long past time for us to move on."

[Zachstar]

An interesting note about the vacancy. The gov will appoint a replacement which will serve until 2012 then there will be an election... And 6 weeks afterwards due to the wording there will be ANOTHER election in 2013

Most likely the replacement will win the 2012 election. Nobody is going to seriously challenge for a spot for 6 weeks.

[tater]

Clinton says Byrd was just trying to get elected, no foul.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/07/02/clinton_defends_byrds_kkk_ties_he_was_trying_to_ge t_elected.html

Jonah Goldberg has it right:
And then, of course, there is the issue of race. The common interpretation is that Byrd’s is a story of redemption. A one-time Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, Byrd recruited some 150 members to the chapter he led — that’s led, not “joined,” by the way. (If you doubt his commitment to the cause, try to recruit 150 people to do anything, never mind have them pay a hefty fee up front.)

Byrd filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act. As Bruce Bartlett notes in his book Wrong on Race, Byrd knew he would fail, but he stood on bedrock principle that integration was evil. His individual filibuster, the second longest in American history, fills 86 pages of fine print in the Congressional Record. “Only a true believer,” writes Bartlett, “would ever undertake such a futile effort.”

Unlike some segregationists’, Byrd’s arguments rested less on the principle of states’ rights than on his conviction that black people were simply biologically inferior.

Sure, he lied for years about his repudiation of the Klan. Sure, he was still referring to “white ******s” as recently as 2001. But everyone agrees his change of heart is sincere. And for all I know, it was.

What’s odd is what passes for proof of his sincerity. Yes, he voted to make Martin Luther King Day a holiday. But to listen to some eulogizers, the real proof came in the fact that he supported ever more lavish government programs — and opposed the Iraq War. Am I alone in taking offense at the idea that supporting big government and opposing the Iraq War somehow count as proof of racial enlightenment?

Robert Byrd was a complicated man, but the explanation for the outsized celebration of his career strikes me as far more simple. He was a powerful man who abandoned his bigoted principles in order to keep power. And his party loved him for it.


Trent Lott, of course, lost his job as Senate Minority Leader for saying something nice about Senator Thurmond at Thurmond's birthday party. Lost his job. Meanwhile, defending a former KKK member has no ill-effects for any democrat.