Sen. Robert Byrd Talks with Alan Colmes
Friday, March 11, 2005
[snip]COLMES: You have taken measureless abuse. Your detractors, whenever they talk about you, they love to mention the KKK and your membership. Does that anger you?
BYRD: No. No. That is but a memory and a sad one. And I have said so. And I have apologized for it. And that's all I can do.
COLMES: It doesn't get you angry, doesn't get under your skin that they love to bring that up every time they mention Senator Robert Byrd?
BYRD: No, it doesn't. I tell you frankly, I have done my best to do the right thing. The people of West Virginia know that. They know the history. And they put it aside. They continue to return me. I was wrong, as many young men are wrong today, even when they join groups. That's all in the past.
COLMES: What changed you? What enabled your thinking to progress? What changed you as a man?
BYRD: Time, reflection, and the teachings of the Bible, the sermon on the mount. My wife and I, we're born-again Christians. That's term you hear a lot about. Well, we are indeed born-again Christians. We were baptized in the Old Church Yard at a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Baptist Church in 1946. That's 59 years ago. That changed my thinking in many ways. And as time goes on, as experience has its impact, as the years come and go, we all ripen and change, I hope for the better, and I think I have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLMES: Lots more still to cover with Senator Byrd, including his talk about his latest controversial interview with FOX News where he — a few years ago — used the "N" word. You don't want to miss that.
[snip]
COLMES: When you did an interview with Tony Snow on our network a few years ago, and you were talking about your mother and what she had taught you...(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BYRD: There are white niggers. I have seen a lot of white niggers in my time, if you want to use that word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLMES: ... that's not a word you would normally use, I guess. And I knew you were trying to make a point, where that word means ignorance. Is there a misunderstanding about what that word really means?
BYRD: Well, I have heard many people use it. I have heard black leaders use it. I've heard white leaders use it. I meant nothing by that except as you were saying. That's another one of those things that come and go. I don't dwell on them. I try not to live too much in the past.
COLMES: You just cast your 17,187th vote on the floor of the Senate. But who is counting? That's some record, huh?
BYRD: A roll call attendance record of 98.7 percent over a period of now 47 years. My goal is to continue serving the people of the nation and the people of West Virginia as long as I can be effective and be of service.
COLMES: Will you run in 2006?
BYRD: I certainly am thinking strongly about it.
COLMES: That sounds like a yes to me.
BYRD: Yes. We're not here today to make any announcements. What we are here for is to state the truth about what's happening in the United States Senate and to your constitutional right of freedom of speech. This is my way of serving my country.