Posted on 08/04/2005 10:35:34 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
Senator Byrd desperately went up on the air today with an ad denouncing the NRSC’s attempts to call attention to his voting record. “Change,” which began airing last Friday, pointed out the recent votes that Byrd has cast against protecting working families, against our troops fighting the War on Terror, and against protecting the American flag. Byrd’s ad, which began airing today, does not dispute a single issue raised in the NRSC’s ad! Instead, it attacks the NRSC as a “special interest group.” It is ironic that Byrd would call the NRSC a “special interest group” based on Republican attempts to reform Social Security and to lower taxes when he has been raising money through liberal special interest groups for months.
Byrd received over $833,000 from liberal extremist group MoveOn.org Now Byrd is raising cash on the liberal blog Daily Kos. Byrd’s campaign has purchased ad space on Daily Kos to help him raise $55,000 to challenge the facts presented by the NRSC. The fact that Byrd is continuing to associate with liberal extremists is startling especially considering how that West Virginians overwhelmingly supported President Bush last November (he carried the state by 13 points).
Now Byrd is selling himself to the same group who called U.S. security personnel who were killed in Iraq “mercenaries:”
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, who runs the Angry Left Daily Kos blog, had this to say in a post yesterday about the murders of four American contractors who were helping to deliver food in Fallujah, Iraq: ‘Every death should be on the front page. Let the people see what war is like. This isn’t an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush’s folly. That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries [sic]. They aren’t in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.”‘ (James Taranto, “Best of the Web Today,” Opinion Jounal.com, April 2, 2004)
Daily Kos also attacked President Ronald Reagan on the day that he died, saying that he “enabled a culture of greed.” Does Robert Byrd honestly think that there is a large percentage of West Virginians who agree with the sentiments of the Daily Kos or is he just continuing to pander to the liberal special interest groups that are funding his campaign?
Posted By NRSC Communications
I don't think he runs again.. His health has really deteriorated of late..
He's waiting a bit long to be making that decision...not giving his party time to recruit another candidate.
bttt
Maybe he should put the sheets on again. What a scumbag this old fart is.
That's his ego. He wants to run again, and to die at his desk..on the Senate floor. If he thinks he can have an easy race, he'll run again..I was speaking purely from a health issue. At his age, people go downhill very fast, very quickly. Heck..according to the actuarial tables, it's about 45-55 AGAINST his even being alive next Nov 2006. If you watch him in the Senate, the pallsey is becoming more pronounced..Remember what happened to Bunning in 2004...in the last two weeks, he looked liked his health,a nd his mental faculties, had become impaired, and a 20% point lead almost disappeared overnight.
I don't recall Bunning being in that kind of condition - I do remember him being disrespectful to the press, which he has done since his baseball days. Bunning is not a nice guy - always been like that. I also recall his opponent making accusations about his health - and right on cue for when I had heard through the grapevine that the Mongiardo campaign was planning to do many, many months prior to those health accusations coming about.
Tell us how you really feel...
All it would take to beat him is run 30 second spots of various clips of him making outrageous statements as he has the past few years and he is toast. The NRSC better have done its homework.
False. If that were true he wouldn't still be there, and you wouldn't need 30 seconds. 10 is enough..
True. People that vote via TV ads are idiots.
Bunning is too a nice guy. Send him a baseball card in the mail and he'll sign it. Good enough for me.
Perhaps knowing basic politics would be an order before commenting again.
That's a *good* thing.
>B-)
Dear Wild,
Perhaps you forget where the old fart comes from. West Virginia. Which understands he is an old fart but he is their old fart and has brought home the bacon for decades.
WV-Sen: Byrd Discusses Checkered Past
I cringe everytime I see Republicans refer to Senator Byrd's involvement with the KKK decades ago. I often wonder how he has been elected so many times in West Virginia. And I am certain that it will be come a campaign issue in 2006. So is Senator Byrd, and now he is talking about it:
"It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me, and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one's life, career and reputation," the West Virginia Democrat says in an autobiography being released Monday. "I displayed very bad judgment, due to immaturity and a lack of seasoned reasoning." [...]
Even now, with the 2006 election more than 18 months away, Republicans are using it in their campaign to oust him.
It's a pretty enlightening article. I think it also instructive for West Virginians, and Americans, to read it in the context of a Republican Party that still has Senators who refuse to co-sponsor legislation apologizing for the lynchings that took place during the biggest stain in our country's past. Senator Byrd was a co-sponsor of the bill.
...and from the same site...
"If the election for the U.S. Senate were held today and the candidates were Democrat Robert Byrd and Republican Shelly Capito, for whom would you vote?"
Byrd: 52%
Capito: 42%
Unsure: 8%
I personally think that Shelley Capito has a good chance of defeating him. He has a record in WV, but there aren't as many old-time WVians here, these days! There are plenty of Marylandersand DCites that want out of Dodge, and are coming west with a short commute...
She hasn't thrown a hat into the ring, but there are plenty of us begging...
Let Byrd apologize. Lord knows he has something to apologize for in that regard, but it's just stupid to so do through legislation.
Mental health!
"True. People that vote via TV ads are idiots."
Really? I am then assuming that the Swiftboat ads catered to thousands of idiots?
TV ads are used to help people sort through the chaff. For the most part Americans can tell which ads are BS and which are as close to the real deal as possible. This is because the internet has opened up new avenues and combined with an effective ad campaign, this changes everything.
Good point, some attack ads really do have an effect. I should have stated that those who ONLY rely on TV ads to make their voting decisions are idiots.
I think Shelley Moore Capito could defeat Byrd, but that Secretary of State Betty Ireland might be a better candidate for us. First of all, West Virginia is heavily pro-life, and Ireland is pro-life while Capito is pro-choice. While Capito voted for the partial-birth abortion ban, so did Byrd, and Capito wouldn't be able to differentiate her position on abortion from Byrd's position, and thus would be less likely to attract the socially conservative, economically liberal voters that compose the largest segment of the West Virginia electorate.
Second, Ireland ran statewide in 2004 in a highly contested Secretary of State race against an octagenarian Democrat legend in Ken Hechler (former Congressman and Secretary of State). Ireland showed respect towards Hechler throughout the race (thus avoiding the trap of turning her elderly opponent into a victim), but pointed out their differences on the issues, and was able to win in spite of the Democrat candidate winning the governorship handily (although, of course, Ireland was helped by President Bush's campaign in the state). If anyone knows how to defeat an octagenarian Democrat West Virginia icon in a statewide race, it's Betty Ireland.
Third, Ireland isn't up for reelection as Secretary of State until 2008, so she can run in 2006 without jeopardizing a position held by the GOP, and even if she loses she'll still be able to run for reelection in 2008. Capito, on the other hand, would have to vacate her House seat to take on Byrd, and the Democrats would have a pretty good chance of winning the open seat that Capito won for the first time in 2000 by like 48%-46% against a flawed opponent and which before Capito had been represented by Democrats for decades.
So having Ireland run would have less of a downside than having Capito run, and since my first two points show that there might be more of an upside to an Ireland Senate candidacy as well, I think Ireland would be our best bet to take on Byrd.
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