[NYC GOP Chick]

It's not namecalling, IMO -- it's a fact. It's not like calling him a leftist nitwit or old fool or any other well-earned name. The FACT is that he was a member of an organization whose sole purpose was to terrorize and kill other Americans, and I believe that cannot be ignored or put in the "let bygones be bygones bin."

What he did is heinous and I believe that what he says and does now can and should held up to that prism.

[Free ThinkerNY]

If Byrd was a Republican do you think they would let bygones be bygones? The Black Congressional Caucus members would be foaming at the mouth. They would crucify him and anyone who dared to defend him on the basis of, "it's all in the past. He's a changed man." The Lefty media would be digging up every bit of dirt on him they could find. Byrd, like Clinton, is one of them so they turn a blind eye to anything he's done.

[Terpfen]

Sure, it's a fact, but it's completely irrelevant to the topic of Bush's carrier landing. Byrd is wrong to lash out, but not because he was in the KKK: he's wrong because he's wrong.

I don't know, I just don't think it's practical to keep dismissing Byrd as a Kleagle. Eventually you have to start challenging his political ideas and statements. It's fine to keep his KKK membership in mind, but unless Byrd went out and burned crosses on the front lawns of the sailors on that ship, it really isn't relevant.