In a statement, Byrd said “I believe that Barack Obama is a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq, and to lead our nation at this challenging time in history.”

That’s quite a contrast from the Robert Byrd of old, who once kind of opposed the integration of whites and blacks in the military, saying “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.” Obviously the 1940’s Robert Byrd never could have imagined endorsing a black man to be Commander-In-Chief of all American forces.

I guess crazy things happen sometimes when you turn 91 years old and have served in the Senate longer than anyone in history-50 years. Suffice to say, the Super Delegate count is looking bleaker and bleaker for Hillary Clinton-despite winning Robert Byrd’s racist state by 41 points last week.

photo credit: flickr creative commons

Post from: Sirened

It’s not a bad idea for Hillary to stay in the race because who knows, Barack could get assassinated or something, especially having to campaign in West Virginia and Kentucky, not exactly bastions of any kind of progressive thinking. Besides, those states are Hillary country, filled with lots of “Joe six packs” and she is leading Barack by a zillion points there.

So let’s have a look at West Virginia this week, specifically democratic senator Robert Byrd. Robert Byrd is the democratic version of Strom Thurmond when he was alive before dying at the ripe old age of a thousand. At 91 years old, Byrd is currently the longest serving member of the Senate, having represented West Virginia since 1959. He is also a former Klu Klux Klan member and get this, he is President pro tempore of the Senate making him third in line to the presidency behind Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi!

Senator Byrd was in the KKK during the 40’s and deeply opposed the integration of blacks into the army saying “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.” Yikes! He also said “I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side.”

While Byrd left the KKK, he opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While Byrd has apologized for these things, it was only a few years ago that on the Senate floor he said “there are white niggers. I’ve seen a lot of white niggers in my time.”
Congratulations on what will be a landslide victory in West Virginia on Tuesday Senator Clinton!

photo credit: my personal collection 

Post from: Sirened