RIP Sen. Robert Byrd

[BTExpress]

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

Doesn't the fact that there were weapons inspectors in Iraq in March 2003 make this quote unacceptably outdated to attempt to prove any kind of point?

What the **** am I missing here by stating what is so obvious?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

Love Byrd or hate him, he was great for West Virginia. That cannot be argued.

 

[WolvEagle]

Once a Klansman, always a Klansman.

And once again, we see why the politics board went away.

Whatever Byrd did in his long life is now between him and God. But this kind of crap is just ignorant. There have been ample quotes over the years from Byrd repudiating his racist past ... and yeah, he was a despicable racist at one point. Quibble all you want with the sincerity of his apologies. But "once a Klansman, always a Klansman?" Lame.

Do we all really want to be remembered only for our worst moments?

Those were some pretty despicable moments.

A couple years ago, I visited a national-caliber museum in my hometown. I hadn't been there in a few years, and organizers had put together an "Americana" display - the good and the bad - since I had been there last.

There was a KKK outfit on a mannequin in a glass case. Yes, I've seen KKK clips on TV, but to see a full outfit that close was stunning. Something that evil, that despicable, was a few feet in front of me. I wanted to be ill, but I'm glad the museum had that display. It will forever be a reminder of this evil.

 

[WolvEagle]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

Love Byrd or hate him, he was great for West Virginia. That cannot be argued.

I don't care what party he was in.

 

[YankeeFan]

Once a Klansman, always a Klansman.

And once again, we see why the politics board went away.

That's why? What's wrong with Armchair's opinion?

I thought the politics board went away because their were too many personal insults directed at other posters, resulting in too many complaints to the moderators, resulting in much too much work for the moderators.

There's no attack in Armchair's post.

 

[21]

Once a Klansman, always a Klansman.

And once again, we see why the politics board went away.

Whatever Byrd did in his long life is now between him and God. But this kind of crap is just ignorant. There have been ample quotes over the years from Byrd repudiating his racist past ... and yeah, he was a despicable racist at one point. Quibble all you want with the sincerity of his apologies. But "once a Klansman, always a Klansman?" Lame.

Do we all really want to be remembered only for our worst moments?

If you're Byrd's nephew or buddy, you should remember all the good moments.

If you're a journalist, history expects you to remember all the moments, best AND worst.

 

[sportsguydave]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

Love Byrd or hate him, he was great for West Virginia. That cannot be argued.

Who's defending his Klan membership? Point to a specific quote, please.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

Love Byrd or hate him, he was great for West Virginia. That cannot be argued.

It has nothing to do with the D the or the R attached to his name.

And Nobody is or has defended his Klan membership - including Byrd.


It has to do with the fact that he expressed regret over and over and over and over and over again about his membership and his stance on Civil Rights and beliefs in general (at that age) on race relations.
No matter how many times he has apologized, the ****sticks trot out his Klan membership.


He was a senator not a saint.

And it's funny guys like Boots - want to hit this point over the head repeatedly; that a leopard can't change his spots... Which is really funny considering the fantastical bull**** he used to throw against the wall here.
And yet we are supposed to believe he's a different kind of poster now?
Is that irony?

 

[BTExpress]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

We defend or just ignore the fact that one-third of the Founding Fathers were slave owners.

"They were a product of the time they lived in" is either an acceptable excuse 100 percent of the time or it isn't. Just take your pick---and be consistent about it.

 

[Point of Order]

How did the guy die? I know he was 92 but you'd think there would have been some sort of death watch (a la Cheney) if anyone thought it was imminent.

 

[YankeeFan]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

We defend or just ignore the fact that one-third of the Founding Fathers were slave owners.

"They were a product of the time they lived in" is either an acceptable excuse 100 percent of the time or it isn't. Just take your pick---and be consistent about it.

I mostly agree with this, though I don't think history defends or ignores the ownership of slaves by many of the Founding Fathers.

But I don't think many here applied that standard to Thurmond or Helms.

I also think that if we're going to judge people's conversions on these matters, we should base our judgments on their actions, not just their words.

It's easy to say you reject your past views. How did you live?

I don't know enough about how Byrd lived his life to judge him, but I do know that Thurman & Helms -- by their actions -- appeared to live by their newly expressed beliefs.

Also, 21 is right. Maybe Robert Byrd is a saint, but that doesn't mean we should ignore Byrd's KKK past. It's part of telling the whole story of Senator Byrd, and for Evil to get upset every time someone "trots it out", is silly .

How would you tell his story? Where would you include his founding of a KKK chapter? Would you leave it out?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

Love Byrd or hate him, he was great for West Virginia. That cannot be argued.

Who's defending his Klan membership? Point to a specific quote, please.

Someone took it down. It said, "Oh that was 60 years ago..." as an excuse to his Klan membership.

Never an excuse to join the Klan.

 

[exmediahack]

How did the guy die? I know he was 92 but you'd think there would have been some sort of death watch (a la Cheney) if anyone thought it was imminent.

When you are 92, death is always imminent...

 

[Point of Order]

How did the guy die? I know he was 92 but you'd think there would have been some sort of death watch (a la Cheney) if anyone thought it was imminent.

When you are 92, death is always imminent...

The heat got him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/politics/29byrd.html?src=mv

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Once a Klansman, always a Klansman.

And once again, we see why the politics board went away.

Whatever Byrd did in his long life is now between him and God. But this kind of crap is just ignorant. There have been ample quotes over the years from Byrd repudiating his racist past ... and yeah, he was a despicable racist at one point. Quibble all you want with the sincerity of his apologies. But "once a Klansman, always a Klansman?" Lame.

Do we all really want to be remembered only for our worst moments?

Those were some pretty despicable moments.

A couple years ago, I visited a national-caliber museum in my hometown. I hadn't been there in a few years, and organizers had put together an "Americana" display - the good and the bad - since I had been there last.

There was a KKK outfit on a mannequin in a glass case. Yes, I've seen KKK clips on TV, but to see a full outfit that close was stunning. Something that evil, that despicable, was a few feet in front of me. I wanted to be ill, but I'm glad the museum had that display. It will forever be a reminder of this evil.

Byrd was pandering to his base at the time.

Anti-Black, anti-Catholic.

Profiling, to serve one's self, and one's constiuency.

Dispicable, then. Dispicable, now.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Once a Klansman, always a Klansman.

And once again, we see why the politics board went away.

Whatever Byrd did in his long life is now between him and God. But this kind of crap is just ignorant. There have been ample quotes over the years from Byrd repudiating his racist past ... and yeah, he was a despicable racist at one point. Quibble all you want with the sincerity of his apologies. But "once a Klansman, always a Klansman?" Lame.

Do we all really want to be remembered only for our worst moments?

Those were some pretty despicable moments.

A couple years ago, I visited a national-caliber museum in my hometown. I hadn't been there in a few years, and organizers had put together an "Americana" display - the good and the bad - since I had been there last.

There was a KKK outfit on a mannequin in a glass case. Yes, I've seen KKK clips on TV, but to see a full outfit that close was stunning. Something that evil, that despicable, was a few feet in front of me. I wanted to be ill, but I'm glad the museum had that display. It will forever be a reminder of this evil.

Byrd was pandering to his base at the time.

Anti-Black, anti-Catholic.

Profiling, to serve one's self, and one's constiuency.

Dispicable, then. Dispicable, now.

No.
Byrd's beliefs were his own. He wasn't pandering. His beliefs might have echoed voter sentiment, but it was not pandering.

 

[beardpuller]

Lotta real deep thinkers out today.
By the way, Strom's last name was "Thurmond," not "Thurman."

 

[deskslave]

I love how quick people are to defend his membership in the Klan. I'm guessing that would not be the case if he was (gasp) a Republican.

We defend or just ignore the fact that one-third of the Founding Fathers were slave owners.

"They were a product of the time they lived in" is either an acceptable excuse 100 percent of the time or it isn't. Just take your pick---and be consistent about it.

I mostly agree with this, though I don't think history defends or ignores the ownership of slaves by many of the Founding Fathers.

But I don't think many here applied that standard to Thurman or Helms.

I also think that if we're going to judge people's conversions on these matters, we should base our judgments on their actions, not just their words.

It's easy to say you reject your past views. How did you live?

I don't know enough about how Byrd lived his life to judge him, but I do know that Thurman & Helms -- by their actions -- appeared to live by their newly expressed beliefs.

Also, 21 is right. Maybe Robert Byrd is a saint, but that doesn't mean we should ignore Byrd's KKK past. It's part of telling the whole story of Senator Byrd, and for Evil to get upset every time someone "trots it out", is silly .

How would you tell his story? Where would you include his founding of a KKK chapter? Would you leave it out?

I assume you mean Jesse Helms, the same guy who ran a blatantly racist ad in 1990? What the hell actions did he practice to prove any "newly expressed beliefs"?

 

[forever_town]

All of that is fine except, Democrats were never quite willing to give Strom Thurmond the benefit of the doubt about his history as a segregationist and for that matter, Jerry Falwell, either, despite both men renouncing their pasts as wrong.

Funny how that works.

I wasn't willing to give Strom Thurmond or Jerry Falwell the benefit of the doubt. I'm not willing to give Robert Byrd the benefit of the doubt.

I'd have been willing to accept "youthful indiscretions" as an excuse if he were a KKK member at, say, 13. But when you're in your 20s, you should have a bloody good idea of right from wrong.

I'm not drinking the Byrd Kool Aid. Period.

 

[Armchair_QB]

All of that is fine except, Democrats were never quite willing to give Strom Thurmond the benefit of the doubt about his history as a segregationist and for that matter, Jerry Falwell, either, despite both men renouncing their pasts as wrong.

Funny how that works.

I wasn't willing to give Strom Thurmond or Jerry Falwell the benefit of the doubt. I'm not willing to give Robert Byrd the benefit of the doubt.

I'd have been willing to accept "youthful indiscretions" as an excuse if he were a KKK member at, say, 13. But when you're in your 20s, you should have a bloody good idea of right from wrong.

I'm not drinking the Byrd Kool Aid. Period.

And it's not a "youthful indiscretion" when you are the FOUNDER of a ****ing KKK chapter.