It's a mistake he has paid for time and again, the only significant scandal ever attached to a man who grew up in Wolf Creek Hollow and who next June stands to become the longest-serving senator in U.S. history.I would hardly say it's the "only significant scandal."
After all, it was just in 1991 the Senator was quoted as saying,
"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 has recently been his party's most vociferous defender of the filibuster, and his more than 14 hour use of the filbuster in fighting the 1964 Civil Rights act is a classic example of that cherished right of the minority, an example that understandably the Senator chose not bring up during the recent debate.
After the Senator had supposedly quit the Klan, Byrd opposed integration of the armed forces, not wishing our country to be "degraded" by "race mongrels". The Senator also wrote a letter in 1946 telling a Grand Wizard that the Klan was "needed today as never before."
So it's fair to say the Senator hasn't exactly had a scandal-free career after being an organizer and an officer in a racist paramilitary organization responsible for murder and racial intimidation. It could be argued that the white sheets and burning crosses were put away, but never the racism that fueled the midnight lynchings and cross burnings.
As for the Senator's role in the Klan, instead of asking the Senator how many billions of wasted money has he sent to West Virginia, someone should ask Senator Byrd, "So exactly just how much blood is on your hands?"
