Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (113285)	6/13/2009 1:57:05 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542147

Fortunately most of the KKK crowd have died off, and Byrd should have been shipped out to pasture long ago. He is a ridiculous dinosaur just taking up space where a vibrant, younger senator could get something done apart from getting his name slapped on anything that doesn't run away first. But let's not forget Trent Lott and his loving adoration of Strom Thurmond. He was only the Senate Majority Leader at the time. If it makes you feel any better, Obama ran poorly in the primaries in Byrd country, all over Appalachia where some of those attitudes still prevail. My first solution is term limits, 12 years for anyone in elected federal office, period. Short of that, mandatory retirement from Congress at 80, period.

To: greenspirit who wrote (113285)	6/13/2009 1:59:51 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542147

A big mistake. He should have clung to his beliefs and become an R, instead of changing his beliefs and staying with us. We are too tolerant. Shudda told him we don't want people who change. Mama don't 'llow no mind changing around here. He is a weak person. Why did we let him stay? What a wimp. Never say you are wrong. What About Byrd? Unlike Thurmond, he renounced his racist past. By Timothy Noah Posted Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002, at 2:28 PM ET Since posting an item pointing out that, contrary to Washington legend, Strom Thurmond never renounced his segregationist past, Chatterbox has been inundated with rude e-mails. The theme of these e-mails is: What about former Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd? Byrd, a Democrat who still represents West Virginia, belonged to the Ku Klux Klan when he was a young man. Past membership in the Klan is heavier moral baggage than past advocacy of segregation. But Byrd, unlike Thurmond, renounced his youthful participation in a racist cause. See, for example, this exchange with CNN's Bernard Shaw in Dec. 1993: Q: What has been your biggest mistake and your biggest success? A: Well, it's easy to state what has been my biggest mistake. The greatest mistake I ever made was joining the Ku Klux Klan. And I've said that many times. But one cannot erase what he has done. He can only change his ways and his thoughts. That was an albatross around my neck that I will always wear. You will read it in my obituary that I was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Contrast that with an interview Thurmond gave Joseph Stroud of the Charlotte Observer in July 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his presidential bid on the segregationist Dixiecrat ticket. Asked if he wanted to apologize, Thurmond said, "I don't have anything to apologize for," and "I don't have any regrets." Asked if he thought the Dixiecrats were right, Thurmond said, "Yes, I do." Thurmond said this four years ago! slate.com