Posted on 06/28/2010 2:35:45 AM PDT by careyb
Edited on 06/28/2010 3:51:06 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Published June 28, 2010
| FOXNews.com
Reuters
Feb. 2009: Sen. Robert Byrd doffs his hat for reporters as he arrives at the Capitol in Washington.
Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the longest-serving senator in American history, died Monday at the age of 92, a spokesman for the family said.
Byrd, a Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate since 1959, had been plagued by health problems in recent years and was confined to a wheelchair. He had skipped several votes in Congress in the past months.
Jesse Jacobs, a family spokesman, said Byrd died peacefully at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va.
He was the oldest member of the 111th Congress.
The passing of Sen. Byrd will not affect the balance of power in the Senate. West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, a Democrat, will appoint a replacement senator to serve out the remainder of Byrd's term which ends in 2012.
She had over an hour to pray before she drowned.She’s in heaven while Byrd Brain and evil Teddy are roasting hot dogs.
His filibustering was amazing. The “Dog Fighting Speech” is still fresh in my mind, “The poor dogs died!...Died!...Died!...The Dogs dddiiiiieeeeedddd.” RIP, and prayers to his family.
So, you are implying that people have a soul....after criticizing others for their beliefs? OK. But, get real. Your idea that the earlier poster assumed that FReepers are God is ridiculous.
What we do KNOW is this: Byrd was a tyrant who deliberately used other people’s money to build his own empire.
NOTHING involving taxpayer money should be named after politicians until they have been dead for thirty years.
RIP Sen. Byrd.
Rham met him in the shower this morning. RIP Sen Byrd.
Pray for America
Byrd?
I have no comment.
From Public Policy Polling:
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thoughts on West Virginia
RIP Senator Byrd.
We last polled West Virginia in May of 2009. Usually I would not write anything about data that old but as far as I know we were the last national polling company to do a survey in the state. At that time President Obama’s approval rating in the state was only 39%. His national approval numbers were still consistent with his 2008 vote share at that time but he was already running behind the 43% he got in West Virginia at that time and I’d imagine his approval in the state is now more around the 35% range.
It’s going to be very hard for Democrats to win an open seat somewhere where President Obama has a 35% approval rating. But if those words sound familiar it’s because that’s the exact same thing we were saying last month about the special election to replace John Murtha and Democrats not only won that race, but won it by a solid eight points.
West Virginia, like PA-12, was one of the few places in the country that did not trend Democratic in 2008. A key difference between the two that needs to be noted though is that while Obama only lost PA-12 by a point he lost West Virginia by 13. So while there are some similarities between the two situations West Virginia has shown a willingness to lean more Republican at the Presidential level.
The fact that Republicans won in Massachusetts where Obama won by 26 and lost in PA-12 where McCain won by 1 was a pretty strong reminder that candidates matter. The best case scenario for WV Democrats would be for Governor Joe Manchin to run. We found last year that he was one of the most popular Governors or Senators in the country with a 53/34 approval rating in a time when the list of politicians over 50% is very, very short. If Manchin runs it’s hard to see Democrats losing the seat. Republicans in the state have a pretty short bench. Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito would probably be the GOP’s first choice.
If Manchin runs Democrats will hold the seat, if he doesn’t it’s probably a toss up. Republicans shouldn’t assume they’ll win just because Obama’s unpopular there and Democrats shouldn’t assume they’ll win just because they always win Senate races in the state. Our special elections so far this year taught those lessons pretty clearly.
Posted by Tom Jensen at 6:26 AM
Despicable how Dems can utilize the death of one of their own to further their agenda.
Big question is who will we run ? We cannot allow this once-in-a-half-century+ opportunity be pissed away. The last time a Dem legend died in WV (Matt Neely), we won the special there, so this is a prime opportunity to get the seat. Although she has some issues of not being as Conservative as I’d like, I think running Shelley Moore Capito is our best bet at the moment. We don’t have any other statewide officeholders, and all the rest are either Mayors or an underwhelming number of legislators.
That's how I read it, too.
But then I'm not a 'Rat lawyer; so, "official" interpretation will most likely differ.
Well said. God rest his soul.
Nope..the EP did, and I'm trying to reconcile that with the widely held belief that only God knows--while it's proposed that FReepers act on that knowledge.
I am sure the WV economy will take a big hit with the Byrd sector closing its doors. The guy was good...getting a Coast Guard facility, for example!
Good catch!
And, RIP.
I think that the Governor will.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_687877.html
I also think that you’re right about Shelley Moore Capito. It’s too bad that Betty Ireland got tired of politics. Had she been reelected, I think she would have been the best choice.
May he find that big burning cross in the sky.
I am remembering how Gov. Manchin handled the recent coal mine accident... how, at the memorial service, he stood and personally spoke to, touched, and held the hands of family members of those miners killed... and how he led them past the useless POS president... and how the vast majority of those family members did not look at, speak to, or even acknowledge the useless POS president's presence at the memorial...
I have hope that the Senate seat will be filled by someone who will not rubber stamp the DC/Chicago 'Rat agenda.
So, he kicked the old sheet-covered bucket. Now he’s in God’s hands. I frankly can’t feel much empathy for an unrepentant terrorist. So, what is the political consequence here?
Another thing is that Manchin isn’t a young man (in his 60s), and he would be replacing the seniormost Senator as the juniormost in a body in which one needs years of service to obtain clout. I have to wonder if he wants to leave the Governorship at a time he has a lot more power and influence to be a total backbencher (and at a time when his party may be the minority come January). If he wants to be a center-right Senator, he’s also going to be thoroughly out of his element in DC as a Democrat. The irony is that he’d make a better Republican Senator than the likes of Kirk, Castle or the Maine Twins.
That’s a nice story. Thanks for sharing it.
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