Tres. Sec. O'Neill Hints at Byrd's Klan Past
An exchange between Treasury Sec. Paul O'Neill and Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) turned ugly on Thursday, with Byrd painting O'Neill as a product of privilege and O'Neill hinting at Byrd's Ku Klux Klan past.
During Senate hearings on the Bush administration's proposed budget, Byrd slammed O'Neill for criticizing a rule he had written that prohibits "extraneous matters" in budget and tax bills.
Byrd said his provision "has saved millions and millions of dollars for this government," then told O'Neill condescendingly, "You probably should have had a good study course in American history before you got here. With all respect to you, you're not Alexander Hamilton."
According to excerpts reported by Bloomberg News Service, O'Neill shot back, "I have dedicated my life to doing what I can for getting rid of rules that so limit human potential, and I'm not going to stop."
Then the Treasury Secretary suggested that Byrd's budget rule was as counterproductive as the segregation of the southern Democrat's youth. "We had rules that said, 'Coloreds don't enter here,' 'That was a man-made rule,'" O'Neill observed.
The comment seemed to make the former Ku Klux Klan Kleagle defensive, prompting him to excoriate the Treasury Secretary as a product of privilege.
"I grew up in a coal miner's home. I married a coal miner's daughter," Byrd lectured.
"I haven't walked in any corporate board rooms. I haven't had the millions of dollars in trust accounts. I hope you don't want to start down this road and talk about our backgrounds."
The octogenarian Senator's Klan past is considered off-limits by most of official Washington, as well as the mainstream press.
But by invoking memories of the segregation Byrd helped enforce, O'Neill likely rekindled memories of an embarrassing incident last March when the West Virginia Democrat twice uttered a racial slur against African-Americans during a nationally broadcast television interview.
"There are white n----rs. I've seen a lot of white n----rs in my time. I'm gonna use that word," Byrd told "Fox News Sunday."
The racist outburst came just moments after Byrd had acknowledged his Klan roots.
"We all make mistakes. I made a mistake when I was a young man. It's always been an albatross around my neck - joining the Ku Klux Klan."
newsmax.com
Byrd a great example of the need for term limits. Or competency tests. |
