Byrd Blasts Bush's Aircraft Carrier Use

AP via NYTimes.com ^ | 05/06/2003

[GeneD]

Filed at 5:36 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Questioning the motives of a ``desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior,'' Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd on Tuesday reproached President Bush for flying onto an aircraft carrier last week to declare an end of major fighting in Iraq.

``I am loath to think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential political slogan, and yet that is what I saw,'' Byrd said on the Senate floor.

Byrd, 85, of West Virginia, is the Senate's most senior member and was one of the most outspoken critics of the Iraq war.

Dressed in a flight suit, Bush was flown onto the USS Abraham Lincoln on Thursday, his small S-3B Viking jet making a tailhook landing. The ship was near San Diego on its return from action in the Persian Gulf.

With the sea as his backdrop, Bush announced that the United States and its allies had prevailed against Saddam Hussein.

Byrd contrasted the speech with the ``simple dignity'' of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address during the Civil War.

``I do not begrudge his salute to America's warriors aboard the carrier Lincoln, for they have performed bravely, ... but I do question the motives of a desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech,'' he said.

He said American blood has been shed defending Bush's policies. ``This is not some made-for-TV backdrop for a campaign commercial,'' he said.

``To me, it is an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the president to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech,'' he said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer has rejected any suggestion that the landing was intended to provide campaign footage for Bush's re-election campaign.

On Tuesday, before Byrd's speech, Fleischer said Bush wanted ``to see an aircraft landing the same way that the pilots saw an aircraft landing. He wanted to see it as realistically as possible.''

[GeneD]

Please delete the duplicate post; I had trouble communicating with you folks and clicked twice.

[Clara Lou]

It should be easy for Byrd to understand, as old as he is, that his personal opinion counts for very little, since he's just an old, self-important, wordy hatchet-man for the Democratic Party.

[Defend the Second]

Senility is an awful thing to watch, but since he helps the conservative cause every time he opens his mouth, I say let the old bastard blather on.

[onyx]

There's no fool like an old fool and he's one old fool. I despise him.

[cabbieguy]

Thanks for the post, this is the confirmation I've been looking for, Senator Robert (KKK) Byrd has final gone "round the bend". He has completely forgotten that the President of the United States is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces.

[tet68]

``I am loath to think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential political slogan, and yet that is what I saw,'' Byrd said on the Senate floor.

Of course you did Senator, it's what is common place in YOUR party.

These Dims give themselves away every time.

[cynicom]

Byrd is right. A plain white sheet from the LINCOLN bedroom would have sufficed.

[tet68]

Old Klansmen never die, they just bleat away.

[sit-rep]

And what about the blood shed by clinton?

[onyx]

Too funny! "bleat away...."

[Joe Boucher]

Hey Bobby Byrd, burn any crosses with your friends lately?

[just me]

"""I am loath to think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential political slogan, and yet that is what I saw,'' Byrd said on the Senate floor."""

Gee does Byrd have any comments on Clinton and company using the USS JFK aircraft carrier as his personal yacht.
And to add insult he used the personal aboard as servants... on the FOURTH of JULY

[aristeides]

So, Senator KKK, do you think FDR (a desk-bound president if ever there was one) was wrong to sail on the Augusta to Newfoundland to meet Churchill on board ship and have all those photo opportunities?

[microgood]

This from a guy that has every building and road in the state of West Virginia named after him. And he prefers the humble approach. I do like on CSPAN when he whips out his little black book he says is the Constitution. I always cower behind the couch.

[Asclepius]

``To me, it is an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the president to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech,'' he said.

Yeah, get over it.

I like spectacle. I like air craft carriers. And I really like presidents who use air craft carriers and other weapons in defense of our legitimate interests abroad.

[michigander]

As Commander in Chief, President Bush owns that fighter jet and the aircraft carrier, too.

It seems that you forgot the </sarcasm> tag in your reply.
Either that or you're seriously deluded.

[Vetnet]

>>>``I am loath to think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential political slogan, and yet that is what I saw,'' Byrd said on the Senate floor."

Excerpt from Ann Coulter's column called The Robert C. Byrd Bridge To Poverty dated February 14, 2002:

"Evidently what the people-in-need are asking for is a lot of federal projects named after Senator Byrd.
Some items funded by taxpayers – but still somehow named after "Robert C. Byrd" – are: The Robert C. Byrd Highway; the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam; the Robert C. Byrd Institute; the Robert C. Byrd Life Long Learning Center; the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program; the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope; the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing; the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse; the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center; the Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center; the Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center; the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building; the Robert C. Byrd Drive; the Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex; the Robert C. Byrd Library; the Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center; the Robert C. Byrd Rural Health Center."

End excerpt
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Doesn't sound political to me....