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September 29, 2005
Another Six Years of Robert "Sheets" Byrd?
The 87-year-old Democrat Robert Byrd is running for reelection to the Senate yet again.
The former butcher and KKK Kleagle began his political career as a state legislator 59 years ago. Although Byrd left the Klan in 1943, he continued his association with the group long afterward, and was still publicly calling people "niggers" as recently as 2001. In 1964 Byrd demonstrated his devotion to racial harmony by filibustering the Civil Rights Act for 14 straight hours. His opposition to black nominees Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas, and Condoleezza Rice was unyielding.
He does have a gift for rhetoric, as displayed in this well-known quote:
I should rather die a thousand times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds.
Thanks to the remarkable moral elasticity of the Democratic party, none of this has prevented Barack Obama from pleading for money on Byrd's behalf.
But Byrd is known for more than his bigotry. Some know him as the King of Pork. Byrd doesn't mind a bit:
They call me "The Pork King," they don't know how much I enjoy it.
Thanks to his privileged position on the Appropriations Committee, Byrd was able to rake in $399 million in pork for his state in 2005 — that's $220 for each of West Virginia's inhabitants.
Byrd is also remarkable for his ego. He convinced the state legislature to erect a statue of himself in the state Capitol, despite the West Virginia law prohibiting statues of government officials who have not been dead for at least 50 years.
At least Sheets won't have to worry about senility. Anyone who has seen him holding forth on the Senate floor can tell you that he has passed through to whatever lies beyond it.
Posted by Van Helsing at September 29, 2005 8:51 PM
Comments
Is Byrd going to live forever?
Is Byrd another Strom Thurmond?
Here's a take on an old quote:
I knew Strom Thurmond, he was my Senator... Mr. Byrd, you might be a racist, but you are no Strom Thurmond.
Posted by: Mike's America at September 29, 2005 11:54 PM
It reminds me of when David Duke ran for Governor of Louisiana. When journalists would ask him how could an ex-Klansman get elected, he would always shoot back, "Well, Robert Byrd did!"
Posted by: phil at September 30, 2005 3:46 AM
I've heard that the Klan were originally formed as a militant wing of the dixie democrats. That true?
Posted by: Archonix at September 30, 2005 5:05 AM
I like the way he posts on this site using only his first name and last initial.
Posted by: V the K at September 30, 2005 5:40 AM
VK, that is excellent, sir!! LOL!
Posted by: Jonathan at September 30, 2005 7:53 AM
Speaking of Byrds and paraphasing Colonel Sanders, "You can not make chicken salad out of chicken shit."
Posted by: Eneils Bailey at September 30, 2005 9:06 AM
Here's the King of Hypocrisy.
A man who says, "I should rather die a thousand times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds," and then asks Barak Obama for campaign money.
A man who spends billions of dollars worth of government money unconstitutionally, and then insists that Americans take time to learn more about the Constitution.
What a fucking dirtbag.
RWR
Posted by: RightWingRocker at September 30, 2005 10:56 AM
Here's an excellent example for the need for term limits.
Posted by: Pam at September 30, 2005 12:58 PM
People couldn't forgive the Republican party for harboring the supposedly awful Strom Thurmond. What is the Democrats' excuse?
Posted by: Cato the Elder at September 30, 2005 5:12 PM
For all the things that liberals say about Strom Thurmond or Jesse Helms, there is one indisputable fact they can never get past, so they try to ignore it:
Thurmond and Helms were never in the Klan!
Posted by: Jonathan at September 30, 2005 8:31 PM
