A Master of the Senate's Ways Is Still Parrying in His Twilight -NYT

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Lawmakers return to Washington on Monday after a two-week recess and the Senate is headed for a showdown over a Republican-led drive to end the minority Democrats' use of the filibuster in blocking President Bush's judicial nominees.

Mr. Byrd, the senior senator from West Virginia, is front and center in that fight, carrying the banner for his party and at the same time drawing the ire of conservatives outraged by his vocal defense of the filibuster.

Republicans hope to end judicial filibusters by changing Senate rules to prevent them - a move so explosive it has been dubbed "the nuclear option." Mr. Byrd, invoking Senate tradition and his beloved Constitution, is railing against it, drawing charges of hypocrisy from Republicans who say that when he was leader, he initiated some artful rules changes of his own.

"Such a sweet old man," Senator Rick Santorum said sardonically in an interview. Mr. Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican who ranks third in his party's leadership, went on: "Facts are facts, and the fact is Senator Byrd has singularly used this tactic more than any other leader in the United States Senate. To come in and feign outrage over a technique of which he was the master is even a little much for senators to swallow."

http://nytimes.com/2005/04/03/politics/03byrd.html?hp&ex=1112504400&en=5ab4574f909f8584&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[joanski01]

1. You go, Senator Byrd.

And you can just shut up, Senator Rick Santorum (one of my Senators). Facts are facts, yes, but lies are lies, and your administration and told more lies than I could ever imagine.

[Straight Shooter]

2. "Such a sweet old man."

Isn't Santorum supposed to be, uh, religious or something? Shouldn't he show a bit more respect for his elders, and especially his intellectual superiors?

Man-dog Santorum is a fool and a tool.

[femme.democratique]

3. Um, Santorum said "swallow" bet he does alot of that....