GOP may be trying to spook Byrd from 2006 race

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

April 18, 2005
GOP may be trying to spook Byrd from 2006 race


By The Associated Press


The campaign against Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., has become a nearly incessant drumbeat, even though the election for his seat is more than 18 months away.

Almost daily, the National Republican Senatorial Committee pitches anti-Byrd story ideas or passes along examples of the media heeding its call. The 87-year-old West Virginia Democrat has become a recurring target, and not just for his gadfly stance against the Bush administration.

Byrd’s 52 years in Washington, D.C., his penchant for pork-barrel politicking and even his age have become fodder. And then there’s the Ku Klux Klan.
- advertisement-


Critics rarely pass on a chance to recall Byrd’s 1940s ties to the hate group. One columnist recently referred to him as “the Imperial Wizard of the U.S. Senate.” Hostile bloggers call him “Sheets.”

more at:
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200504182?pt=0

[LiberalFighter]

1. Who is the columnist? Another federally paid WH scumbag?

Well this is what I found out...

Mike North writes a regular op-ed column for six newspapers in the southeast Tennessee, northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama region. He is a professional land surveyor with True Line Company, Land Surveyors. He is a former Walker County School Board member and a student of history and political science. He can be reached at
[e-mail]

And the article he wrote

[Rose Siding]

2. Couldn't the AP get a single dem to return a call?

We have the RNC line and quotes from a poly sci type. Did the AP even BOTHER to call Dem? -Maybe shoot for that elusive "balance".

[truthisfreedom]

3. *yawn.* if the venerable Senator Byrd wants to, he'll wipe the floor with

'em.

[rainy]

4. They attack our most beloved the most viciously!

Sometimes they even kill them, Wellstone comes to mind. Once one is outspoken against this admin. they are attacked with full force and meanness. Barbara Boxer is next just watch what they will do to her. This is so sad.

[Voltaire99]

14. Just remember that next time Dean tells you Democrats need to...

...soften their rhetoric.

[davidinalameda]

22. Boxer just won re-election last year

she's fine

[TygrBright]

5. "They hate him for our freedoms"

Byrd has done more to defend the Constitution in the last five years than any hundred other individuals.

He's made himself a living barrier to the GOPpie tanks poised to roll over the Constitution.

Of course they hate his guts.

I already sent his re-election committee a check. I don't agree with him on everything-- he's still pretty conservative, for a Dem. But damn, there ain't no one else doing the job he's doing to keep the Constitution from being used (with impunity) as toilet paper in the Senate washroom. That's the most important job anyone can do.

You go, Senator! We gotcher back!

determinedly,
Bright

[Voltaire99]

15. Nice post (nt)

[renaissanceguy]

6. Does anyone notice the racist pun in the title

of this article?


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.14744291

[Fenris]

8. First thing I saw.

[Zhade]

17. Yes. What does that say about me as a person?

NT!

[Igel]

23. No, but your question made me check to see what other meanings

it has. For me, the noun spook is only 'ghost' or 'spy'.

Is it still in widespread use, or mostly historical or narrowly dialectal?

[last_texas_dem]

29. I think it's mostly out-of-date

At least where I live, and I live in probably one of the most racist parts of the U.S. (20 mi. from the KKK stronghold of Vidor, TX, and two hours south of Jasper, TX- where black James Byrd, Jr. was dragged to death from the back of a pick-up by three whites), I have never heard this term by the racist crowd.

I have heard it in old racist music and from reading pre-Civil Rights era to Civil Rights Era literature. I assumed it died down in usage during the sixties or seventies, but I'm not sure what I base that assumption on.

[last_texas_dem]

27. I thought the same thing

And though the article does discuss the Repugs trying to tie Byrd to past racism, I still don't quite get what the use of that term in the headline means...

[fishwax]

28. yeah, that's lovely

:puke:

[eriffle]

7. this is all wishful thinking...

No WV'ian will defeat Robert C. Byrd. Name one active politician in West Virginia who is a Republican that can do it? Capito can't if she runs, and she won't because her house seat is too important to the Republicans because a GOP win in the 2nd district without Capito isn't a given. The GOP is trying to scare Byrd from a fight, which won't work.

[rainy]

12. Depends on what kind of machines they will be using.

[eriffle]

13. As of 2004

Only two of West Virginia's 55 counties use touch screen voting for 100% of their ballots. Marion County (pop. 56,000) and Cabell County (pop. 95,000)use the touch screen system for all ballots, other counties including Monongalia (pop. 84,000) used touch screen machines for their early voting, but optical scan machines on election day. The county commission has not decided whether to invest in touch screens for the entire county. However, it is moot, it won't be close enough to steal. Byrd does too much for this state to vote him out. He has been around for so long and he vists the state so much personally that a lot of people have their own story about him, about a few words that they've been able to exchange with a man who is not only a senator but truly a legend.

[napi21]

9. I'm not worried about Byrd. If he wants to run, he'll win!

Bob is a fixture in W Va. The people of W Va won't vote aganist him. He's done a lot of great things for them! Sure, he got a lot of pork directed to that State. Because I don't live there, I don't like it, but I do respect the guy. He's one of the old Senate, and still believes he's there to uphold the Constitution!

Imagine that!!!!

[cap]

20. if any state deserves pork, it's WV...

free enterprise just doesnt naturally gravitate there. Without Federal spending, WV wouldnt have anything. Your pork is a poor state's dinner.

[dweller]

10. notice the subtle racist headline from the wvgazette?

:eyes:

i guess they are trying to boost circulation.

dp

[Judi Lynn]

11. They seethe with hatred for anyone who fills a Democratic seat.

Keeps them from having total control. It's only going to get worse.

As you know, their campaign against Paul Wellstone ended very satisfactorily for them. After taking the time to shreik and screech about Democratic behavior at his funeral,they gained that sub-human Norm Coleman, a real Walking Dead idiot made to serve them.

That's the way it's going to be until they have beaten down all resisistance, regardless of the consequences. They aim to CONTROL, like the complete anally fixated thrwarted human beings they are.

You may remember we started seeing the occassional freep @$$#### showing up here to allude to an association made over 60 years ago: a true blunder, admitted freely by the man. What's funny about the whole thing is that the people who are trying the hardest to nail an image on the man are themselves connected to the most vicious, racially violent political group in the history of the world.

With Republicans, they call people "terrorists" or "communists" or simply "suspected leftists" before they destroy them, their families, and their villages.

[BlueIris]

16. Good luck with that, GOP suckers.

I love Byrd. He's a badass.

[Zhade]

18. ...except when he votes to fuck over the working class and poor.

Bankruptcy bill. SHAME!

[Judi Lynn]

19. Maybe he secretly had a stroke! It just didn't seem like him.

Out of curiosity, went looking for a photo of a younger Byrd. Discovered Free Republic has floated at least two different photoshopped Bryd images in a Klan outfit.

As if they dare to pretend they aren't vicious racists themselves. Amazing.



Younger Byrd.

[struggle4progress]

21. kick

[KoKo]

24. Byrd was a "gadfly" against Bush? WHAT???

:wow: Gadfly?

[SharonAnn]

25. Why don't we have some younger people in line for this seat?

It looks like we're up to Senator Byrd or GOP. Why is that? What are we doing to our up and coming talent? Do we kill them off? Do we prevent them from rising?

[nickshepDEM]

26. Byrd alive and kicking gets 70% of the vote. Dead Byrd gets 75%.

No worries.

[GetTheRightVote]

30. Sen Bryd has he bad days too, but mostly good

I like most of Bryd's comments and votes, anyone can have a can so great day as well.

:kick: