R.I.P. Robert Byrd

**Papasito** · June-28-10, 06:57 AM

Ex-Clansman Senator Robert Byrd [[D) is meeting his maker.
One less white sheet will be filled by a racist bigot.

Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan when he was 24 in 1942. His local chapter unanimously elected him the top officer of their unit.[8]

According to Byrd, a Klan official told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd later recalled, "suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did."[8] Byrd held the titles Kleagle [[recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops.[8]

In 1944, Byrd wrote to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo:[14]

“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... 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.”

— Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo [[D-MS), 1944,

When running for the United States House of Representatives in 1952, he announced "After about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization. During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan." He said he had joined the Klan because he felt it offered excitement and was anti-communist.[8] However, in 1946 or 1947 he wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard stating, "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

Today the world is a better place.

Sen. Byrd, longest-serving member of Congress, dies
Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a fiery orator versed in the classics and a hard-charging power broker who steered billions of federal dollars to the state of his Depression-era upbringing, died Monday. He was 92.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37959947...s-capitol_hill

**TKshreve** · June-28-10, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by Papasito

Ex-Clansman Senator Robert Byrd [[D) is meeting his maker.
One less white sheet will be filled by a racist bigot.

Today the world is a better place.

Way to show your true colors. Here's a clip from a Fox story. Looks like the late senator showed some remorse for his actions in the 1940's.

Byrd threw his support behind Barack Obama a week after the then-senator lost the West Virginia Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign -- an endorsement that symbolized the shift in his views on race.
Once a member of the Klu Klux Klan, it was the defining moment in his lifelong effort to convince the American public of his changed views on race.
"I have done my best to do the right thing," Byrd said during a March 2005 interview with FOX News, during which he was questioned about his KKK membership in the early 1940s.
"The people of West Virginia know that. They know the history. And they put it aside. They continue to return me. I was wrong, as many young men are wrong today, even when they join groups. That's all in the past," Byrd said.
Byrd characterized himself as a "born-again" Christian whose views on race were changed by "time, reflection and the teachings of the Bible."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010...-senator-dies/

Love the fact that you celebrate the death of someone. Stay classy.

**Papasito** · June-28-10, 08:31 AM

Looks like the late senator showed some remorse for his actions in the 1940's.

Love the fact that you celebrate the death of someone. Stay classy.

Murderers and Rapists are sometimes sorry too.
I guess that makes them good people!
Im truly sorry I insulted the former KKK member that you so passionately defend.
Shame on me.

**Sstashmoo** · June-28-10, 08:57 AM

30-40 years ago, racial tensions were high on both sides of the spectrum. Should we condemn all these people for their past alignment with societal attitudes of the day?

What stance are we all taking now that could be held against us later?

littlebuddy · June-28-10, 10:11 AM

Jesus said that to hate someone in your heart is the same as murder and to lust after someone is the same as adultery. Who hasn't hated or lusted? Forgivness goes a long way when someone repents and turns away from what they have thought,said, or done.

**gnome** · June-28-10, 10:59 AM

Someone with a higher pay grade will decide about Byrd and his former friends in the KKK; but I will say that Mr. Byrd never lost his taste for pork. If you ever happen to venture through West Virgina, you can't drive 50 feet without driving over Byrd Bridge, past the Byrd Building while driving on Byrd Highway. The sad part is that for all the pork, Mr. Byrd was never successful at pulling the residents of West Virgina out of some of the worst poverty in America.

Oh, yeah, he loved coal companies, especially the ones that practice 'topping' montains. So before everyone gets all warm and fuzzy over the man, consider his record of marginal accomplishments.

**gibran** · June-28-10, 11:36 AM

littlebuddy for once I really think we agree on the premise of something...I am not here to judge the sincerity of Byrd's heart...but actions and repetence followed by forgiveness...is a sound psychological construct.

I wish all KKK" rs give up their disgusting ways and seek forgiveness as well as any other extremist hate mongers. We need to see the humanity in each of us before we see the alternatives form some of us.

**Mikeg** · June-28-10, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by littlebuddy

Jesus said that to hate someone in your heart is the same as murder and to lust after someone is the same as adultery. Who hasn't hated or lusted? Forgivness goes a long way when someone repents and turns away from what they have thought,said, or done.

Back in 2001, Senator Byrd said that his mom had told him much the same thing, but he included some additional words when he tried to make his point about race relations in the USA:

"My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

Senator Byrd must have been one of those cowards that Attorney General Eric Holder was talking about.

**Detroitej72** · June-28-10, 01:20 PM

It's kind of humorous that cons here are slamming a fellow con upon his death, all because he had a "D" next to party affiliation. You folks are showing that you value party loyalty over political ideology.

**Papasito** · June-28-10, 01:27 PM

If this guy was a Republican white trash former KKK racist, this thread would have gone a completely different direction.

Because, after all, if you're a Democrat, you clearly can't be a racist or in the KKK. And if you are, or were, then you must have been confused and deserve forgiveness and a second chance.

Out of all the good people between our borders, how do we keep ending up with such garbage [[Democrat and Republican) people running the show?

**Sstashmoo** · June-28-10, 02:09 PM

Quote: "Because, after all, if you're a Democrat, you clearly can't be a racist"

In reality, it was democrats that denied blacks equal rights, right after the abolition of slavery.

**Papasito** · June-28-10, 03:03 PM

In reality, it was democrats that denied blacks equal rights, right after the abolition of slavery.

I know this and you know this, but history is in the process of being rewritten for the general public to forget these facts.

**Detroitej72** · June-28-10, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by Papasito

If this guy was a Republican white trash former KKK racist, this thread would have gone a completely different direction.

The man was clearly racist in his past, and I call them what they are, regardless of party affiliation. Nobody ever said Republican's have a monopoly on hatred and ignorance.

I pointed out the man for what he really was, as conservative, but most ditto heads think you can't be a con with a "D" next to your name.

**Sstashmoo** · June-28-10, 03:38 PM

Quote: "The man was clearly racist in his past, and I call them what they are,"

No forgiveness for past transgressions? The man obviously changed his opinion over time.

**Detroit Stylin** · June-28-10, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

Quote: "The man was clearly racist in his past, and I call them what they are,"

No forgiveness for past transgressions? The man obviously changed his opinion over time.

Thats becuase his name wasnt Strom Thurmond.....

**Detroitej72** · June-28-10, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

Quote: "The man was clearly racist in his past, and I call them what they are,"

No forgiveness for past transgressions? The man obviously changed his opinion over time.

Reread my post. That's why I said past. He changed his mind apparently, in regards to white supremacy, despite what Republican's indoctrinate folks to think..

My point is, the man was clearly conservative in his ideology, from early years, up until his death.

Thus I pointed out the hypocrisy of Repub's and their bashing of a fellow con, just because he had a "D" next to party affiliation.

**TKshreve** · June-29-10, 08:14 AM

The man was clearly racist in his past, and I call them what they are, regardless of party affiliation. Nobody ever said Republican's have a monopoly on hatred and ignorance.

So, you would have no problem with me calling you a baby. Right?

After all that's what you were in the past.