(Democrat and former KKK member) Robert C. Byrd, Senate's Longest Serving Member, Dead at 92

abc ^ | 6/28/2010 | abc

[tobyhill]

Sen. Robert C. Byrd , the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate, has died. He was 92.

Byrd was admitted to a Washington area hospital late in the week of June 21, 2010, suffering from what was believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration as a result of the extreme temperatures. By Sunday afternoon other conditions developed, and Byrd's health took a turn for the worse.

Born Nov. 20, 1917, in North Wilkesboro, N.C., Byrd was orphaned as a 1-year-old when his mother died. He was raised by his aunt and uncle in a rural community near the coalfields of West Virginia.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

He always wore clean sheets!

[VanDeKoik]

“Reformed KKK Member”

And what did they say about Strom Thurmond?

[TSgt]

In other words, he is now eligible to vote in Chicago.

[tobyhill]

I guess in his book he claimed he was with the non-racist branch of the KKK. I had no idea there was one?

[Puddleglum]

Rahm’bama sez: “Let’s pass the [Financial Overhaul / Carbon Tax / Stimulus 2 / insert socialist program name here] bill in his name before people forget about him!!”

[Thane_Banquo]

Good riddance.

[FreeAtlanta]

Now, should be the first time he should have anything named after him. There are thousands of buildings, roads or bridges named after that despicable politician. Nothing should be named after a living politician.

These clowns act like it was their money that built the various items.

[pnh102]

And what did they say about Strom Thurmond?

Funny thing is Thurmond was never in the KKK but the way the media talked about him you'd think he was still running the thing to this day.

[Wpin]

This lifted my spirits! What a good day, we have another good democrat.

[calex59]

Did they mention his long and honorable time as a Klans man?

[Tainan]

RIP


Who had the Dead Pool?

[bmwcyle]

May he be the last Democrat to ever hold the record.

[freekitty]

RIP

[ETL]

in his book he claimed he was with the non-racist branch of the KKK.

Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, Ex-Klansman
by Michelle Malkin (March 8, 2001)

Ex-Klansman Robert Byrd, the senior senator from West Virginia, casually used the phrase "white nigger" twice on national TV this weekend. Enraged civil rights groups organized a protest campaign against Sen. Byrd and demanded that he undergo sensitivity training ... not.

The ex-Klansman, you see, is a Democrat. Democrats can join hate groups and utter the ugliest racial slurs and get away with it because they are Democrats. They belong to the party of racial tolerance and understanding. They're paragons of virtue, and the rest of us are bigoted rubes.

The ex-Klansman showed his true colors when asked by Fox News Sunday morning talk show host Tony Snow about the state of race relations in America. Sen. Byrd warned: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=383

__________________________________________________________

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

In 1942, 24-year-old Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), whose parades in Matoaka, West Virginia, he had witnessed in his childhood. He was unanimously elected Exalted Cyclops, or leader, of his local chapter.[4]

Byrd, in his autobiography, attributed the beginnings of his political career to this incident, although he lamented that they involved the Klan. According to Byrd, a KKK official told him "You have a talent for leadership, Bob... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd recalls that "suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did."[4] He participated in the KKK during World War II, holding the titles Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops. He did not serve in the military during the war, working instead as a welder in a Baltimore, Maryland shipyard, where he helped build warships.[citation needed]

Byrd commented on the 1945 controversy about racially integrating the military. Byrd, when he was 28 years old, wrote to segregationist Senator Theodore Bilbo, of Mississippi, vowing never to serve in such a military:

"Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.[5]"

He had earlier written "I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side".[6][7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd#Participation_in_the_Ku_Klux_Klan

YouTube - Senator Robert Byrd says "white niggers" on TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIBJt-c2o0

[tobyhill]

“Mr. Byrd insisted that his klavern had never conducted white-supremacist marches or engaged in racial violence. He said in his autobiography that he had joined the Klan because he shared its anti-Communist creed and wanted to be associated with the leading people in his part of West Virginia. He conceded, however, that he also “reflected the fears and prejudices” of the time.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/politics/29byrd.html

[Past Your Eyes]

I wonder if he would have gone as far as Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr.

[Non-Sequitur]

The good do die young.

[P.O.E.]

“If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all”.

That’s all I’m going to say.

[lonestar]

RIP