Honoring Byrd

Monday, history was made in the Senate.
From The Washington Post:

Robert C. Byrd, a champion of classical oratory in the Senate and pork barrel spending back home, yesterday became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

The West Virginia Democrat marked his 17,327th day in the Senate by visiting his wife's grave and then listening to several colleagues praise his career. Uncharacteristically for a man who has rhapsodized about spring, Mother's Day and countless other topics in the Senate chamber, Byrd left the floor without speaking, struggling to maintain his composure.

"My darling wife, I just wish she had lived to see this day," he told reporters as he left. Erma Ora James Byrd, who died March 25, would have turned 89 yesterday.

Byrd, 88, eclipsed the late Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) in Senate tenure. He long has held the record for the most Senate votes cast, and Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said yesterday that he "has held more leadership positions than any other senator."

Yes, the great Senator Byrd now holds the record as the longest-serving senator.

To mark the occasion, let's stroll down memory lane.Michelle Malkin wrote an article in March 2001, detailing parts of the honorable Senator Byrd's past, parts that weren't honorable.

First, she discusses an appearance by Byrd on FOX News Sunday.

Malkin writes:

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."

The ex-Klansman, famed for Beltway blowhardism, should have quit talking a lot sooner. Why any prominent politician in his right mind would publicly and deliberately use the poisonous epithet "nigger" -- which most daily newspapers refuse to spell out, no matter the context -- is beyond comprehension.

Note that Byrd used the term "white niggers" during a television interview in 2001.
That's not ancient history. That was five years ago!

Political correctness was ruling public discourse by 2001; yet Byrd was given a pass.

Contrast that with how Ann Coulter is being treated by Dems, media libs, and assorted Leftist wingnuts.

She is currently being lynched for the things she says in her new book, Godless.

In New Jersey, elected officials are actually trying to ban her book.

The chill wind of censorship is blowing in New Jersey and blowing hard.
New Jersey Assemblywomen Joan Quigley and Linda Stender issued the following statement last Thursday:

"Ann Coulter's criticism of 9-11 widows, whose only desire since the attacks have been to repair their shattered lives and protect other families from the horrors they have experienced, is motivated purely by petty greed and hate.

"Her assertion that these women enjoyed watching their husbands die on national television is hateful, hurtful, and runs counter to every sentiment expressed since the September 11th tragedy.

"Coulter's vicious characterizations and remarks are motivated by greed and hern desire to sell books. By making these claims, she proves herself worse than those she is attempting to vilify - she is a leech trying to turn a profit off perverting the suffering of others.

"No one in New Jersey should buy this book and allow Ann Coulter to profit from her hate-mongering. We are asking New Jersey retailers statewide to stand with us and express their outrage by refusing to carry or sell copies of Coulter's book. Her hate-filled attacks on our 9-11 widows has no place on New Jersey bookshelves."

I'm not defending Coulter's comments.

I am pointing out that "vicious characterizations and remarks" are in the eye of the beholder.

Coulter gets attacked for her "hateful" statements and Byrd holds on to a U.S. Senate seat for 48 years.

Go figure.

It's also beyond comprehension that Byrd's Ku Klux Klan history has been excused by the Democrats.

Malkin continues:

The ex-Klansman's admirers praise his historical knowledge, mastery of procedural rules, and outspokenness. They refer to the Senate's senior Democrat as the "conscience of the Senate." They downplay his white-sheet-wearing days as a "brief mistake" -- as if joining the Klan were like knocking over a glass of water. Oopsy.

This ex-Klansman wasn't just a passive member of the nation's most notorious hate group. According to news accounts and biographical information, Sen. Byrd was a "Kleagle" -- an official recruiter who signed up members for $10 a head. He said he joined because it "offered excitement" and because the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values." Nothing like the thrill of gathering 'round a midnight bonfire, roasting s'mores, tying nooses, and promoting white supremacy with a bunch of your hooded friends.

The ex-Klansman allegedly ended his ties with the group in 1943. He may have stopped paying dues, but he continued to pay homage to the KKK. Republicans in West Virginia discovered a letter Sen. Byrd had written to the Imperial Wizard of the KKK three years after he says he abandoned the group. He wrote: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."

The ex-Klansman later filibustered the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act -- supported by a majority of those "mean-spirited" Republicans -- for more than 14 hours. He also opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices, liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas. In fact, the ex-Klansman had the gall to accuse Justice Thomas of "injecting racism" into the Senate hearings. Meanwhile, author Graham Smith recently discovered another letter Sen. Byrd wrote after he quit the KKK, this time attacking desegregation of the armed forces.

The ex-Klansman vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. 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."

So, we honor the honorable Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd.

The ex-Klansman.
The Kleagle.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act filibusterer.
The spewer of poisonous rhetoric.