A final word on Robert Byrd

In the past, I have had sometimes heated arguments with peers and commenters about what they insist is the racism that supposedly exists in the Republican Party. One of my standard comebacks to that argument is to point out that Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia, was not only reelected over and over for decades, but was put into positions of high power - such as Majority Leader and President Pro Tempore - by his Democrat cohorts, and was referred to by the leftist news media with the exhalted title, "The Conscience of the Senate."

These titles and accolades become a problem for the Democrats when you consider that Robert Byrd was a member of, and recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan. After I point this out to my opponent, that is when the gnashing of teeth begins, along with the bleating about how I'm not being fair because Byrd was a KKK member so long ago.

My standard answer to that is to ask a simple question: Would you be so forgiving of Byrd if he were a Republican?

One of these defenders of Byrd's KKK days is none other than former President Bill Clinton, who glossed over Byrd's KKK membership as simply an effort by a southern boy to get elected to office. This isn't surprising, seeing as how one of Bill Clinton's mentors was Senator J. William Fulbright, who was a sworn segregationist, and was joined by none other than Robert Byrd on the floor of the Senate in filibustering the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Now that Robert Byrd has departed this world for that great Klan meeting in the sky, I will continue to use him as a prime example of the hypocrisy of Democrats and Leftists. After all, they never voted Byrd out of office; he had to be carried out on a slab.

For the sake of posterity and selective memories of those on the left, here are a few choice quotes and facts from Robert C. Byrd, and keep in mind that all of this was after the year 1943, which is when Byrd claims he left the Klan:

• In 1945, Byrd wrote a letter to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo, in which he complained about the impending desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces. Byrd vowed that he would, "never submit to fight beneath that banner (the American flag) 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."
• In 1946, Byrd wrote a letter to a KKK Imperial Wizard, in which he wrote, "The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia...."
• In 1964, Robert Byrd didn't just filibuster the Civil Rights Act, he stood on the floor of the Senate and talked for 14 straight hours in an unsuccessful attempt to wear down his opposition. He was kept company by the aforementioned Clinton mentor, J. William Fulbright, and Senator Al Gore, Sr.
• In 1967, Byrd opposed the nomination of Thurgood Marshall as the Supreme Court's first black Justice. While I would admit that I too would have voted against Marshall, my concerns would have been on ideological grounds. I think Byrd had a more colorful concern.
• If these are all too far in the past for you, here is a Byrdism from 2001. In a televised interview with the late Tony Snow, Byrd had this to say about race relations in the United States: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word." Again, Byrd said that one on television!

It will continue to be a stain on the Democrat Party that they tolerated and defended Robert C. Byrd for 6 decades, while smearing the good names of other members of Congress whose bigger crime was apparently having a "R" next to their names instead of a "D." The state of West Virginia should be ashamed for sending Byrd back to Congress for those 6 decades as well. The good news for that state is that its citizens shall not soon forget their fallen Senator. I think half the bridges and buildings in the state are named after him!

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson