Posted on 03/11/2005 8:11:53 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Former Ku Klux Klansman Sen. Robert Byrd said Thursday that he decided to leave the anti-black terrorist group in 1946 after becoming a born-again Christian, adding that the only reason he used the "N"-word in a 2001 television interview is because he'd heard black leaders say it.
Asked why he left the Klan, Byrd told Fox News Channel's Alan Colmes, "My wife and I, we're born- again Christians . . . We were baptized in the Old Church Yard at Crab Orchard Baptist Church in 1946 . . . That changed my thinking in many ways."
"Time, reflection, and the teachings of the Bible" helped him cut his ties with the Klan, Byrd said - where he served as Grand Kleagle and was paid $10 a head to recruit like-minded racists who were willing to lynch blacks. Asked why - 55 years after he abandoned the hate-group - he used the "N"-word twice during an interview on "Fox News Sunday," the ex-Klansman explained:
"Well, I have heard many people use it. I have heard black leaders use it. I've heard white leaders use it."
Byrd told Colmes that the racist slur "meant nothing" to him, except to describe someone who was ignorant.
The West Virginia Democrat insisted that he'd always tried "to do the right thing."
But he didn't explain why he decided to lead the filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, or championed the renaming of the Senate's main office after Georgia Sen. Richard B. Russell, whose chief accomplishment was blocking the passage of anti-lynching legislation in the 1930's and 40's.
Instead Byrd insisted it was time to close the book on the earlier chapters of his life, saying, "I was wrong, as many young men are wrong today, even when they join groups. That's all in the past."
To be fair, he did a better job of being a fake black than John Kerry.
Someone should photoshop Robert Byrd onto the "Undercover Brother" movie poster.
The answer lies at Crab Orchard.
The votes on Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall - they were after 1946, weren't they?
What a crock. OK, Byrd left the Klan in 1946. In 1964 he fillibustered the Civil Rights Act for fourteen straight hours. I wonder if Colmes asked him about that...
Fox news should always introduce this guy with "Former member and leader of the KKK, democrat Robert Byrd"
I don't mind cutting him some slack on this one. After all, we do make mistakes. I'm just wondering why he won't cut others slack...
----
Bingo. Hate the sin, love the sinner.
I loved Byrd's hypocritical and deceitful remarks in this interview. First Byrd claimed cutting off debate on the judge nominations would constitute a violation of free speech. I don't see anyone on the floor filibustering through prolonged speech. Frankly they should be forced to. Byrd wouldn't last 2 hours before they were wheeling him out on a stretcher. So since no one is doing a floor speech filibuster, where is free speech being violated?
Also, Byrd while majority leader used Senate rule changes to cut off filibusters, so it is entirely hypocritical of this senile coot to now be so indignant over the possibility the same might happen to them.
Also, Byrd made the ludicrous statement that we attacked Iraq "without provokation." Saddam spent 12 years violating his 1991 UN Ceasefire accords he had just 50 days to fulfill which allowed him to keep power. So 51 days after the March 1991 ceasefire since he had no disarmed nor proven he had and instead spent that time murdering Shiites and Kurds, the war was on again. Further, Saddam trained at least one of the 1993 WTC bombing terrorists, the only one to escape US justice. He ended up back in Iraq on Saddam's payroll and with govt. paid housing in Tikrit. And of course we know Saddam worked with Al Qaeda on other things too. Finally, Saddam regularly shot at US pilots patrolling the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq. Is that enough provokation for you there Byrd-brain, or do you want to end your loathsome career as a spokesman and shill for Saddam Hussein. Time to go quietly into the rest home jerk.
Also note that Robert Byrd is the only senator to have voted against both black Supreme Court nominees.
I hope Colmes saved the dress he wore to this hard charging interview.
I've heard people use the "N" word too, but I didn't say it. That old fool has a record that can't be denied....since the KKK and up to now. He needs to GO! It's way past time.
Democrat morality and intellectual honesty is a constantly recorded over tape loop of about one day. The movie "Groundhog's Day" should be their party's image.
Well gee whiz Senator, why don't you act a little more "Christian" toward the President then??
Well, the old relic may be right about being wrong. I was actually out of my mind once, and as a reaction to Nixon shaming the White House, I voted for Carter. I was wrong.
"But he didn't explain why he decided to lead the filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, or championed the renaming of the Senate's main office after Georgia Sen. Richard B. Russell, whose chief accomplishment was blocking the passage of anti-lynching legislation in the 1930's and 40's."
Remember when Trent Lott was drummed out of his position as majority leader just for praising Strom Thurmond too much, a man who gave up his segregationist views 40 years hence? Funny how Byrd-brain fought the Civil Rights Act and tried to get a building named for a guy who supported lynching blacks, and not only was he majority leader he is now praised and heaped with deferrence by DemoCRITES and their lapdogs in the media as the "Lion of the Senate" and other such undeserved expressions of honor.
I CERTAINLY HOPE SO.
IMHO, HE SHOULD HAVE RETIRED LONG AGO.
Remember the poor accountant type in DC government who used the word "Niggardly" which means to be thrifty and he lost his job over it? Might I add that he did lose the job because the leaders in government were too stupid to show a minimal command of the english vocabulary.
Isn't that the truth. I sat there and watched that "love fest" and had one thought.
The only interviews that would had more softball questions, would be George Steph-A-Lumpos or Katie Colic interviewing the JR senator from New York.
Anything's possible, including a convenient explanation for his Klan involvement coming to an end. I heard a Clintonesque yarn-spinning in Colmes' interview.
Byrd was boasting about his good Christian (Baptist? WVa?) upbringing, but supposedly he was only baptized as an adult with his wife.
And this is a politically-bent explanation--he was saved and left the Klan at the same time. Shazam. Let's move on.
Smells like a Legend to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.