Dana Millbank's sketch for the Washington Post on the opening of the 110th Congress was a corker...The attention quickly shifted -- to Robert Byrd. The 89-year-old West Virginia Democrat, beginning his ninth term, wore a red-white-and-blue tie and punctuated the opening prayer with shouts of "Yes!" and "Mmmhmmm!" and "Yes, Lord!" and "Yes, in Jesus's name!" When he was sworn in, he twice cried out "Hallelujah!" and then "Amen!" Minutes later, he was installed as Senate president pro tempore, the majority party's most senior member. "Yeah, man! Yeah, man!" he shouted. "Hallelujah!" "I do, so help me God!" he shouted when the oath was administered. "Yeah, man!" His colleagues were amused. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) at one point pretended to tilt a bottle into his mouth, though it was unclear whether Byrd was the target of that gesture.
Now just imagine the furore there would have been if a Republican had acted in such a way!
26 comments:
Perhaps Maude could invite him to address the Brighton conference 2008.
Dumping all the blame on the Dorset force for last conference won't wash and he must know it.
Is this the same Robert Byrd?
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/kkk05.jpg"
Senator Robert Byrd
This ex-Klansman wasn't just a passive member of the nation's most notorious hate group. He wrote: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union." The ex-Klansman later filibustered the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act - He also opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices, liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas. In fact, the ex-Klansman had the gall to accuse Justice Thomas of "injecting racism" into the Senate hearings. The ex-Klansman vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/
EX-KLANSMAN Robert Byrd, the senior senator from West Virginia, casually used the phrase "white nigger" twice on national TV this weekend. Enraged civil rights groups organized a protest campaign against Sen. Byrd and demanded that he undergo sensitivity training ... not. The ex-Klansman, you see, is a Democrat. Democrats can join hate groups and utter the ugliest racial slurs and get away with it because they are Democrats. They belong to the party of racial tolerance and understanding. They're paragons of virtue, and the rest of us are bigoted rubes.
The ex-Klansman showed his true colors when asked by Fox News Sunday morning talk show host Tony Snow about the state of race relations in America. Sen. Byrd warned: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
The ex-Klansman, famed for Beltway blowhardism, should have quit talking a lot sooner. Why any prominent politician in his right mind would publicly and deliberately use the poisonous epithet "nigger" -- which most daily newspapers refuse to spell out, no matter the context -- is beyond comprehension. It's an open question as to whether the rant-prone, 83-year-old Byrd is even in his right mind, but senility doesn't excuse bigotry.
The ex-Klansman's admirers praise his historical knowledge, mastery of procedural rules, and outspokenness. They refer to the Senate's senior Democrat as the "conscience of the Senate." They downplay his white-sheet-wearing days as a "brief mistake" -- as if joining the Klan were like knocking over a glass of water. Oopsy.
This ex-Klansman wasn't just a passive member of the nation's most notorious hate group. According to news accounts and biographical information, Sen. Byrd was a "Kleagle" -- an official recruiter who signed up members for $10 a head. He said he joined because it "offered excitement" and because the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values." Nothing like the thrill of gathering 'round a midnight bonfire, roasting s'mores, tying nooses, and promoting white supremacy with a bunch of your hooded friends.
The ex-Klansman allegedly ended his ties with the group in 1943. He may have stopped paying dues, but he continued to pay homage to the KKK. Republicans in West Virginia discovered a letter Sen. Byrd had written to the Imperial Wizard of the KKK three years after he says he abandoned the group. He wrote: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."
The ex-Klansman later filibustered the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act -- supported by a majority of those "mean-spirited" Republicans -- for more than 14 hours. He also opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices, liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas. In fact, the ex-Klansman had the gall to accuse Justice Thomas of "injecting racism" into the Senate hearings. Meanwhile, author Graham Smith recently discovered another letter Sen. Byrd wrote after he quit the KKK, this time attacking desegregation of the armed forces.
The ex-Klansman vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."
If this ex-Klansman were a conservative Republican, he would never hear the end of his sordid past. "Ex-Klansman who opposed civil rights and black justices" would appear in every reference to Sen. Byrd. And even the "ex-" would be in doubt. Maxine Waters and Ralph Neas and Julianne Malveaux and Al Sharpton and all the other left-wing bloodhounds who sniff racism in every crevice of American life would be barking up a storm over Sen. Byrd's latest fulminations. Instead, the attack dogs are busy decrying latent racial bigotry where it doesn't exist, while the real thing roams wild and free in their own political backyard.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michelle/malkin030801.asp
"Sheets" Byrd is one of the most repulsive figures in US public life. And, yes, he is a former Grand Wizard of the KKK. You couldn't make it up.
Is it on YouTube yet?
Iain - do you really believe there is an ani-republican bias in US news coverage?
Anonymous said...
Is it on YouTube yet?
probably but I have a feeling it won't be on Matt Frei's reports.
Anonymous at 6.41...
Er, is the Pope a Catholic?
.....here he is resting his eyes 5 months ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNWbMGzT20c
Quality!
Apparently he nearly fainted. Bless him. Where is Strom Thurmond when you need him?
Iain Dale at 6.44pm. You are absolutely right, those Fox News pinkoes are legendary.
anonymous @ 5.54
About 6 months ago Matt Frei described Sen Byrd as the "King of the filibuster" sighting his 13 hour(?) marathon in 1964.
Of couse he completely failed to mention which Bill the good, great, democrat was stopping coming into law.
Paul Walter at 6.59..
Fox = ABC + CNN + NBC + CBS
I think not.
"Now just imagine the furore there would have been if a Republican had acted in such a way!"
I always wonder why people on the Right believe they are always hard done by and vice versa. I see Gerald Ford died - would there have been a furore if Clinton was impeached and President Al Gore forgave him? Most likely. As far as I can see, all politicians get pretty much equally knocked.
ABC + CNN + NBC + CBS
Indeed, Commies the lot of them. String them up, that's what I say!
Ted Kennedy making a gesture 'pretending' to take a drink? I bet Mary Jo Kopechne wished he hadn't been drunk at Chappaquiddick.
Byrd may be a senile racist moron, but scrape the surface and you'll find a lot more unpleasantness under the surface of the US Democrat Party.
Erm - we do all know that Byrd is a Democrat? And that a joke about a senior Democrat by another senior Democrat is hardly very exciting? Right? If Ted Stevens had done the same thing about Strom Thurmond, there'd rightly have been total indifference.
I can't believe anyone who has been to the USA seriously believes that there is a 'liberal bias' to the media in the USA.
News content is very much more significant than editorial content, and the right dominates local and national radio as well as TV news programmes. In any case, much of the 'bias' in American news is historical (equivalent to the claim that the Standard is 'fascist').
On the national media:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2447
This report suggests the bias is to the centre:
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664
I also can't see why centrist Tories feel they should have much to do with the Republicans or feel they should command our support. Like us in 1997, they deserve to be drummed out of office.
"I can't believe anyone who has been to the USA seriously believes that there is a 'liberal bias' to the media in the USA." (Anonymous 10.16pm - get yourself a handle, man!)
I have and I do. And not just the TV, it's all over the print media as well. Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, every single one of the big (but diminishing) circulation heavies has a liberal agenda.
And as for the broadcast media... well let's restrict ourselves to just the one example from the 'TV anchor man' Dan Rather, who uncritically reported as fact a story based on a transparently forged document relating to GWB's service record. Just outrageous.
Fortunately there is talk radio, which to an extent re-balances things.
Can you run that separation of church and state thing past me again?
President Jed Bartlett was shot tonight again on More4. Josh is critically ill.
I was nearly in tears.
Get real.
And don't forget, Byrd is in the Presidential line of succession...
ian said...
"Can you run that separation of church and state thing past me again?"
Glad to be of service. The USA has an overwhelmingly Christian population, but which has 100% tolerance of non-Christian minorities.
In other words, people will not be prosecuted, impeached, attaindered or discriminated against on account of their religious opinions.
Simple enough really.
Far harder to comprehend is a wacko Democrat, a former paid-up Klan official, being an officially endorsed US Senator. This is a man who deserves nothing but contempt from anyone who plays a part in the political process.
Not that he will be the most egregious example of Democrat hypocrisy for as long as Teddy Kennedy (The Swimmer) is still there.
Yeah Byrd is bad and the blind spot that US media (other than Fox) have for him is enormous. They drive Lott (who I am not a fan of btw) from high office because of his comments about Strom Thurmond but let Kleagle Byrd away with it. Double standards abound in the American media.
I have Dana Milbank's WashSketch on my RSS feed. God, I'm sad.
"Now just imagine the furore there would have been if a Republican had acted in such a way!"
Matt Frei would have filed a 20 minute report on the news and it would be top item on the Beeb's website!
Far more people watch "ABC + CNN + NBC + CBS", but who are those who watch Fox, rather than how numerous are they (much like asking who are those, a tiny number, who watch Sky News, rather than how numerous they are)? And in any case, how do the "ABC + CNN + NBC + CBS" viewers vote? It cannot be solidly for the Democrats, or Bush would not be President. Oh, and am I alone in thinking it beyond bizarre that anyone associates CNN with the Left?
Paradoxically, the reverse principle seems to apply to "Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine": just how many people actually read them, certainly compared to those who read something like USA Today, or more local newspapers, and those who listen to talk radio? And, again, at least some of the readers of "Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine" must have voted for Bush, or he couldn't have won, could he?
All in all, it seems to balance out.
Presumably labelling Barack Obama as 'Osama' was an example of anti-Republican bias as well? What about captioning a pageboy-bothering Republican congressman as 'Rep. Mark Foley [D]?' And the press core didn't exactly scrutinise Bush and his cabal until a steady flow of young Americans started coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan in body bags, did they? There is more to US news than the Daily Show (sadly).
As Senate president pro tempore, Byrd is in the line of presidential succesion after the president, vice-president, and the Speaker of the House.
So if something happens to Bush, Cheney and Pelosi, we'd be in for a very interesting inauguration.
Post a Comment