Please sign GOPUSA Petition To Rebuke Dodd Over Byrd Remark

Referring to Sen. Robert Byrd, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, who voted against civil rights legislation and who holds the distinction of being the only senator in U.S. history to vote against both Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sen. Christopher Dodd said he "cannot think of a single moment in this nation's 220-plus year history where [Byrd] would not have been a valuable asset to this country."

This is the same Robert Byrd who once told Tony Snow on Fox News that there are "white [n-word]."

The lack of media attention and Senate outrage to Dodd's comments are astonishing given what happened in December 2002 when Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott complimented Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond at his 100th birthday party by asserting if he had been elected president in 1948 running as a member of the segregationist Dixiecrat Party, then "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."

The media frenzy that followed was phenomenal to say the least. And the public outrage generated by the media led directly to Trent Lott being ousted from his leadership position.

In December 2002, Dodd stated, "If a Democratic leader had made [Lott's] statements, we would have to call for his stepping aside, without any question whatsoever."

We, the undersigned, call on Sen. Dodd to honor his own words and do the right thing. We call on members of the U.S. Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, to step forward and show that a double standard does not exist. We call on all members of the U.S. Senate to publicly and officially rebuke Sen. Christopher Dodd for praising a colleague with a known racist past and for the insensitivity in which he has dealt with this issue. We also call on members of the media to address this situation with the same vigor in which they covered Sen. Trent Lott's comments.

What I don't like about this is that it employs the leftist tactic of denying the possibility of repentance and redemption.

Even a former KKK member can see the error of his ways.

For instance, this "white ni***r" remark has to be the most broadly misinterpreted statement ever uttered by a democratic party figure.

This is actually an *anti-racist* concept.

When I started kindergarten in Oklahoma in 1956, there was quite a bit of racism around. When I left Oklahoma in 1974, the picture had changed substantially.

One of the things I particularly noticed was guys coming home on leave or getting out of the service, who took exception to the racist remarks of their erstwhile school chums. It seemed that serving with blacks in the military had changed their points of view.

The term "white ni***r" often arose during conversations on this subject, in the context of the serviceman explaining to his old buddies that he had discovered that individual character and behavior were much more important than skin color. They would say that they knew white men who were "ni***rs" and black men who were not.

If you think about it for just a second, it's obvious that if a white person can be a "ni***r", and a black man not be a "ni***r", then skin color is irrelevant in judging a person. That leaves only the content of the person's character as a guide.

I really hate it when the PC hoste malígno assigns some discreditable connotation to an innocent remark by a decent person. I would hate it even worse if my side started doing the same thing.

There was a time in American history when being a member of the democratic party didn't necessarily mean that a person was an utter scumbag.

There was a time in American history when being racially prejudiced didn't necessarily mean that a person was an utter scumbag (Unless you want to argue that Abraham Lincoln was an utter scumbag).

There was a time in American history when owning slaves didn't necessarily mean that a person was an utter scumbag.

Events *and people* have to be understood in historical context. And Byrd is old enough to *have* historical context.

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