One of my favorite targets is the senior Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd, about whom there is a nice little expose in the Washington Post. Here is a great excerpt:
The 770-page book is the latest in a long series of attempts by the 87-year-old Democratic patriarch to try to explain an event early in his life that threatens to define him nearly as much as his achievements in the Senate. In it, Byrd says he viewed the Klan as a useful platform from which to launch his political career. He described it essentially as a fraternal group of elites — doctors, lawyers, clergy, judges and other “upstanding people” who at no time engaged in or preached violence against blacks, Jews or Catholics, who historically were targets of the Klan.
His latest account is consistent with others he has offered over the years that tend to minimize his direct involvement with the Klan and explain it as a youthful indiscretion. “My only explanation for the entire episode is that I was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision — a jejune and immature outlook — seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions,” Byrd wrote.
The KKK- Just like a Rotary Club, but with costumes!
And yes, I know he has apologized, and no, I don’t care.
The ‘Exalted Cyclops,’ aka the Conscience of the SenatePost + Comments (73)