U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a story of America
No senator left a more visible legacy in his native state than the late Robert Byrd of West Virginia. He was from Sophia, my father is from nearby Mount Hope, and everywhere you go in that part of the country you see signs proclaiming “Robert Byrd this” and “Robert Byrd that.”
“West Virginia has always had four friends,” Byrd once said, “God Almighty, Sears Roebuck, Carter’s Liver Pills, and Robert C. Byrd.”
Citizens Against Government Waste lists, among other West Virginia projects, the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam, Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, Robert C. Byrd Drive, Robert C. Byrd Federal Correctional Institution, Robert C. Byrd Center for Hospitality and Tourism and of course the Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center.
In effect orphaned at age 1, raised as the foster son of a miner in a home with neither electricity nor running water, Byrd’s story was an American story, from his dalliance with the KKK to his early endorsement of Barack Obama as president.
His proudest vote, he said, was that opposing military action in Iraq. Time has proven him prescient on that matter.
“If the United States leads the charge to war in the Persian Gulf, we may get lucky and achieve a rapid victory,” he warnd in 2003. “But then we will face a second war: a war to win the peace in Iraq. This war will last many years and will surely cost hundreds of billions of dollars. In light of this enormous task, it would be a great mistake to expect that this will be a replay of the 1991 war. The stakes are much higher in this conflict.”
That speech thoroughly refutes the claim of apologists today that no one could have known what the occupation of Iraq would be like. Byrd knew, as did others, but his warning fell on ears deafened to everything but the cry for war.
Over the years, people would often note Byrd’s knowledge of and affection for subjects such as Shakespeare, the Bible and Roman history, which he often mined for citations and allegoriess. But few understood that his deep immersion in such sources was the product of a poor boy’s striving to educate himself, a 19th century mindset that he shared with Abraham Lincoln, among others.
You could say that an era ended with his death this morning at age 92, but in reality his era ended a generation ago, maybe even a century ago, and Robert Carlyle Byrd was its last surviving dinosaur.
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324 comments Add your comment
Disgusted
June 28th, 2010
10:39 am
On another note the Supreme Court ruled against the “haters” of the US Constitution regarding right to bear arms.
This ruling is great for Georgia’s economy. As the No. 1 seller of guns used in crimes in other states, Georgia ought to see a big rise in gun sales.
BADA BING
June 28th, 2010
10:40 am
The Klan started out with noble roots. During the lawlessness following the Civil War, the group formed to keep order in their area. They went after drunkards and men who abused their wives and family.
mike
June 28th, 2010
10:40 am
“I see you’ve returned to your old original bitter-as-hell self, that wants to make it all personal.”
I see that you are still lack any notion of self-awareness.
koid
June 28th, 2010
10:42 am
byrd could also have had a grand career as a union thug leader
neo-Carlinist
June 28th, 2010
10:42 am
getalife, I hope you’re joking about the RIP stuff. why should we “let him rest in peace”? people die every day. and most of the people dying every day did not suckle at the teat of government for 2/3 of their lives.
getalife
June 28th, 2010
10:42 am
The sc ruled against big tobacco 5-4.
A shocker but the gun ban in Chicago is definitely not working.
mike
June 28th, 2010
10:43 am
“The witch said all immigrants are running drugs.”
Uh did I ask you anything about her?
“Go to a tea party rally and the only thing missing are the white sheets and hoods.”
That is your evidence? Have you ever been to a Tea Party rally? What are they doing there that has led you to smear them as racist?
mike
June 28th, 2010
10:44 am
Using getalfe’s “scientific method”, I will now prove that all Falcons fans are racist.
Ready?
Go to a Falcons game and the only thing missing are the white sheets and hoods.
See? I have proven my point. LOL
ty webb
June 28th, 2010
10:45 am
the tea partiers would cease to be racist if they only brought billions of dollars of pork to WV or spoke out against the iraq war some 9 years ago.
getalife
June 28th, 2010
10:45 am
mike,
Own your racist tea party.
Man up.
kayaker 71
June 28th, 2010
10:48 am
Seen the USA Today poll about the right to bear arms? 97% of Americans polled stated that they felt that private citizens should have the right to be armed. That sort of leaves Eric Holder, the Chicago political machine and those DC idiots among the 3%, wouldn’t you say?
mike
June 28th, 2010
10:48 am
getalife –
Own your racist football team. Man up. LOL
I assume from your typical evasive response that you have never attended a Tea Party event and that you are just regurgitating a silly and baseless slander because you are both hateful and gullible. Sad.
I feel sad for you being so gullible and all. Here you are hating a large number of people you have never met because some pundit told you to. That is your idea of “manning up”? LOL
Normal
June 28th, 2010
10:50 am
Did anybody here go to the IHOP tea party yesterday? The Woodstock Tea Party Patriots had a meeting there. I think only a few showed up. I did with my “I think, therefore I am Liberal” tee shirt on. All I saw were “Pleasently Plump” people scarfing down the hot cakes and sausages.
Onec or twice you’d here, “Down with Socisalism, pass the syrup.” but that was about it…disappointing…
getalife
June 28th, 2010
10:50 am
I just wanted to see you meltdown mike.
I posted this thread was racist and played the race card.
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2010
10:50 am
Ultimately, the Dixiecrat movement paved the way for the rise of the modern Republican Party in the South. Many former Dixiecrat supporters eventually became Republicans, as was highlighted by Strom Thurmond’s conversion in the 1960s.
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2010
10:52 am
I once witnessed a tea party in action. I recognized it as such by the presence of the raised pinkies.
Normal
June 28th, 2010
10:53 am
Josef,
I don’t understand narrow mindedness, but then I took a lot of acid in the ’70s…
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2010
10:54 am
Does IHOP serve as many variations of tea during its tea parties as it serves variations of pancakes and toppings at other times.
stands for decibels
June 28th, 2010
10:54 am
the gun ban in Chicago is definitely not working.
Given how the murder rate there has been skyrocketing the last coupla decades I tells ya, skyrocketing…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Chicago
oh wait.
Fix-It
June 28th, 2010
10:54 am
Gator Joe,
I love the liberal reasoning, so let me get this correct, if Adolf Hitler overcame his personal bigotry, racism and intolerance he could be a democrat?
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
10:57 am
mike
Thanks (I think!) for the vote…
normal…
I don’t quite understand narrowmindedness either.,,but, then, I spent a lot of time in the discos during the 70s…
getalife
June 28th, 2010
10:58 am
Um:
“2 Chicago state reps: Bring in the National Guard”;
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/state-reps-want-to-fight-violence-with-national-guards-help.html
It is higher this year.
larry
June 28th, 2010
10:59 am
I wish the tea partiers would think of a different name for themselves. My daughter asked me if i wanted to go to a tea party. I said ” Oh good lord Nooooooooooo ” . It made her mad and she went and told my wife.
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:00 am
“if Adolf Hitler overcame his personal bigotry, racism and intolerance he could be a democrat?”
That would be his choice, no one else can control which party he might choose to support.
kayaker 71
June 28th, 2010
11:00 am
Keep laughing about the Tea Party influence on American politics. The movement has already proven that it has teeth and when Sharron Angle trounces Prince Harry in November, we will all see how stupid, vile and misleading your comments really were. The Senate Majority Leader beaten by by a mere member of the Nevada State Assembly. Polls are 50/39% in favor of this Tea Party backed candidate who obviously won’t win due to the endorsement of a bunch of overweight, radical, pinky fingered, coffee drinking, sausage eating seniors. Would you like your crow fried or grilled?
A CONSERVATIVE
June 28th, 2010
11:02 am
JAY……….as RUSH LIMBAUGH OFTEN SAYS……YOU LIBERAL MORONs are so…so..so predictable…so predictable…
A CONSERVATIVE
June 28th, 2010
11:03 am
JAY………..you are so…so….so predictable…….te very boring..
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:03 am
“YOU LIBERAL MORONs are so…so..so predictable…so predictable…”
And conservative moron’s aren’t?
stands for decibels
June 28th, 2010
11:03 am
It is higher this year.
How do you figure? If they’d had 113 homicides as of the end of April, that puts them at a pace for a total of around 452 for the year. Which would be about the total for 2009.
(setting aside the issue of whether bringing in Guard troops is a good idea; I’ve no clue as to how advisable that’d be.)
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:04 am
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
10:15 am
“Explain to us why the president can only serve twice?”
Because the politicians don’t trust the voters
Not quite true…..the 22nd Amendment covers that….passed in 1951 because the Republicans did not want another FDR to occupy the White House for four terms. This was based on George Washington’s treatise for only serving two terms.
From: US Constitution Hostory:
22nd Amendment
Since the presidency of George Washington, only one thing could be said to be totally consistent — that no President had the job for more than two full terms. Washington had been asked to run for a third term in 1796, but he made it quite clear that he had no intention of doing so; that an orderly transition of power was needed to set the Constitution in stone. And so it was for almost 150 years.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first elected President in 1932, and re-elected in 1936. When it came time for the Democrats to nominate a candidate for the Presidency in 1940, two things had happened. First, the Republicans had made great gains in Congress in the 1938 elections. And Hitler happened. Europe was in the throes of a great war, with trouble in the Pacific, too. A change away from Roosevelt, who had led the nation through the Great Depression, did not seem wise. He was nominated for an unprecedented third term, and won. It was not a landslide victory, however, and it is debatable that FDR would have had a third term had it not been for the war. When 1944 rolled around, changing leaders in the middle of World War II, which the United States was now fully engaged in, also seemed unwise, and FDR ran for and was elected to, a fourth term.
His life was nearly over, however, and his Vice President, Harry Truman, became President upon FDR’s death less than 100 days after his inauguration. Though FDR’s leadership was seen by many as a key reason that the U.S. came out of WWII victorious, the Congress was determined, once the war ended, to ensure that Washington’s self-imposed two-term limit become the law of the land. Specifically excepting Truman from its provisions, the 22nd Amendment passed Congress on March 21, 1947. After Truman won a second term in 1948, it was ratified on February 27, 1951 (1,439 days). Truman could have run for a third term, but bowed out early before campaigning began.
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
11:06 am
But wait a minute, didn’t Kurt Walheim say…and wasn’t he persona non grata in the US…that’s right, your’re apologetic racists bad, our apologetic racists, good…
A CONSERVATIVE
June 28th, 2010
11:06 am
Doggone/GA……….quit stealng my words….do your own thinking..bullddog..
Outhouse GoKart
June 28th, 2010
11:07 am
“As the No. 1 seller of guns used in crimes in other states”
LOL!!!
Outhouse GoKart
June 28th, 2010
11:09 am
“It made her mad and she went and told my wife.”
Could be the couch for you…
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:09 am
“Not quite true…..the 22nd Amendment covers that….passed in 1951 because the Republicans did not want another FDR to occupy the White House for four terms”
that’s essentially the same thing that I said: the politicians didn’t trust the voters
larry
June 28th, 2010
11:11 am
Is this the same Ms. Angle that wants to get rid of Social Security and keeps hinting of an armed overthrow of the federal government? Keep on thinking what you are thinking and believing what ever polls you want. I dont see it happening.
stands for decibels
June 28th, 2010
11:11 am
Polls are 50/39% in favor of this Tea Party backed candidate
The kook’s already slipping…
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/nevada/election_2010_nevada_senate
Given that you have to subtract a few points for the Rassy house effect, and factor in the MoE on a sample size of 500, 48/41 is essentially a dead heat.
This returns the contest to where it’s been in surveys for months where Angle, a Christian conservative, ran weakest of the three Republicans seeking their party’s Senate nomination in match-ups with Reid.
BADA BING
June 28th, 2010
11:12 am
Actually, the Klan and the skinheads are necessary evils, as long as there are Black Muslims and the Black Panthers. Hate groups cancel each other out, and the rest of us can meet somewhere near the middle. By the way, it is so hot in Atlanta, I saw a Skinhead in open toed Doc Martins.
Normal
June 28th, 2010
11:12 am
“As the No. 1 seller of guns used in crimes in other states”
At least we’re number one in something…
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:16 am
what’s the NAACP, SCLC?
a black supremacist organization?
I couldn’t read thru all the comments after reading this bullsh*t. Dude, you need to go and study history. Whites help found the NAACP. So how can it be a black supremacist group? You should really know something before trying to disparage it.
stands for decibels
June 28th, 2010
11:18 am
Whites help found the NAACP. So how can it be a black supremacist group?
it’s, like, colored-peopley and stuff.
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
11:19 am
SoCo
NAACP was an outgrowth of the Pole Bearers Union and we know who was the first white to address that organization…but ssshhhh…doesn’t jibe with today’s memo…
Matti
June 28th, 2010
11:20 am
Why does it seem like the people who shout “personal responsibility!” and “we don’t need no nanny state!” and “I work hard, so I don’t wanna pay for people who don’t!” in any and every political discussion actually despise those who worked their way up from nothing to a position of power and respect? Hmmm…. These are the same people who stood solidly behind Preznit “born on third base and pretended he hit a triple” even though he trashed every business his Daddy (and friends) arranged for him, including the United States of America, and has never known what it feels like to be hungry or not know how he is going to pay the mortgage, light bill AND insurance premiums all in the same month. Irony or straight-up hypocrisy?
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:20 am
Doggone/GA June 28th, 2010
11:09 am
It was more a deference to historical precedence rather than political denial. WW2 did have a bearing on the Presidency……..and changing leadership during such an expansive war would’ve been critical. If you noted….a change in leadership could’ve occurred in FDR’s third term….but didn’t.
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:20 am
“You should really know something before trying to disparage it.”
History? They don’t need no stinkin’ history. If they knew history they might have to rethink their hatred…heaven forbid!
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:22 am
“It was more a deference to historical precedence rather than political denial.”
“Historical precedence” was the excuse. Political denial was the reason.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:23 am
Southern Comfort June 28th, 2010
11:16 am
Thanks for reminding people to review their history……..too many people wish to revise history to suit their inane purposes….rather than to remember history and learn from its mistakes. For as may times as we restate history…..too many wish to revise it….but history can’t be changed!!
Outhouse GoKart
June 28th, 2010
11:24 am
Cant WAIT to get my Rush BobbleHeads and the CD’s I ordered.
Christmas in July!!
kayaker 71
June 28th, 2010
11:24 am
BTW, along with his racist rhetoric, Byrd was first elected Grand Kleagle then Exaulted Cyclops of the KKK. I am sure that these two respected positions in the Klan looked pretty good on his resume when he ran for Congress, especially the Cyclops part.
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:24 am
“but history can’t be changed!!”
Maybe not…but how it is written can seriously affect how it’s interpreted.
williebkind
June 28th, 2010
11:25 am
Disgusted
June 28th, 2010
10:39 am
Yeah, I know your kind–band guns and legalize drugs. Dont prosecute child molesters and racists who are voting democrat.
williebkind
June 28th, 2010
11:26 am
thats ban guns….I know how liberal educators are!
Marko
June 28th, 2010
11:26 am
Hated that he died, but glad to see him out of the Senate. Let’s face it, Byrd has been senile for at least 10 years, probably close to 20.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:26 am
Doggone/GA June 28th, 2010
11:22 am
If that’s the case…which political party PRACTICES the denial? You can’t state that the GOP doesn’t have its moments of mistrust and misuse…….
williebkind
June 28th, 2010
11:28 am
What will West Virginia do now? Their pork is all cooked up! We can see layoffs very soon in that state. I guess venison will be the Thanksgiving turkey.
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:28 am
“which political party PRACTICES the denial?”
Party doesn’t matter…that’s why I said the POLICITICIANS don’t trust the voters.
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:28 am
you all are funny as hell this morning!!!!
I only hope that anything that any of you hav done in your lives that may need to be atoned does not bring down any good you’ve done once you die. There’s probably enough people commenting here about Byrd’s or anyone else’s racist past that could be counted on one hand. No man is perfect, and it is our imperfections and the ability to live with those imperfections that makes us human. The way some of y’all act, you’d think all elected offices had to be held by pious people only. Just let the man rest in peace whether he did good or bad while here, he’s the one who will have to answer to it with G*d.
kayaker 71
June 28th, 2010
11:31 am
Southern Comfort,
Are you going to say the same august words when W buys the farm? Your selective indignation is amusing if not downright pathetic.
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:31 am
*Just let the man rest in peace. Whether he did good or bad while here, he’s the one who will have to answer to it with G*d.
Sorry about the run-on.
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
11:31 am
HDB
Your point on history is well made. Our problem is that we have now become wedded to a curriculum based on trivial pursuit with a menu of events, leaving out those that don’t “fit” what Lillian Hellman called “the fashion of the day.” The idea that the most glorious page of one group’s history may be the most tragic of another’s. Thus, it is no longer possible for many to “learn” from history and we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:33 am
williebkind June 28th, 2010
11:25 am
I don’t think that ANYONE wants to eliminate the Constitutional right to bear arms….but I think that certain levels of control ARE required so that the proper USE of firearms are protected. Felons should not have access to firearms (although that has yet to be fully addressed!); firearms SHOULD be licensed (if we have to license our CARS…why not guns!); all users should be licensed…and trained!!
I also think that certain drugs SHOULD be legalized….that would decrease the prison population, dcecrease crime…and POSSIBLY decrease the problems on the border……
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:35 am
kayaker 71
I could respond and say you’re pathetic, but you probably already know that. Until you’ve been confronted face-to-face with racism as I have, you can’t say jack to me. When “W” was in office, I applied to work for the Secret Service. It’s people like you that’s the reason that racism still lives on. I’ve buried any resentment I may have had for the mistreatment of my people throughout the course that this country has existed. I care less about what a person looks like and worry more about how they act and/or think.
When “W” dies, I’ll honor him as I have honored all presidents who have passed on since I’ve been living. I’ll say a prayer for him and his family and leave them to their privacy so they can mourn in peace. Anything else?
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:36 am
Doggone/GA June 28th, 2010
11:28 am
The PARTY determines the PLATFORM on which the POLITICIAN runs on…or against…and the PARTY is the declared HOME of the POLITICIAN….so, to a point, it DOES matter the political party/persuasion of the politician…..
IMHO…..
mike
June 28th, 2010
11:37 am
” I did with my “I think, therefore I am Liberal” tee shirt on”
Yes, although that would be all of the evidence of intelligence that you would be able to produce. Surely no intelligent person would hold such ignorant beliefs.
Just curious, do you really think that you are any different than the folks on the right who think that all liberals are stupid? Do you not see that you are two sides of the same ignorant and intolerant coin?
Matti
June 28th, 2010
11:38 am
I think it’s HI-fricking-LARIOUS that the hard core righties think those they label as “liberal” are not armed. Hahaha! Especially in the South and out West. Right, cuz no “liberal” has ever served in the military, owned a business, traveled alone at night, hunted, or had a need to protect himself or herself.
USinUK
June 28th, 2010
11:40 am
Matti – 11:38 – nope, we’re all dirty effing hippies wearing tie-dye and trying to decorate guns with daisies
oy.
mike
June 28th, 2010
11:40 am
*Just let the man rest in peace. Whether he did good or bad while here, he’s the one who will have to answer to it with G*d.”
I absolutely agree with that sentiment. I am confident that Byrd had a true change of heart and that should be recognized.
My gripe is with Jay and the other liberal hypocrites who are so quick to smear folks as racist, yet are very forgiving to anyone with a D in front of their name. It demonstrates the cynical nature of their accusations.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:41 am
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2010
11:24 am
“but history can’t be changed!!”
Maybe not…but how it is written can seriously affect how it’s interpreted.
That’s why to be LEARNED…a person MUST review MULTIPLE approaches to the same event…for the truth lies somewhere in the middle!! As it is now….a person just can’t view what they hear from FOX as the standard bearer of truth….when we ALL know that FOX has a partisan slant….just as MSNBC does!! A person’s experiences will also slant history…but that must not be discounted….just expanded!!
mike
June 28th, 2010
11:41 am
Matti –
Who is making that argument? Have you ever heard of a straw man argument? You just made one.
Jay, you aren't being honest
June 28th, 2010
11:43 am
No one would begrudge you writing of Senator Byrd’s redemption on the matter, at all.
But to use terms such as “dalliance” and “flirtation” is not being honest. If you had used the word “stint” for example, your detractors wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on.
Plus Jay, if you really do believe in his redemption on the issue, aren’t you greatly diminishing it by calling it a mere “flirtation”?
Matti
June 28th, 2010
11:44 am
USinUK, I don’t know about there, but here, Forrest Gump plays on televsion an average of six times a week. I wonder if that explains the tie-dye daisy fetish among people who apparently don’t leave the house very often. Those darned hippies!
Jackie
June 28th, 2010
11:44 am
Seems like the so-called conservatives are in a state of denial today.
They seem to forget Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), both modern-day miscreants.
If one were to look at some of the actions of current public and political figures, there could be lots of questions about their racial tolerance and sensitivity.
Curious Observer
June 28th, 2010
11:45 am
What will West Virginia do now?
Well, would you believe that Governor Joe Manchin, a Democrat, might appoint his old friend Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican Congresswoman and the daughter of a former Republican governor, to replace Byrd on an interim basis? That’s the speculation up there. History takes strange turns. If it happens, Manchin’s uncle, my old 8th grade phys. ed. teacher and former secretary of state, might turn over in his grave, causing a grand eruption of the mountains (A. James Manchin was on the large side.)
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:45 am
mike
If that’s what you see, you’re perfectly right to have that gripe. I’m not one to judge. My dealings with racism go far and beyond what most people will probably ever experience. That’s why I kinda avoid these topics.
williebkind
June 28th, 2010
11:46 am
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:41 am
Please do not compare FOX with those that shape the news. Or better with those like CNN who want to change what a family and marrigage means. Liberals have not included American history in the years they have been selecting books for school. Liberals want to rewrite history. I am not believing a word your are writing.
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
11:46 am
HDB
One of the lessons I use with my students is to take an historical event, draw your conclusion, then argue the opposing case. I’m not trying to get them to change their opinion, but to see the “other side.”
Normal
June 28th, 2010
11:47 am
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:35 am
SoCo,
This proves to me what I have always thought…you are a much better man than I. I would give up a million dollars for the right to pi$$
on “W”s grave. I felt the same way (and still do) about Lyndon Johnson.
The unnecessary deaths of so many young American lives is the one thing I cannot and will not forgive.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:48 am
Southern Comfort June 28th, 2010
11:45 am
Like Michael Jackson said…..”You are not alone! I am here with you!!”
USinUK
June 28th, 2010
11:49 am
matti – 11:44 – well, it’s gotta be Forrest Gump … somehow, I don’t see a lot of these folks getting their hippie image from going to see Hair on Broadway …
ken R
June 28th, 2010
11:49 am
Jay, it was just a few years ago that Byrd disparged Black people in a speech, this man was a RACIST and you know it.
You and CT are the reason most people can’t stand liberals, it’s because you refuse to see or write the truth.
I knew this column was coming even before you wrote it.
Normal
June 28th, 2010
11:50 am
mike
June 28th, 2010
11:37 am
Never said they were stupid…just easily sidetracked by pancakes…
ken
June 28th, 2010
11:50 am
Good try Jay. Best example for term limits.
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
11:50 am
willie
Liberals do want to rewrite history when they can. Conservatives want to rewrite history when they can. It just depends on who’s got the upper hand at the time.
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:50 am
Maybe I’m missing the point with Jay’s use of dalliance. My dictionary at home defines dalliance as a frivolous waste of time. If 10 years of a 92 year life was spent on something he later disavowed, that that would definitely a frivolous waste of time. Most people try to define dalliance with a specific time frame of something short in duration, but I have yet to find a definition that backs that up.
Peadawg
June 28th, 2010
11:52 am
“The unnecessary deaths of so many young American lives is the one thing I cannot and will not forgive.”
So do you feel the same way about pi$$ing on Obama’s grave as well?
md
June 28th, 2010
11:55 am
“That speech thoroughly refutes the claim of apologists today that no one could have known what the occupation of Iraq would be like. Byrd knew, as did others, but his warning fell on ears deafened to everything but the cry for war.”
Might want to check the definition of “knew”, and then check the definition of “speculate”.
JMoore
June 28th, 2010
11:55 am
In Byrd’s KKK defense, the federal government was trying to disarm all the Southerners. Gee, things haven’t really changed all that much, have they?
Southern Comfort
June 28th, 2010
11:55 am
Normal
I went thru my period of hatred and stuff. I learned that all that anger really does no good for neither your mental or physical health. I also don’t want to pass any prejudices to my daughter. Watching her learn things, I don’t understand how anyone could teach their child to hate anything at all.
Also, I believe that any and all things we do here on earth will be judged by G*d. I am not him, therefore I can not pass judgment on anyone regardless to what I think of them. It’s not my station in life to do so.
HDB
I know that. As I said earlier, there’s probably a single-handed count of people who have actually experienced any of the stuff they love to argue about.
Normal
June 28th, 2010
11:55 am
Peadawg,
If President Obama authorizes another “surge” without removing the ROE’s then, yes I would.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
11:56 am
williebkind June 28th, 2010
11:46 am
Look…we all know that FOX has a certain slant to it…..just as MSNBC, CNN….it’s ALL the mainstream media now!! Revisionist history occurs on both sides of the political spectrum…and you can’t just limit revisionism to the political-liberal. Political-conservatism also has its revisionist moments! If you note the revisionism that’s occurring in TEXAS……
American History has MULTIPLE viewpoints…..and that can NOT be limited to just what white people decide to place in books….or what black people want included….or what Native Americans have been denied…….history is ALL of it!!
josef nix June 28th, 2010
11:46 am
I try to do that very same thing….and we both know that it can be difficult…but the more we can get people to attempt to see multiple viewpoints….the sooner this nation CAN become what we ALL hope it can be!!
josef nix
June 28th, 2010
12:00 pm
goin upstairs..gun control!
Peadawg
June 28th, 2010
12:02 pm
“If President Obama authorizes another “surge” without removing the ROE’s then, yes I would.”
So, forget the fact that we’re still over there….:roll: I figured.
mike
June 28th, 2010
12:03 pm
“Never said they were stupid…just easily sidetracked by pancakes…”
Apparently, this “intellectual” was at the pancake bar herself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWaBkJSPXtk
HDB
June 28th, 2010
12:07 pm
Peadawg June 28th, 2010
11:52 am
Although I would grant ANYONE the right to protest ANY policy…from either side….desecrating a person’s final resting place is TOTALLY uncalled for!! Maybe it’s just me, but that’s HALLOWED ground…and no matter WHO it is, that should be a place of ULTIMATE respect!! During life….give a person all the grief one thinks he/she deserves; in death, grant that person a modicum of respect!!
I know that many want to disrespect and discredit what certain Presidents/politicians have done…and in life, enough grief has been sent their way; can we all not just respect those who have died??
Peadawg
June 28th, 2010
12:10 pm
HDB, I agree with you. I was just giving Normal a hard time for being such an a$$ hole.
chainshaw
June 28th, 2010
12:13 pm
Robert Byrd had a flirtation with the KKK like Jeffrey Dahmer dabbled in cannibalism.
He was an Exalted Cyclops! He didn’t flirt, he banged her on the second date!
ken
June 28th, 2010
12:16 pm
The protesters at the G20 were not Teaparty people. They were Van Jones friends. Van Jones is a friend of Obama.
HDB
June 28th, 2010
12:16 pm
Peadawg June 28th, 2010
12:10 pm
Got’cha!! We ALL do have our moments……………myself included…….
Jay
June 28th, 2010
12:18 pm
So Chainsaw, what exactly is an “Exalted Cyclop”? How far up the KKK hierarchy does that position go? For all you know — and I know — it could be a fancy term for ass’t doorkeeper.
As for Strom Thurmond, etc., show me statements from Strom in which he expressed complete shame and contrition for his previous stances, as Byrd did, and I’ll think the comparison between them more valid.
I don’t think such statements exist, but if they do, I’d certainly like to see them.
Producer
June 28th, 2010
12:22 pm
All is forgiven when a racist pig like Byrd apologizes It is forgiven if you’re a Dem. If you’re Trent Lott and you speak favorably about Strom Thurmond, you lose you’re job and are cast aside by your own arty. Double standard at it’s worst. Byrd was nothing but a legislative thief who took money from those who worked for it and gave it to those who were unable or more likely unwilling to do the same. Good riddance!