Sunday, June 19, 2005

Byrd's Ghosts

Sen Robert Byrd (D-WV) has served longer in the Senate than any person alive -- and is on track to breaking the late Strom Thurmond's record. He has sent home $1.6 billion in pork to his home state. And he was not only a member of the Ku Klux Klan, he recruited more than a hundred members for them. It's a subject he addresses head-on in his new autobiography, Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields:

"It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me, and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one's life, career and reputation. displayed very bad judgment, due to immaturity and a lack of seasoned reasoning."

In his book, Sen Byrd talks about watching Klansmen parading in hoods through his hometown, finding out his father was among those parading, and how, as a teen, he bought into the Klan's anti-communist rhetoric. (The Guardian)


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

BYRD YOU WERE A ~ 40 PLUS YEAR OLD RED NECK AT THE TIME, SO YOU KNEW VERY WELL WHAT YOU WERE DOING. BYRD, DID YOU ALSO CHASE BLACK NEWSBOYS ACROSS THE FIELDS WITH A PICKUP LIKE THEY DID IN sc ?

AFTER HEARING YOU, KERRY, GORE, HILLARY, DURKIN AND RUSH, I "RUSHED" OUT TO GET A RABIES SHOT.

LUCKY VET OF WWII AND KW

Phoenix Woman said...

Still waiting for a Republican to criticize Trent Lott, Bob Barr, and Haley Barbour for their current ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens (aka The White Citizens' Council).

See, the Klan was/is designed mostly for the lower-class Southern white males; they were cannon fodder for their bosses. Only in places like Indiana did Klansmen actually gain the reins of power.

The Klan's bosses were the upper-class bigots who ran the various White Citizens' Councils and "sovereignty commissions". They were powerful, prominent, respected pillars of society. And still are, to this day.

Anonymous said...

The klan were so great in numbers that thet controlled much of the country.
They hated blacks ,jews,and catholics.
I could never understand how this type of bigot could be reelected over and over again without any fellow congressmen calling him out.

Anonymous said...

A drunk from WV that the people elected because he was a democrate. They would not vote for JESUS him self if he was a republican.