Video: Scarborough Rails Sen. Byrd

Scarborough Country's Joe Scarborough lays out the most damning condemnation of (D) Senator Robert Byrd that I have heard anywhere! This is must see!!

Where's the outrage? Where's the MSM? Major Papers? They are all MIA! Because Byrd is a democrat.

UPDATE: You can also visit Wizbang! for more information and a great discussion about Sen. Byrd.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7090671/

SCARBOROUGH: We begin—we begin tonight with Senator Robert Byrd.

Now, it‘s time you know the truth about this man from West Virginia. Listen to what he said on the Senate floor on Tuesday, when he compared Republicans to Adolf Hitler.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality. He never abandoned the cloak of legality. He recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made it—made this illegality legal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCARBOROUGH: Now, of course, this former Klansman also went on to talk about how the Republicans—and I am quoting him here—were “incinerating”—incinerating, a clear reference to the Holocaust—

“incinerating the rights of Democrats.”

Now, of course, this is outrageous, but, sadly, it‘s nothing new. First elected to the Senate in 1958, Robert Byrd‘s history with controversy seems to be unparalleled by anybody else in our government.

Let‘s take a look at some of the shocking, disturbing moments in Byrd‘s career that have been ignored by Democrats and the press. He‘s the only former Ku Klux Klan member in the United States government. He filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 straight hours. He‘s the only senator to vote against both African-American Supreme Court justice nominees, Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas. And he used a racial slur, the N-word, twice in a 2001 TV interview.

Now, it‘s only natural to ask, why is this man still in the leadership of Congress? And not only that, but why do both the elite media and the Democratic establishment praise Robert Byrd? Amazingly, they came out in defense of Byrd‘s rant on Tuesday. Senator Teddy Kennedy called his comparison of Republicans to Nazis “excellent, well thought out, reasoned, compelling, legitimate, and persuasive.”

And, of course, he has been the darling of the elite media for years now. This former Klansman in 1999 was written of “The Washington Post,” and they said this—quote—“Despite a 41-year career in the Senate, Byrd‘s name is attached to little high-profile, big-idea legislation. Instead, he has become something of a Senate conscience.”

The conscience of the Senate, huh? A former kleagle leader in the KKK

who once told a senator he would never serve in an integrated Army, saying

· quote—“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.”

With me now to talk about Robert Byrd and his history and his present is Ann Coulter. She‘s the author of “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).” And Paul Waldman, he‘s the author of “Fraud: The Strategy Behind The Bush Lies and Why The Media Don‘t Tell You About It.”

Ann, let me start with you.

A lot of this information, even though I knew Byrd was a former Klansman, is shocking to me. I know it‘s shocking to a lot of Americans. Why does he continue to get away with it?

ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, “HOW TO TALK TO A LIBERAL (IF YOU MUST)”:

Probably because he is one of the leading lights in the Democratic Party.

They really—they have been intellectually vanquished. What else do they have out there? Also, in your description of how he has been defended in the mainstream media, just a few years ago, “Vanity Fair” gave the former Klanner a profiles of courage award in an article written by Dee Dee Myers.

And one other thing I was going to mention about Byrd is, I mean, you would think he would stay away from this, though he can speak with authority on a fascist organization, having been a charter member of one in this country.

SCARBOROUGH: Isn‘t it interesting, Ann, that a former Klansman has the audacity to call Republicans in the Senate Nazis, for the most part, for a simple change in Senate rules?

(LAUGHTER)

COULTER: Well, that is the argument of someone who has no other argument left, and that describes the whole Democratic Party right now.

PAUL WALDMAN, AUTHOR, “FRAUD”: Hold on a second, Joe. He didn‘t call Republicans Nazis. That little piece you did was a masterpiece of distortion and things taken out of context 40 years ago.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second. Stop right there. Tell me one thing I said in there that was not the truth.

WALDMAN: You said he called Republicans Nazis, and that‘s not true, Joe. Come on. You know that.

SCARBOROUGH: What did he say, then?

COULTER: No, he compared Republicans to Hitler, saying that this change in rules, yes, it can be done legally, but Adolf Hitler operated legally also.

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: That‘s comparing a change in rules to Hitler.

SCARBOROUGH: And Mussolini operated in the same way. Then he went on

· this was his big selling point. He said, and Republicans, like Nazis, are incinerating. He uses the word incinerating, incinerating the rights of the Democratic Party.

Now, you tell me, what is he talking about? Is he talking about burning leaves in Washington, D.C., on a cool fall day, or is he talking about the Holocaust?

WALDMAN: Maybe that‘s what you heard. Maybe that‘s what you heard, Joe.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: No, no, no, no, no. That‘s the speech. That‘s the speech. Have you not heard the speech?

(CROSSTALK)

WALDMAN: Yes, I read it.

Getting lecture from ANN COULTER on rhetorical civility is like having Jose Canseco tell you not to do drugs. You know...

SCARBOROUGH: Well, OK, attack Ann Coulter, but respond to the Anti-Defamation League director, Abe Foxman.

This is what he said: “It is hideous, outrageous and offensive for Senator Byrd to suggest that the Republican Party‘s tactics could in any way resemble those of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.”

OK, Ann—Ann has been attacked now. That‘s fine. Now would you like to attack Abe Foxman? Is he also just throwing rhetorical darts?

WALDMAN: No, look, people get very sensitive, and rightfully so, about analogies to Nazi Germany, whether they‘re direct or indirect. And he never came out and said, you are like Hitler. He—this is in the middle of a long dissertation on history, which you know that Robert Byrd...

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: Why was Hitler mentioned?

WALDMAN: Well, you know, you would have to ask him that. But...

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, come on.

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: Well, to act like he didn‘t compare Republicans to Hitler, oh, gee, I didn‘t pick that up from the speech. Why was Hitler even mentioned in the speech?

WALDMAN: Look, you know, he decided to make a whole series of historical analogies. Maybe we would have chosen a different one.

But, you know, the idea that this is such a terrible insult and we should—you know, it‘s so important that we find a quote from 40 or 50 years ago that he said that we can take out of context, like you did, Joe, and make people think he did it today.

And, Joe, I have one more thing actually about this. You complain all the time about the elite media. You know who the elite media is, Joe. It‘s you. You have your own television show.

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, am I—am I the elite media?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Is that how it works?

WALDMAN: You give me my own television show and I‘ll be the elite media.

SCARBOROUGH: I am one of the few people that is actually talking about this. I started talking about it yesterday on my radio show.

WALDMAN: That‘s not true.

SCARBOROUGH: The networks aren‘t talking about it. They are not going to hold this man accountable.

I will guarantee you that 99 percent of Americans have no idea that this guy said he would rather America be driven into the dirt than ever work or fight beside an African-American.

WALDMAN: When did he say that?

SCARBOROUGH: And if they knew that, they would be stunned.

WALDMAN: Joe, what is the date on that quote?

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Well, he said it back in—he said it back in the 1940s, 1950s.

WALDMAN: OK. OK.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: “The Washington Post” quoted it.

That‘s fine. Well, can you name anybody else? You and I both know, had a Republican or had a conservative Democrat said the same thing, they would never, ever see the light of day in the United States Senate.

COULTER: Well, let‘s talk about what he said today. Let‘s stick to what he is talking about today.

I mean, my liberal counterpart—I‘m sorry, I forgot your name—keeps saying, well, why are we even talking about this? Well, this is a major Democratic senator.

WALDMAN: I didn‘t why are we talking about this.

COULTER: Not even a congressman. This was a speech that was given yesterday about something that‘s very important that‘s going on right now. He is hailed as a profile in courage in “Vanity Fair” just a few years ago.

If you want to give us something else to talk to, I‘d love to, but this is the most the Democratic Party is giving us. All we get are ex-Klanners and nuts to argue with now. And, frankly, it‘s not really helping either my career or Joe Scarborough‘s career.

WALDMAN: All we get are ex-Klanners? All we get are ex-Klanners?

What are you talking about?

COULTER: And nuts, and nuts, I said.

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: If you guys have a smart guy you want to send in, I‘d love to hear him.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Paul Waldman, this is what I—this is what—this is what I think Americans need to know, Paul. And you respond to it, OK?

If the Democrats take back control of the United States Senate, then this man, Robert Byrd, is third in line to be president of the United States. And, in the age of terror, he could be president of the United States. Does that not concern you, that, in the United States Senate, somebody with that much power and that much respect has, without a doubt, the most racist past of anybody, I mean, when Trent Lott makes an off-the-cuff comment and gets driven from his leadership post?

WALDMAN: Well, he absolutely has repudiated everything that he did back in the 1940s, when—you know, we are talking about over half-a-century ago. He said it was the biggest mistake of his life.

So, we absolutely can talk about this. And the idea that no one else is talking about it, that‘s not true. They are talking about it on Fox News. They are talking about it on conservative talk radio. The entire network has been activated. I don‘t know if you got your RNC talking points this morning. And that‘s why we are doing a show about it. But...

SCARBOROUGH: You know what? I don‘t read RNC talking points.

WALDMAN: Well, good for you.

SCARBOROUGH: But I do know this. If a Republican—if a Republican had compared the Democratic Party to Nazi Germany, I would be on tonight talking about it.

And, Ann Coulter, you can attest to the fact that I catch a lot of garbage from conservatives because I go after the Republicans the same way I go after Democrats.

COULTER: Well, also, if it were Republican, I would have read about it in “The New York Times.”

(LAUGHTER)

SCARBOROUGH: Where is “The Times”? Where is “The Washington Post”?

Where is “The L.A. Times”?

WALDMAN: Front page, above the fold.

SCARBOROUGH: Why haven‘t they—why haven‘t they editorialized on this, Paul?

WALDMAN: I don‘t know. It just happened yesterday. Maybe they will.

Maybe they won‘t.

(LAUGHTER)

WALDMAN: You know, listen...

COULTER: There was an important story about the Augusta National Golf course.

(LAUGHTER)

WALDMAN: Listen, you may think this is the most important...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Again, again, let‘s look at Trent Lott, OK? Trent Lott praises Strom Thurmond, he loses his position. Christopher Dodd comes out, praises this guy, a former Klansman, says that at any time in his history or West Virginia‘s history, he would have made a great senator for the state of West Virginia. Nobody pays attention.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: I‘m concerned about that. I don‘t think that‘s fair.

WALDMAN: Joe, you know who went after Trent Lott? You know very well. It wasn‘t the liberals. It wasn‘t the Democrats. It was the Republicans and the conservatives that went after Trent Lott, because they knew that he was dangerous to them, to their project to try to pull away from their racist history.

SCARBOROUGH: That‘s funny.

WALDMAN: Which comes up again every two years when they try to stop African-Americans from voting.

COULTER: You know, this...

SCARBOROUGH: You know, that‘s funny you talk...

WALDMAN: That‘s why they went after him.

SCARBOROUGH: Paul, that‘s funny you talk about a racist history. I am so glad you did, because, again, it was the Democrats in 1964 that tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

WALDMAN: And all those Democrats are Republicans now.

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Eighty percent of those Republicans -- 80 percent of the Republicans there voted for the Civil Rights Act. Sixty percent of Democrats did.

And there was Robert Byrd standing on the House, on the Senate floor, filibustering for over 14 hours because he hated African-Americans.

WALDMAN: And he has repudiated that. And, Joe, all those...

SCARBOROUGH: Ann Coulter, Paul Waldman, thanks so much.

WALDMAN: All those Republicans are Democrats—all those Democrats are Republicans now.

SCARBOROUGH: You know what, Paul? If that makes you feel better and helps you sleep at night, great.

WALDMAN: It‘s true, Joe. It‘s the truth, Joe.

SCARBOROUGH: Thanks a lot. We appreciate you all being here. Coming

· it‘s not the truth.

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