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."
I once held some anti Israel views but I didn't join the klan or support terrorists.
" I didn't leave the Klan, the Klan left me."
-Sheets Byrd
Robert KKK Byrd
"I only killed because I saw others killing"
Ted Bundy
fyi...
Piece of sheet.
Only a Democrat could get away with this past, and still be a Senator..
God Bless President Bush and the Troops
Byrd was raised in a tradtional Baptist home, or so he intimated. I find it surprising that he would be baptized so late in life. Most families and homes of this sort manage to get their children baptised at least before their teens.
It's a good thing he doesn't listen to rap music. Beyond using the "N-Word," he'd be talking about bitches and ho's and killin' 5-0's.
Far be it from me to judge any man's final destination, but IMO, Senator Byrd needs to study that Bible much more carefully...and then actually do what it says.
"By their fruit ye shall know them..."
Not just a Sinator, but the "Elder Statesman" (Klansman?)
of the party.
I absolutely believe that in January 2007, Senator Byrd will join Tom Daschle on the ash heap of history...
I heard Byrd live on a cable show about 1998 using the "white n-----er" word. I was truly shocked. Even more shocked that it was ignored by the MSM.
real question....Where was Byrd during World War II? (other than busy targeting black Americans)
The Dimwit Party is filled with fruits.
"whose chief accomplishment was blocking the passage of anti-lynching legislation in the 1930's and 40's."
This is not a fair assessment of Russell.
He was a Senate powerhouse, incredibly hard-working and he had too many legislative achievements to count. Not all of them were good, but many of them were. He was a staunch anti-communist and a defender of the Constitution. For better or for worse, he helped expose some of MacArthur's fallacious thinking about Asia which sort of deflected his hero status and may have avoided a huge constitutional crisis after his "old soldiers never die" speech. At any rate, this is not fair to Russell. It's even more of an exaggeration than it is to say that the South only fought to keep the slaves in their place. That is part of the record for sure, but it is not the only aspect of the record which is relevant.
Meanwhile, permit me to share an email message recently received of a WV Republican activist:
We know Byrd is a racist and a buffoon, but did you also know he is an abortion supporter? In the many years since he has brought home the bacon to WV, he has been silently voting to continue murdering unborn children. This is a bit personal to me because I am adopted. Thank God Robert Byrd wasn't in charge of my right to life in 1965!
Here are Byrd's votes:
1) Byrd Voted Against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act on 3/25/2004
2) Byrd Voted Yes to continue allowing abortion in military facilities on 5/22/2003
3) Byrd Agreed to a Harkin amendment to endorse Roe vs Wade on 3/12/2003
4) Byrd Vote against a ban on abortions in military facilities on 6/20/2000
5) Byrd voted for Clinton's unrestricted funding for "population assistance" on 2/25/1997
Please share this with your Democratic friends who are good people, loyal voters BUT who are pro-life. Do they really want Byrd to continue representing them in the Senate only to continue voting against the rights of unborn children to life?
LOL! Good thing I wasn't drinking coffee when I saw that!
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...
When he's back home does he still see his old Klan buddies, or did he ever bother to turn their names in to the FBI?
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