Sen. Robert Byrd has endorsed Obama:
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., endorsed Barack Obama for president shortly after noon today, focusing on his hope to end the Iraq War.
“As people all across this great nation know, I have been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Bush administration’s misguided war in Iraq and its saber rattling around the globe,” Byrd said.
He said he had “no intention of involving myself in the Democratic campaign for President in the midst of West Virginia’s primary election. But the stakes this November could not be higher.”
Byrd praised both Obama and Hillary Clinton, saying their “integrity, honor, love for this country and strong belief in our Constitution I deeply respect…
“Barack Obama is a noble-hearted patriot and humble Christian, and he has my full faith and support,” Byrd concluded.
This is a hugely significant event, not so much in this campaign, but as a bookend to a career that began in 1942 when Robert Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan. Byrd went on to oppose racial integration of the armed forces, famously writing to Mississippi Governor Theodore Bilbo in 1945:
“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.”
Byrd personally filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for 14 solid hours and voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This shameful record has prevented me from ever having warm feelings for Sen. Byrd. I did appreciate his strong principled stand against the invasion of Iraq and I have long respected his knowledge of and love for the Constitution and Senate rules and procedures, but Byrd was strongly on the wrong side of history at a critical time, and I have a hard time forgiving him. In 2005, Byrd remarked:
“I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times… and I don’t mind apologizing over and over again. I can’t erase what happened.”
Indeed, he cannot erase what happened, but what better way to atone for his racist past than to endorse Barack Obama less than a week after his state showed extreme racial resistance to Obama’s campaign in voting for Clinton by a 41-point margin?
In making this decision, Sen. Byrd has made the ultimate repudiation of his racist and segregationist past. A former Exalted Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan who filibustered the Civil Rights Act for fourteen hours has just endorsed a black man with Kenyan roots, the very kind of “race mongrel, [and] throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds” that Byrd once promised to “die a thousand deaths” to prevent from degrading ‘Old Glory’. Who can deny the extreme symbolic significance for this endorsement? Sen. Byrd has now truly and wholly repudiated his past, and his legacy will be much redeemed for this act of principle.
Sen. Byrd has a long and colorful bast to say the least. I am glad he has continued to repudiate his mistakes in the past and endorsed Barack Obama. I guess some old dogs can learn new things and that is a good thing. It gives me added hope for America.
Bookend is a the perfect word to describe what we’re witnessing. I have the same feelings about Byrd that you have and I’m glad to have witnessed this very public and significant repudiation of his disgusting past.
“Who can deny the extreme symbolic significance for this endorsement?”
Oh, I’m sure the geniuses at Talk Left and No Quarter can come up with some way to deny it.
Byrd is just supporting obama because it makes him feel better about his racism, or something equally craptacular.
yep, as though he shouldn’t feel guilty and can’t mitigate his sins.
No, no, no. Byrd is clearly racist because he supports Obama. If he was really seeking to atone for his racism, he would endorse the first black woman candidate, the wife of the real first black President – Hillary Clinton! Duh!
I’d hope this endorsement could have been earlier timed. Nevertheless, I welcome it. Senator Byrd’s stand on the Constitution has made amends.
Then there’s Al Gore fence sitting musing his best efforts are to unite both factions..fundraise:
TPM:
Al Gore Hosting Major Fundraising Event For DNC Uniting Clinton And Obama Donors
Politically, historically, ethically, morally, democratically it sure is better late than never. Kudos to Senator Byrd for finally seeing the light and the right way to go.
Viva Byrd. Viva Obama.
The significance will be learned after the presidential election.
But needless to say, this is about tight as you can slice a 180 degree angle. Byrd, going from KKK aspirant to advocate of a Black man’s candidacy for the presidency is just tremendous, especially in the context of the West Virginian politics we just experienced in the WV primary. Hopefully, Byrd by this act will convince West Virginians to stop voting for the rich man’s party and understand that their best hopes are with a Democrat of any color.
We are getting there, slowly but surely.
I’m inclined instead to bow in respect to Obama’s abilities to set platforms that encourage reconciliation. Pretty powerful stuff.
Isn’t that something? Given his history, this is breathtaking…or getting right with God or the spiritual being of your choice…or karma/law of the universe/arc of justice.
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Put in practise what is preached … all men are created equal!
The significance of his endorsement is not of color, rather he is motivated by the error in the decision to go to war and the trampling by Republicans (and Democrats alike) of the Constitution of the United States of America. Senator Byrd just voted for CHANGE in the broadest sense of Washington politics. Checks and Balances need to be restored in the Legislative and Judicial system.
Senator Byrd’s Speech Opposing Iraq War – March 19, 2003
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."While it would be nice to sit here and wax poetic on the redemption of racists, I ask myself a couple of questions;
NEVER, EVER forget the the KKK were murderers and terrorists. There were still lynchings going on when Byrd joined them, which means he agreed that MURDER was a legitimate method of population suppression. He was a PUBLIC FACE of that. It takes a lot more than an apology (or a thousand) to make up for that. It takes a resignation and a withdrawal from the public … THIRTY YEARS AGO.
Byrd is no sign of ‘progress’. He is a sign that we will NEVER recover until types like him are carved from the body politic. He is a sign of how sick this country is, and how far we yet have to go.
It’s funny how so many progressives say we should never forgive those who were wrong about Iraq, and never give them a another public chance to influence policy, and should have trials, even if it takes twenty years. But Byrd? Let’s make room for him at the table.
He was wrong on the greatest social justice issue this country ever had, and only changed his mind AFTER he lost. There is no coming back from that.
He’s disgusting, and he should go away. And if he won’t do that, he should be ignored.
nalbar
“Grand Poobah” was already taken, I guess.
Oh Lord, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Especially when I thought about this as I read Grand Poobah.
My mother was born in Mississippi in the 1920s. When I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties we’d all pile into our Studebaker and drive down there from New Jersey for summer vacations. I was pretty young, it was in the early sixties. I remember when we crossed the state line into Mississippi there was what they called a “welcome wagon.” It was essentially a road block by the state police. They pulled over people with northern license plates. I wasn’t aware of the whole freedom rider thing that was going on then, I was just a kid sitting in the back of a Studebaker.
They let us go through, er, welcomed us.
During the visit there was a big family picnic and my job was to take empty cups and refill them with beer from keg. If I filled up the cups too fast they would foam up and I’d sip the foam before it spilled over, and being a little kid just sipping the foam got me a little drunk. Over on the side there were some second cousins chatting up and one was bragging that the FBI had come to investigate him because he’d bought dynamite to blow up tree stumps and they were investigating the blowing up of a black church. Not that he blew up the church but it was a kind of sick badge of honor that the FBI had questioned him. I didn’t know the specifics of the case, but I knew blowing up churches wasn’t good.
If I’m estimating correctly, that was probably 1963 and I would have been 12 that summer. I had no real understanding about racism or all this stuff happening around me.
On that trip we went to the zoo in Jackson. I remember everyone sitting at a picnic table. I was thirsty and there was a long line at the water fountain, so I went over to the one where there wasn’t a line. When I got back to the picnic table my grandmother started scolding me for using the “colored” water fountain. I asked her, “The water comes from the same place, right?” She didn’t have any answer. If only all racism could be answered as easily.
Mississippi, and a lot of America was like Byrd was back then. Since then a lot of people have died and a lot of people have changed. It’s never perfect, but it’s better than it was. And it can get better.
I’m not wearing rose-colored glasses here, just saying that progress was made. Not enough, but some. And that someone like Byrd was can endorse Obama means another step in the right direction.
Thanks for the eloquent story. We all have so far to travel yet and need to remember how far we’ve already come.
Take this for what it is worth, but considering his illness and his short longevity on this earth, I think it is what he has to do to make it right with his God. I have met the man and I think he is truly sorry for his actions of the past and has seen the light and has to make amend to what he has done in the past for the future of our country. I am not one who loves racism, but he has truly atoned today and I feel proud for him in making this move…I am sure it was the best way for him and we have to respect that. I think it will either make a difference or it won’t. We will see soon enough.
I agree with Booman on the script written here. NO matter what side one is on, one has to let bygones be bygones in order to move onward and forward to the better of things. My honest prayer is that we all think of this and let our hearts of hearts become peaceful and reverse the hurtful ways of thinking and acting…
NO matter who one is they do bleed and they have faults and do not always do the right thing in life…I can personally attest to that one. I just hope and pray I am not held accountable for the entire of my life even after a firm and sincere apology.
You see this is what Sen. Obama is saying to each of us.
Can you not see this in his rhetoric??!! Of this I do respect him for that, even if I didn’t like him as my candidate or not. We all have to get beyond this feeling bitter and hateful…Leave that to the republicans to deal with in their lives…The bush crowd has an awful lot to atone for in their lives before they pass on to where-ever one is to go, ow however they should believe for eternal rest. I doubt bush will for he is that spiteful and will remain so for the rest of his life. ;o( So very sad. He is after all human like the rest of us. I hope he never gets a good nights sleep ever again after all he has done to our country and the world. He is truly the most evil man ever to live on the earth that share the heads of the table with all evil ppl. Not only the deaths of our service ppl but the civilians of our country as well as all over the world with his bad politics and his maneuvers of spite and hate.
Geez, I ahve been wanting to say that for the most long time..now I feel some better….thanks for letting me spout off….hugs to all.
I understand your feelings, and to some extent agree that his past actions are unforgiveable. And his "change" would be a lot more valid if it hadn’t come after losing on the issue, and didn’t involve a great deal of perks, like continuing to get elected to a very esteemed and powerful position.
Was/Is his tranformaton sincere and would it have been made if he didn’t have a lot to gain? Who knows?
Nonetheless, it was public, involved a good bit on contrition and serves as a very significant model for others. IIRC, others like Thurmond did not "change" nearly as much.
So I’m willing to give Byrd the benefit of the doubt. He’s done a lot of good since.
Finally, if we don’t recognize and reward change, even when its clearly self-serving, how can we serve to foster it?
I say give the guy his due and, in doing so, make sure everyone knows the whole history his life story contains.
I have no problem with Senator Byrd, and haven’t had a problem with him for at least a decade. To me, he makes up for his past with his voting record – a pretty good NAACP score for most of the last decade or so.
recc’d for great writing, not for total agreement.
boo, that’s some great history-blogging…
thanks for the other soulful posts as well.
best thread i ever read here…
I noticed the word “Christian” being placed prominently in there. I hope the good folks of West Virginia are listening.
Point well taken, Boo. (I personally DO have warm feelings for Sen. Byrd, precisely BECAUSE of the distance he’s traveled, his profound knowledge and respect for the Constitution, the fact that’s he’s universally acknowledged as THE expert on the rules of the Senate, has written many books including one on the history of the Roman empire, and (as reported by many) a really fine country fiddler.)
As a strong supporter of the coal industry of his state, his environmental record hasn’t been too good.
However, there are two points that remain to be mentioned.
You have to consider Byrd’s endorsement not only in light of his (rather distant at this point) past, but also in terms of last week’s primary vote in his state, and the racism that is to a large extent behind it.
And there’s something else, too. When Hillary first entered the Senate, Byrd was her mentor. At the time, the spin was all “gravitas… gravitas… “, “she wants to really learn the ways and traditions of the Senate”, etc.
But Sen. Byrd took the heroic role as the leader in the Senate against the looming Iraq invasion. He knew what was happening.
We all know how Hillary voted on that one. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when she discussed this issue in private with Byrd, assuming she did.
No doubt her supporters would say this proves that, as a woman, she shows her independence from following a man in a position of authority. Positively heroic of her.
As usual, Taylor Marsh is having a hissy fit. “Byrd is an ass. Hillary won his state by a huge margin. He should have respected the voters. I think this is all about money.”