Robert Byrd knew, and he told us, but no one listened.

[Scuba]

[Autumn]

1. I miss that man.

K/R

[MichiganVote]

2. He sure did. I recall watching him with his little constitution book.

[rhett o rick]

3. He was right. nm

[olddots]

4. It takes a great person to see the truth

he was so special coming from being a bigot to see what other others hide from .

[tk2kewl]

5. common wealth really gets in the way when you want to rule the world

[WillyT]

6. HUGE K & R !!!

[dsc]

7. On this he was like that broken clock

he was right twice a day.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

9. Byrd started out awful, but evolved into a great statesman

One of the final act of his senate career was calling for an end to "Don't ask, don't tell"
Quite an evolution in tolerance for a guy who was in the klan 70 years prior.

[dsc]

10. ah that is more than a little bit over blown

He was the last Democratic hold out on armed services and he is the reason that it wasn't replaced with a legal right to serve granted by Congress. His gay rights record was horrible down to almost the bitter end.

[Daniel537]

24. He was right on most issues when you look at his record. n/t

[dsc]

26. No

He voted against Thurgood Marshall, he voted against the civil rights act, the voting rights act, he not only voted for the Constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality he sponsored it and he gave an hour address in its favor, and his enviromental record is a horror story.

[bread_and_roses]

33. Thank you. I've never understood "good offsets bad" political accounting ...

The good does not offset the bad in the real world. A right act here does not offset the bigotry or pollution there. The impact of the bigotry remains, the environmental destruction remains. Support for GLBT rights does not "offset" children blown to bits in Afghanistan/Pakistan/wherever. Am I happy to see our GLBT sisters and brothers finally beginning to get their rights? Of course. But the children are still dead.

[Maven]

40. Thank you.

[The Link]

37. Spot on. Even a racist and homophobe can be right on some issues.

Byrd is a great example of a broken clock.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

8. Second only to Ken Hechler as the finest politician to ever represent my state

His speech 10 years ago tonight is essential viewing when it comes to understanding the mistake of Iraq:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017106602

[Curmudgeoness]

11. That is incredibly insightful looking back from today.

Or maybe they all knew the direction things were going well before we did.

[senseandsensibility]

12. Well, no one in power listened.

I listened, and I'm sure that many DUers did.

[vankuria]

13. Read his book

"Losing America", about the Iraq invasion and he was right about everything. He also wrote about what a simple minded imposter GWB was and how he should never have been in any position of power, much less the presidency.

[malaise]

14. I'll never forget that speech

Rec

[arely staircase]

15. yep, he was right, we were all right

there were so many people who could see through this bullshit, just not enough.

[stlsaxman]

16. "Why are these chambers empty????!"

[Honeycombe8]

17. Smart man. nt

[ReRe]

18. A Statesman in the truest sense of the word.

K&R

... He knew what the future held down the road for this country, if we went into that preemptive war that the GWB cabal was pushing. Had been there, and done that. He was a wise old "Byrd," with decades of experience. RIP Robert Byrd. You was a true Patriot.

[abelenkpe]

19. He was right

Why do we allow this?

[KoKo]

20. BIG KICK for those who watched the BYRD/KENNEDY DEBATES

trying to KEEP US OUT OF THAT INVASION. RUNNING THRED here on Democratic Underground and it went on for DAYS!

[silvershadow]

21. He was right about that. So were many others of us, I am sure, back in 2002. Nothing has changed,

so of course the narrative is real-life now. Iraq was a colossal screwing to the tax payers, with very dear deference paid to our brave soldiers and families who served, 4,000+ who died, and many more who were wounded. God bless them all. But, yeah, it was a royal butt-humping in EVERY way. *Something happened, financially, that is actually almost unexplainable at this point, if <i>nobody</i> is able to take on anybody about anything. I'm still hoping and praying that at least some of the story gets busted out into the open. I want some big names to topple. Heads of banks. As in, every one who participated in fraud. CEO's of large wall st firms. Regulators if they failed to regulate. Restitutions. Restoration of EVERY victims credit rating. (And I'd really like to have my house back, along with the $70k+ that I allege was basically stolen from me thru a fraudulent economic endouver designed solely to prop up the Bush economy. It's ALL tied together. Bush was the worst, most miserable failure of a President this nation has EVER seen. Still to this day, every one of those people are out in the public domain, flapping their jaws as if they didn't cause this hell we are living in right now. I am praying the memory is so alive in the minds of all that we can continue to gain in 14 and win the White House in 16. That is my fervent prayer at this point in my life. I depend on SS and Medicare. And I can barely do it now, before chained CPI would hit. I'm only in my late 40's so the chained CPI I am pretty sure would affect me when I reach retirement age (whatever the hell they decide now, they will probably raise that too), I would switch from Disability to regular Social Security.

[Gemini Cat]

22. K&R

A great man who knew the cost for the current and future generations.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. No one listened to Bob Graham, either. He begged the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee...

I mean, literally BEGGED them to read the NIE. They refused!! That is why I could not support Hillary Clinton.

[elleng]

28. Right, the first to get my money for presidency.

The next and final: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgih5v_general-wesley-clark-considers-iraq-an-unnecessary-war_news#.UUkiOheyCfg

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

31. I will never forget Robert Byrd crying on the Senate floor, begging for debate on the matter.

I can't watch the video. It is emotionally devastating to me. Here we have this frail, humble man who begged the senators to consider reading the NIE.

I will also never forget Bob Graham's appearance on Meet the Press where he announced his retirement from politics, in large part, due to the failure of the Senate to consider the NIE. He also begged Kerry, Hillary, et al. to read the NIE. They refused.

I could not support Hillary because she couldn't even acknowledge the NIE, even when Kerry, Edwards, et al. did.

[John2]

36. Everyone keeps talking about Bush and the neocons

but they forget about the present Congress's top Nation Security priority now. Their interest in protecting Israel is as important now as protecting the United States of America. There is no ifs, ands or buts. Saddam Hussein was a problem to Israel and Netanyahu was just as big of an advocate for the U.S. to attack Iraq and talking nuclear capability of Iraq. Many Americans don't have the guts to criticize their policy on the same level with protecting this country but I'm not in Congress.

Protecting Israel at all costs is what is driving our Foreign Policy when it comes to the Middle East even if it meant starting illegal Wars to get rid of her enemies. I don't hate Jews and I'm not anti-semite. I'm a big believer in facts and history, so I certainly knew the Holocaust happened. Bur I know other peoples through World History has been persecutive also. The Nazis did not only persecute Jews but they raped and killed a lot of people in Russia when they invaded. That is why the Red Army took revenge on Germany and they didn't want to surrender to the Russians. It is very hard to separate emotions from rational thinking and our politicians sometimes uses that factor to play on people's emotions. Democratic politicians and Republicans both.

As to the matter of the Democrats, I think was more of them wanting to do something to gain the favor of Israel and the Jewish population within this country. That is what I think drives Clinton and Kerry both also. It is also the biggest reason now I disagree with President Obama and his Middle East Policy being exactly the same as George W. Bush and neocons. We are going down this same road with Syria and next will be Iran. WMD or nuclear weapons is not their goal. Their whole goal is nation building and regime change. When George W. Bush gave his State of the Union Address to Congress, he changed U.S. Foreign Policy to nation building ,spreading democracies friendly to (Israel), and the right for pre-empted strike. That was his whole address to the World, If you are not with Us then you are against US. Representatives of Foreign Governments allied to the U.S. was also in that chamber listening to the speech. And after that, no one or few people had the guts to stand up to George W. Bush.

And like I said, I read about past History. Adolph Hitler did the same with Germany. That night torture became acceptable as well. The Geneva Conventions after World War II was nullified. I disagreed with everything he said. He played on people's emotions and what they were feeling after 9/11. It was fear and anger. These are the same people that came into office on a disputed Election, many people thought was stolen. These people think they can control and dictate to the entire World, because they control the most mighty military in this entire World. There was another country and its leaders thought that also until the whole World united against them. The biggest threat to the United States is within. It is a threat to our Democracy and the few that censor speech. When politicians don't listen to the people. When you have hundreds and even thousands of nuclear weapons stockpiled, who in their right mind would fear a foreign invader. The reason we were attacked was because of our Foreign Policies, which is bias and creates Terrorists for us. If our foreign Policy is racist, intolerant and bias, then we need to correct it. And the rightwing Republican Party and Neocons are not the political machine to do so. And it appears the Democratic Party has no backbone or wants to be their image on some issues.

[JTFrog]

25. Anyone remember who interrupted his anti-war speech on the Senate floor?

Last edited Wed Mar 20, 2013, 08:41 AM - Edit history (3)

Anyone?

Anyone?

[elleng]

27. Yes, and others knew, too.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgih5v_general-wesley-clark-considers-iraq-an-unnecessary-war_news#.UUkiOheyCfg

[MinM]

29. JFK chides his friend Bob Byrd at the start of a Peace Speech 50 years ago...

[reteachinwi]

30. I listened.

[raouldukelives]

32. They would not listen, they're not listening still. nt

[MinM]

34. Ernie laughs, but no one listened.

[PETRUS]

35. Oh my... K&R

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. I watched that on the Span.

He was right.

Also saw Ron Paul on Special Orders call Neocons to task.

There were people who knew, on both sides, and tried to stop it.

[Initech]

39. The stupid Fox News/freeper crowd is always afraid that some bogeyman is going to take their money.

But it's not illegal immigrants, or welfare recipients, or the working poor. It's the assholes and warmongers who run the military industrial complex. The real enemy of the state.

[Maven]

41. Ron Paul opposed the war in Iraq too.

Since he also is wrong about pretty much everything else, I'm not going to celebrate him either. Nor should we act as though he, or Robert Byrd for that matter, was the only person who "knew" and "no one listened."

[JNelson6563]

42. Senator Carl Levin worked tirelessly too!

I remember watching these two men and very few others so passionately trying to get us to avoid this horrible error.

Julie

[fadedrose]

43. He's my Senator...and Debbie Stabinow voted against it too....nt

[Pterodactyl]

44. I'm not in the habit of listening to Klansmen.