On April 1, 2004, on the floor of the United States Senate, Democratic senator Chris Dodd said the following about Senator Robert Byrd, who’d just cast his 17,000th roll call vote: “I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great senator at any moment. Some were right for the time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been right at any time. He would have been right at the founding of this country. He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution. He would have been right during the great conflict of Civil War in this nation. He would have been right at the great moments of international threat we faced in the 20th century. I cannot think of a single moment in this Nation’s 220-plus year history where he would not have been a valuable asset to this country. [emphasis added]
Reaction: Crickets chirping…
For those who don’t know, Byrd was a member of and recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s. Does “right at any time” include his KKK tour of duty? Why was Lott called out for toasting a man at a private party, but Dodd’s comments on taxpayer-funded time were ignored by MSM? But wait…there’s more.
In 2001, Byrd uttered these words on a cable news show: “There are white niggers. I’ve seen a lot of white niggers in my time.”
Reaction: Crickets chirping…
I couldn’t care less what Lott or Dodd or Byrd said, but the dirty double standard gets to me every time.
Some conservatives think Lott is the wrong choice to lead because of his “racially insensitive” remarks. Others believe he symbolizes a step backward for the GOP. If Lott is a step backward, is selecting John “I knew about Mark Foley’s obsession with underage House pages but did nothing about it” Boehner as House Minority Leader a giant leap toward the party’s future?
Reaction: Crickets chirping…