Why doesn't anyone bring up "Senator Pork?"

[Archae]

That's what Robert Byrd was, for decades.
West Virginia would get half the highway money, the rest of the country would get the other half.

When ABC news tried to ask Byrd about this, he refused to answer and ran off.
Then on the Senate floor threw a snitfit about ABC's news department.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. What are you talking about? When did this happen?

[Archae]

8. Just Google "Senator Robert Byrd pork."

Here's the first URL that pops up.

http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_byrddroppings

[AngryOldDem]

17. Seriously? You mean to tell me that you never heard that before? n/t

[panader0]

2. Well, I got shit on for pointing out his previous Klan membership

But there's much more. He is strongly anti-gay, he is the only Dem to have voted for censorship of Clinton, he voted against Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, but for John Roberts, and the list goes on and on and on.
But to point out the facts makes some here at DU uneasy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. So let's stomp on him

Maybe he'll die quicker.

[panader0]

7. Pointing out facts is not"stomping" on anyone

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Maybe in your hood

In mine, it's rude and uncalled for.

[Name removed]

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[TheDebbieDee]

19. Over-react much?

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Same reply to me to another post in this thread

Alert is our friend. :)

[Name removed]

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[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Bye!

:hi:

[SunnySong]

45. Yeah I afraid a little of the "enthusiasm" from the Cheney threads has spread over. nt

[KonaKane]

6. No, you got shit for shitting on his good accomplishments in the rest of his career

by failing to get past something he said when he was 24.

[panader0]

11. Please read the wiki article

His "transformation" did not include efforts to make gay marriage illegal permanently, or many other things.
It is my belief that his rejection of the Klan was for political expediency mainly.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. His speech against invading Iraq made up for all of that, IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzlLU9Uxvdc&feature=related

[Name removed]

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[KonaKane]

23. OK, what families were lynched by his Klan chapter, and if there are any....

what does Robert Byrd have to do with it?

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. Poster won't be replying

I love this new DU rule. Once you have a post deleted, you can't post any more in that thread.

[mopinko]

41. not in force yet, just fyi

hasn't been added to programming

[KonaKane]

26. Oh now you're jumping to GLBT rights. Let's stay focused....

first you excoriate him for once belonging to the KKK, willing to shit on a long and pro-Democratic career in Congress in which he not only apologized for his stance as a young man but endlessly worked in the cause of civil rights and against racism. Check.

Now you want to shift the focus to his record on gay rights. So which is it? What does one have to do with the other?

[Archae]

16. I got slammed for pointing out what a racist pig Jesse Helms was, when he died.

On another message board the right-wingers jumped all over me for pointing out Jesse Helm's racism.

Senator Russ Feingold deserves accolades.
Byrd rode his Father's vicious racism into office, and set records for grabbing pork for his state.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Jesse Helms was still a racist pig when he died

There's a pretty significant difference here.

[Dappleganger]

36. Just pull the effing plug on him, will you??

Why are you waiting all this time to rail against him, or is it just easier to do it while the man is probably on his death bed and can't defend himself.
Aren't you BRAVE!

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Because he is ill and it wouldn't be polite

That's why no one has brought it up.

[demtenjeep]

5. proud to be

havn't you kind of figured out this is the Dems can't do anything right forum?

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Yes it is on some days, isn't it?

[demtenjeep]

12. sadly

most days it seems.

[panader0]

15. Because he's a Democrat? Cheney's fair game I noticed.

Or does your politeness stop at party lines?

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Please do a search and find one post where I have trashed Cheney since he was hospitalized

I'll wait.

[AngryOldDem]

24. Don't be disingenuous.

You know what the poster is saying. If Byrd were a Republican this site would be piling on about his record, especially in his early years in the Senate. DU has not necessarily been known for its compassion at the passing of those whose views/values we don't share.

We just can't conveniently gloss over the unsavory parts of Byrd's record because they're -- well -- inconvenient.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. But Byrd is not a republican

And I have no control over what others post. I can merely comment when I find it tasteless. As I found this poster's comments today.

[AngryOldDem]

43. But it's okay to call Jesse Helms a racist pig.

I have no doubt that Helms was a racist. But "pig" could also be construed by some as tasteless, although not here, obviously. But I guess it all depends on what side of the aisle you're on.

And really, I saw nothing inflammatory in the OP. Just pointing out a well-known fact about Byrd's tenure in the Senate. Since then, others have brought up other things about his record. All of that is open to discussion, or should be. It's a part of his legacy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. Because he was

[KonaKane]

28. Have you checked the title of this website lately?

It says DemocraticUnderground.com. Senator Byrd has been a long time Democrat who has devoted a majority of his life to most of the causes that we value here: anti-racism, anti-war, pro-working person.

Please list all those virtues with Cheney, and show me why I owe politeness to Cheney in the least.

[saracat]

What colossal bad taste it is to mock a very sick possibly dying old man

he wasn't always perfect but he is one of the greats. This lack of "respect" and empathy for anyone but themselves is what I find most appalling from some who claim to be Democrats.

[Archae]

27. "Great" at what?

Besides grabbing pork for West Virginia?

[saracat]

29. Protecting the constitution? And you have read his speech on Iraq?

A little prespective might be in order. Mocking the Grand old man of the senate at this point is totally classless.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. I remember posts here mocking Teddy Kennedy when he was ill

Downright disgusting. Those folks can find discussion boards all over the intertubes where that is okay. So they don't need to bring that garbage here.

[saracat]

37. I have no words to decsribe how revolting such behavior is.

What juvenile, uneducated vile human beings they are. Respect for others for some , seems to be a lost virtue.Yet those same folks demand it for themselves and their media created heros. Sigh.

[Archae]

40. One thing Kennedy will always have in his record.

Chappaquidick.(sp?)

All the good a person does, if they have a particularly black mark on their record it'll always be remembered.

[saracat]

25. Delete dupe

[SheilaT]

35. Wow! West Virginia would get half of the highway money!

That's impressive! They must have some mighty fine highways in West Virginia.

[NoPasaran]

38. One man's pork is another man's bacon

[theothersnippywshrub]

39. In which fiscal years did West Virginia "get half the highway money?"

[Name removed]

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