Robert Byrd ‘Seriously Ill’: A Brief Discussion About W. Virginia Senate Seat Rules; Update: Byrd Dies
**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers
You may have heard today that West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd has been hospitalized and is described as “seriously ill.”
Byrd isn’t up for re-election until 2012, but because the 2010 and 2012 elections will probably carry even more weight than usual as to the ultimate direction of the country, I was curious about West Virginia’s election law in the event Byrd is unable to continue serving out the remainder of his term.
In West Virginia, the governor, in this case Democrat Joe Manchin, would appoint someone to fill Byrd’s seat. At that point, what happens next boils down to a matter of dates that are rapidly approaching.
The West Virginia Secretary of State’s website spells out the rules:
If the vacancy occurs less than two years and six months before the end of the term, the Governor appoints someone to fill the unexpired term and there is no election. If the vacancy occurs two years and six months or more before the end of the term, the Governor appoints someone to serve until the unexpired term is filled at the conclusion of the next candidate filing period, Primary Election, General Election and certification. The winner of that General Election fills the balance of the unexpired term. The election for the full term will be held as scheduled regardless of the date of the vacancy.
Steve Kornacki at Salon breaks down the dates:
As others have noted, the key date here is July 3 — next Saturday. Under West Virginia law, were a vacancy to be declared before then, an appointee would hold the seat through this November, when a special election would be held to fill the final two years on the term Byrd was elected to in 2006. The winner of that special election would presumably seek a full term in 2012. Were a vacancy to be declared after July 3, an appointee would hold the seat through the 2012 election, when the full six-year term would be up.
Kornacki also notes that the governor who would be making the appointment if Byrd is unable to continue has national political ambitions. Read Kornacki’s piece for a little more about what Governor Manchin might do.
A glance at Byrd’s laundry list of missed votes since late March is evidence that his Senate seat has in fact been mostly vacant for some time, so the odds that the seat would be declared “vacant” by next Saturday no matter what happens are very slim indeed — Especially if it behooves the Democrats to wait.
I wish Senator Byrd well. Lord knows I’ve disagreed with his politics and made more than a few cracks at his expense, but I never wish ill upon anybody, so I hope things turn out okay.
Update: In comments, ITookTheRedPill points out something I overlooked: Byrd is also President Pro-Tempore of the Senate. Third in line to the presidency — not that any person appointed as his successor would inherit that, of course.
Update II: The NY Times is reporting that Byrd has died.
Politico has more concerning West Virginia’s “murky” law governing how and when Byrd’s replacement will be chosen.
**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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These guys never know when to retire. Byrd’s mental acuity has been suspect for several years now. Who benefits from being represented by a sickly, arguably senile senator?
It is amazing how many people like Byrd and Thurmond hang in long after it is time to leave. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It plays out on a regular basis in Washington, DC…
+1
+1
And for this reason alone, Byrd should step down.
Note well that the Democrats always claim to fully support “Democracy”. Yet how many Democrats will encourage Byrd to step down before Saturday, so that a new senator can be elected Democratically THIS November instead of making the “small people” wait until November 2012?
I’m guessing that not a single prominent Democrat will step forward and publicly ask Byrd to step down before Saturday. They might after Saturday, once the Governor’s pick is guaranteed to serve through 2012, but they won’t do so before Saturday. They can’t trust the “small people” to “choose wisely”.
Ditto
The NFP, the New Fascist Party, is never one to pass up a good illness.
On June 27th, 2010 at 9:43 pm, Pasadena Phil said:
If Byrd still had mental acuity, he would have opposed the use of Reconciliation to pass the Health Care bill… just like he opposed the use of Reconciliation to pass a Health Care bill when Clinton wanted to do it!
Even if he does die they will have him stuffed and wheel him in for important votes. They will install a button on his chest that when you push it he says pretty pretty pretty or some other saying. After all dead dems vote why not dead dem senators.
Byrd opposed serving with Blacks in the Armed Forces. Maybe that is why he didn’t serve as a young man during World War 2, when he wrote that, in 1944.
No, wait, it was Truman who desegregated the military…
For those who didn’t already know, Byrd is also the
President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
A lot of people don’t realize that there is a role in the Senate that is similar (but not exactly the same) as the Speaker of the House. A lot of people just think it’s 100 Senators without a “leader”, per se. But the counterpart to the Speaker of the House is the President of the Senate.
And the person with the Constitutional authority to act as President of the Senate is … the Vice-President.
Yes, the Vice-President has “a real job”… the VP isn’t just a surrogate sent by the President to attend events the President doesn’t want to attend. The VP’s role is not to go around the country insulting business owners.
The Vice-President’s job is to be the President of the Senate. Sarah Palin understands this, and the press mocked her for stating (correctly!) that the VP “runs the Senate”.
When the VP is not present to perform the role, the responsibility falls to the President pro tempore of the United States Senate. But the President pro tempore often delegates that to a Junior Senator, as Byrd to Obama here. (Scroll down to the videos of Obama opening the Senate sessions on Febuary 1, 2007 and June 21, 2007).
byrd aint never getting out of the hospital. I bet hes VERY comfortable laying between all those WHITE SHEETS. Like Ole times
Above-
VP breaks tie votes in the Senate as well, becoming in effect, the 101st Senator.
Senator Byrd may still be with us for some time. Men like him do not go easy.
Everyone light a
candlecross.I sold cigars to the Senator years ago; real sweet guy to a lowly tobacconist. Bought big green (claro) Punch Presidentes. But no airs, none of the “do you know who I am” attitude that so many big shots would have in the shop. Seemed almost embarrassed when I said “thank you, Senator” when I handed him his box. “Thank you son” was the reply.
Ouch! That’ll leave a mark!
While I disagree with most of his politics. I did like the way he reminded his own party that reconciliation was for budget matters only. Every once in a while he is useful.
On a human level I send Byrd the same best wishes for his recovery that I would send to anyone else …
On a political level I consider him to be a poster boy for term limits …
I pray he is okay.
When he meets the Maker, I wonder if the Creator will show Himself to be a black man. That would be a hoot.
This past week, my daughter and granddaughter moved back to the mainland. My truck had to be towed. My wife’s car has a blown head gasket.
My dog has pinkeye.
This is the first good news I’ve had in a while.
Hang in there, Hangfire!
Byrd will still be WV’s Senator even long after he dies. Have you ever seen the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s?” It will simply be a case of “Weekend at Byrd’s.” Assuming he hasn’t already been dead for several years now…
And it doesn’t matter if they have a special election to fill his seat if it is vacated. This is WV. It is a welfare state with corrupt politics. The next Senator will be a Democrat.
As far as Democrat WV Governor Joe Manchin goes, he is your typical Democrat. He is popular in WV. The last time Byrd was up for reelection, Manchin put out ads endorsing Byrd with the comment “We need Byrd to make sure we get our fair share.”
Yeah, we all know what that means.
Let’s face it, Byrd is a thoroughly rotten scoundrel. Being old & in poor health doesn’t change the truth. I hope he repents before he dies.
Must see:
On June 28th, 2010 at 12:33 am, Trollman said:
Perhaps Obama’s plans to bankrupt the Coal industry might influence some of those WV voters to vote Republican and help stop his agenda.
Historically, Byrd was merely the most proficient of political plunderers. His brand of liberalism is at the root of what is corroding the nation.
Yet one should not wish him ill.
Ultimately, culpability for his treason lies not with him, but with the voters of West Virginia.
ITookTheRedPill said:
It just doesn’t matter. Obama’s intent to destroy the coal industry was known back when he ran in 2008. And Joe Manchin endorsed him anyway. And it didn’t hurt Joe’s popularity.
Yes, WV has a tendency to go Republican on Presidents, because WV is a socially conservative state. But when it comes to state & local races, they’ll still vote Democrat. For the same reason they vote for Democrats, even though the Democrat politicians are antithetical to the voters’ social views. Pork & corruption trumps all.
Honestly, if the Democrats had picked Hillary instead of Obama in 2008, WV probably would have gone Democrat in the presidential election. Don’t place any hope in WV politics.
Well, God Bless Him, I never agreed with his politics, but I did respect the fact that he lived off his Senate pay and always carried a copy of The Constitution in his suit pocket.
I ran into him 5 years ago at Walter Reed. He was in a wheel chair. Him and I spoke briefly, but in truth, he did not seem to be all there.
I’ve often wondered, since that meeting, if he is not merely being handled and used by others in the political party.
Anyway, it is well past time for him to retire and I would prefer retirement and an election vs another mindless political appointee that simply does the President’s bidding.
Hopefully, he recovers.
If he stays in the hospital, it means one less vote for that financial bill. The democrats are looking at a shortage of votes already.
RIP Senator Byrd.
At his age there is no such thing as a ‘Minor’ medical problem.
Now it’s get interesting. God bless his family in his death but Robert not going to heaven he going to the other place. Ol’ ted loving his buddy now they can roast together.
Rest in Peace.
R.I.P and condolences to the family …
Now it will be interesting to see how long it takes the WV Governor to replace him … puts a crimp in Dirty Harry’s plans for the time being at least through the summer recess of Congress … and since it beat that July 3 deadline mentioned by Doug Powers there will be another seat up for grabs in November … admittedly a long shot but one never knows until the votes have been counted …
They said nothing like Scott Brown could happen in Massachusetts, you know!
Condolences to the family, but hooray for the USA! We get another chance to stop this insanity.
Sheets is dead.
Nothing else to say really. This racist a$$hole didn’t deserve a eulogy.
Smart thing to do will be to bury him face down so he can see where he’s going.
RWR
I wonder if they’ll bury him in his robe and hood.
Remember when John Lennon was assasinated and all the hippies lit candles and quietly offered tribute to the now dead Marxist?
Maybe members of various white power groups and Klansmen and people belonging to national socialist parties can gather somewhere in some remote field and light some crosses in tribute.
Worst thing is, the memory of some Marine or sailor who died in Iraq or Afghanistan will not be honored so we can have a USS Robert Byrd. I imagine the ships crest will have a pointy pillow case with eye holes cut out.
Byrd’s funeral service.
R.I.P.
1) Thank you for the Hat Tip
2) I only mention the following because one letter changes the meaning… I think you you meant to write “note” instead of “not”… i.e.,
Why? Why bother?
Sure, it would be nice for him, but what difference would that make to all of the damage he has done?
If he repented, and God forgives him, well then that’s just dandy. But it’s between him and God. I really couldn’t care less.
We try way to hard to be nice to and about people who richly deserve hellfire. We are soft to the point of silliness.
I’ve never been much of an expert on protocol, so I’m looking for some help here:
Will Byrd be buried in a suit, like a United States Senator, or a sheet, like an Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan?
It’s important to get these things correct…
Robert Byrd is where only heaven knows. For all we know, at some point, he may even receive his heavenly rewards.
I do know though, that while a living body on earth, he received a plethora of earthly rewards, especially from the state of West Virginia, for all of the pork and the inordinate amount of tax dollars he brought to the state. As you drive through that mountainous terrain, it’s not hard to see something that isn’t named after a Byrd, either him or his wife.
As to deciding whether his seat was vacant before the 3rd of July or after, it’s a no-brainer. Remember, we’re dealing with Democrats. It will be after July 3rd.
Now with Byrd dead, and all the eulogies going to start, will there be a Trent Lott affect here?
Well, Senator Byrd died early this morning at the Fairfax Inova Hospital.
I guess that ends the first round of speculation. Let the next round begin…
A long time ago, I was taught, “Speak nothing but good of the dead.” So here’s all the good I have to say about Byrd:
My condolences to the family.
The best thing about this is now a vacancy has to be declared before July 2nd. So, come November, the people of WV will get to vote on their choice for U.S. Senator. Not that they’ll pick a conservative, but with any luck, Obama will back the democrat choice. Then the Republican is sure to win!
Hey Hangfire, that’s a number 1 with a bullet, Country hit single right there! Just gotta tweak the lyrics a little.
Roland said:
No, it won’t undo the things he has done in this life. But there is more than just this life. Like God, I take no pleasure in anyone going to Hell.
Roland said:
Even though some deserve Hell more than others (John 19:11, 1 Tim. 1:15), still, all of us richly deserve Hell.
TooMuchTime said:
Not necessarily. Have you ever seen “Weekend at Bernie’s?” Don’t put it past the Democrats to prop him up in his seat for a few days – “See, his seat isn’t vacated!”
TooMuchTime said:
I don’t think a Republican will win, but if a Republican somehow does win, I’m sure it will be someone more conservative than Scott Brown. WV is very conservative in a lot of ways.
I don’t see a Scott Brown upset happening here, though, because Scott Brown’s election was at a very important instant – the possibility of getting the 41st vote to kill healthcare. But hopefully I’m wrong & WV is ready for a change…
I’m sure his last wish was to wrap him up in the white bed sheets and bury him like that.
So now the press, president and GrandSmoozers of the Beltway will wax eloquent about the Grand Gizard’s passing with his 123 years in the Senate. As there are roads, restrooms, cleanouts, bridges and overpasses every 750 yards named for Grand Gizzard Byrd he will not soon be forgotten by West Virginia. Call him Cyclops, call him Gizzard, he will be remembered at every restroom break.
But now is the time to ask the question: Will President Obama refer to the Grand Gizard as a Typical White Person? All the world wants to know.
Sorry about your dog Hangfire-pink eyed dogs are a rarity are they not?
===
Let your sidearm be like Master Card:
Don’t Leave home without it.
It’s like Old Home Week for Bobby. Where he’s at….they probably burn crosses there, too.
Okay, I shouldn’t have said that. But I’m sorry I can’t conjure up any sympathy for guys like this. Forgive me Lord.
That’s prolly the reason why none of US are God. Let’s just hope the senator gets God’s justice and leave it at that.
You can bet that if a Republican was Governor in W.Virginia the Dems would be making haste to change the law and require an election as they did elsewhere. Mass. I think?
Or in this case, with a Dem Gov, if an election was required, they’d be going full speed ahead with getting that changed to an appointment.
But as we have it, they can appoint someone until the 2010 Gen Election if I understand this correctly. So you can bet there will be the usually Dem Fraud here. They will somehow find a way to not declare the seat vacant until next week.
They’ve completely ignored the law with other Senate seats. Lautenberg in NJ as I’ve mentioned before. It was too late to replace Torricelli on the ballot, but the Dems simple broke the law and illegally put Lautenberg on the ballot. Then they squashed any effort by state republicans to fight it.
Chicago Thuggery lives in others states as well. Expect to see some of it W.Virginia.
Sorry if this offends, but good riddance
This morning’s news programs are playing down his ‘dalliance’ in the KKK. Like he had been a vegetarian at some point.
I expect nothing less from them.
They have done the same burying of info on the current administration’s dalliance into the rectal clubs.
I didn’t say I took pleasure in Byrd going to Hell. I said I did not care.
Also, the Fall is the silliest, most morally obtuse thing Judeo-Christian writings have ever produced.
Nominations are now open for the position of the “Conscience of the Senate.”
Ted Kennedy would have been the perfect candidate, but he, too, has gone on to his great reward. So I’ll nominate Dingy Harry. He doesn’t have Byrd’s legacy of joining the KKK, joining the filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act or using the term “white n*igger” in 2001, but since Dingy’s conscience is in question, he qualifies. Maybe with this honorary appointment we could see to it that Harry joins the bingo and shuffleboard circuit after losing his re-election bid in November.
Typically I would give three days to allow people to mourn the dead, but Byrd won’t get that common courtesy from me today.
Rest in He11 senator Byrd. You’ve done more damage than you will ever know. Give my warm regards to Teddy while you’re there. The only question is with the KBPOTUS and his Justice Department’s refusal to enforce the default judgement against the Black Panthers; Will they exceed your hatred based on race?
BTW-This is my polite response and I don’t want to be banned.
GSP
In the end, God takes care of everything.
RIP Senator Byrd
I don’t like the description of that law. If the important thing is when the vacancy is declared, rather than when it actually occurs, then what’s to stop the governor from simply waiting a few days to declare it?
I wonder how the State of WV will Memorialize him??
They can’t name any building, road, bridge, Turnstile, Outhouse, tree, lawn, roof, wall, blade of grass, leaf on the trees, trashcan, or port-a-pot after him… he already has his name on everything in the State, but the Air they breathe.
So what will the Mulatto Messiah have to say about “Sheets” ?
Just one thing, cap and tax….WV’s for the most part no that this will hurt them more than congress admits. We have a very poor economy, with a low standard of living, and Coal is one of our chief products. If a campaign is mounted for 2010 (I think the procedure would be caucuses called to select candidates for the parties in question) it will be a key issue for sure.
I’d not rule out a possible Republican winning, the question is who. There isn’t a lot of time to get a name out there and raise money once they are nominated, and what’s more the last Republican governor was Cecil Underwood, back in 96. So its been 14 years since a major state wide race went Red, even though we voted for Bush and McCain as a state
Well, of course. WV will need a period of mourning, of course. I mean, you can’t rush these things. The people need a chance to come to grips with the fact they might not get as much Federal pork from the rest of us in the future. And then we have the July 4 holiday weekend. Why, there is just absolutely no way the gov can declare the seat vacant before next week.
Yes. Though more likely they’ll just put a cardboard cutout of him in the Senate chambers. That way all the school kids on their 8th grade trips to DC can have their photographs taken with “him.” Maybe the democrats will even bus in a few black kids for a photo op. Of course, they won’t be told he was klansman. Can’t muddy up the photo op with the facts.
It was like having feminists take their photo with Teddy Kennedy because of his stance on abortion. Never mind that murder thing…
Some things are not ours to shoulder or understand. God bless his family in their time of mourning. God will sort out the rest.
The people of West Virginia should start tearing down Byrd Flu statues, street and building signs of Robert Byrd Flu. Soviet Union’s Stalin and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein come to mind as history, hopefully, will repeat itself once again. Have fun down there with Ted Kennedy, Mr Byrd. The murder of millions of unborn babies has its consequences.
On June 28th, 2010 at 9:43 am, NJ-Aviator said:
Yes, Massachusetts. When Romney was Governor, and Kerry was running for President, Teddy Kennedy pushed the Dems to change the law so that an election, not an appointment, would fill Kerry’s senate seat should Kerry have won the Presidency.
Then, after Kennedy’s death, the Dems changed the law again so that the Democrat governor could appoint a Senator to serve until the election. That change allowed the appointment of Paul Grattan Kirk, Jr., former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (From 1985 to 1989).
Without that law change, THE HEALTHCARE BILL WOULD NOT HAVE PASSED!!!
Paul Kirk provided the crucial 60th vote for cloture (necessary to break a Republican filibuster of the bill) after 1 AM on December 21, 2009.
I repeat that if the MA Dems had played by the rules, instead of changing the rules, they never would have had the 60th vote for cloture.
And it’s also worth repeating that, even with Kirk’s December vote, the HealthCare Bill STILL WOULD NOT HAVE PASSED if Byrd had been as mentally competent in 2010 as he was in 1993, and opposed using the “Reconciliation” process to pass a complicated HealthCare bill.
This just proves that the U.S. Senators are nothing more than representatives-at-large for the largest metropolitan area in any given state. Most rural and small town folks are smart enough to know what kind of damage the socialists can do. However, the city dwellers demanding pork know where their bread is buttered.
I wonder what Blago has to say about appointing a new Senator… what can the governor get in return for the appointment… Patty says it’s a F’in valuable thing…
Or what Biden has to say… this is a big F’in deal, you know…
Mourning in West Virginia?
Our Porker done died he did
Bambi is at war with coal he is
Let’s show our Love for the Grand Gizzard
by voting for another Leftist
If we can’t mine coal
we can live off Bambi’s stash
Amen and such
Joe Manchin, Governor and Porker Trainee
Robert Byrd was a liberal Democrat, but I had no problem with him as a person. He was a loyal Aemrican, who loved his country. You saw Byrd clash on policy, but you never heard him speak badly of his country.
He was from the mold of Humbert Humphrey, Tip O’Neill, Mike Mansfield etc. They were patriotic Americans with whom we could disagree on the “how” to attain a common goal.
He is very different from the Marxist, American hating, Constitution shredding, criminals who are in charge at the moment. While I differed with him on policy, I say to Senator Byrd, “Thank you for your service to our country, sir; rest in peace.”
Hey ArizonaNeanderthal, I like a simpler style of poetry:
The Grand Kleagle has passed
Alas
LOL
Another thought on the Healthcare Bill… the Dems also would not have been able to get to 60 votes for cloture without having stolen the MN senate race.
Coleman won that election, but the Dems stole it for Franken.
Franken voted for cloture.
Now that Byrd is dead, I wonder if the black liberals will consider moving off of the liberal plantation?
If the WV Governor is allowed to get away with not declaring the vacancy until after July 3rd…
then the Democrats will have effectively
STOLEN ANOTHER ELECTION.
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum (dicendum est).
That does not mean that we have to go out of our way to manufacture something good to say….
Flyoverman said:
Have you ever been to WV? The man stole money out of our pockets at the point of a gun in order to build monuments to himself all over (puffing himself up with our tax money). Not to mention that every Democrat politician today is an enabler of the marxist Democratic agenda plain & simple.
I would think that the last thing the democrats want is another Blago-esque senate appointment fiasco. I’m betting that Governor Manchin isn’t taking or making any calls. Or at least he’s having them screened.
He doesn’t want to end up like Blago; no one wants to see him on Celebrity Apprentice.
You beat me to it. Even the criminal on the cross next to our savior was guaranteed a spot in paradise. Through the grace of God, it might also be so with Byrd.
We said something good about the Senator: he is dead-The Grand Kleagle has passed
Alas.
That is as good as it gets with pilferers such as he.
But I do not wish to offend my own so I shall say nothing more about Old Smokey.
AzN out
Things named after Byrd in West Virginia:
Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center
Robert C. Byrd addition to the lodge at Oglebay Park, Wheeling
Byrd Aerospace Technology Center
Robert C. Byrd Bridge between Huntington and Chesapeake, Ohio
Robert C. Byrd Cancer Research Center
Robert C. Byrd Clinical Addition to the veteran’s hospital in Huntington
Robert C. Byrd Community Center, Pine Grove
Robert C. Byrd Community Center in the naval station, Sugar Grove
Robert C. Byrd Drive, from Beckley to Sophia (Byrd’s hometown)
Robert C. Byrd Expressway, U.S. 22 near Weirton
Robert C. Byrd Federal Building
Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse
Robert C. Byrd Freeway
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center, near Princeton
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia
Robert C. Byrd High school in Bridgeport
Robert C. Byrd Highway
Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex, Mineral County
Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarships
Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, Hardy County
Robert C. Byrd Institute in Charleston
Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing
Robert C. Byrd Library and Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center
Robert C. Byrd Life Long Learning Center
Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam
Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center
Robert C. Byrd Rural Health Center
Robert C. Byrd Scholastic Recognition Award
Byrd Science Center, Shepherd University
Robert C. Byrd Technology Center at Alderson-Broaddus College
Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center
Robert C. Byrd Visitor Center at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
RIP.
Cra*-n-Tax would be a good incentive for WV to vote in a conservative Pubbie. After all, coal is only their livelihood.
The Hillbilly Pork Gravy Train has come to a stop.
Byrd is a fine example of why we need term limits AND a maximum age for serving. Not a lot of ninetysomethings have enough there to carry on that kind of job.
And it didn’t cost Mr. Byrd one thin dime of his own money. Amazing what OPM can buy.
I must correct myself, WV voted its First Female Sec of State Betty Ireland, a Republican, in 2004. She did not run for reelection in 2008.
If that doesn’t say it all…
OPM, you got that right.
Sorta OT: Something that stuck with me about Scott Brown in an early speech of his; he said he would vote for things that are helpful to the citizens of Mass. We need Senators who see and explain to their supporters that there’s a bigger picture than just their state.
WV is on my list of states to visit. Always wanted to go there. Been to all the states around, but never had a chance to go there. Sorry.
I hear you about Byrd, but he only is different by degree. My congressman bought $1.65 million worth of city buses to “stimulate” the economy of the area. Forget the fact no buses are built here. Our Republican senator tried to spend $50 million on a tropical rainforest…..in IOWA!!!
The whole process makes you want to hurl.
Flyoverman, if you do get to visit WV, make sure you go see Byrd’s statue inside the state capitol building. It is so big (larger than life size), you can’t miss it. It is in a suitably self-righteous, indignant pose. And of course, it was built while he was alive, which went against the rules for such things. It really captures the spirit of the man.
Actually I think the Statue in question is in the cultural center (a museum piece basically), and they are man sized as I recall, unless there is another one to which I am unaware?
Bye, bye, Byrdy…
Trollman – Flyoverman: Byrd was quite a big spender, wasn’t he with the Country’s checkbook? Here in Colorado, our esteemed congresswoman got millions for a aquarium that no one wanted. I think it’s closed now…..this kind of stuff really does make you want to hurl!!
Veretax, I’m not sure what statue you are referring to, but there is a larger than life sized statue of Byrd in the WV state capitol building – on the 2nd floor, in the rotunda. I done seen it with my overtaxed eyes!
You can read about it HERE.
In fact, Raese, who ran against Byrd in 2006, kicked off his campaign in front of Byrd’s statue. It was a pretty funny stunt. I haven’t been able to find a video of it, though.
Thankfully, the “rain forest” had to have private matching funds to go forward. Everyone outside of our Senator’s office understood the folly of it and I doubt they got 10% of what they needed.
The waste is beyond description!!!
Oh my………..what can I say?
In his home town in the country of Georgia, they just took Stalin’s statue down in the middle of the night. Maybe in a couple years…..
Another life passes from our earthly confines, and we may judge him one way or the other. But our judgment doesn’t matter; only His does. I am not sure if Byrd will do well in that regard. But RIP just the same.
Every time the Dems cram a toxic bill down taxpayers’ throats, they lose one of their iconic leaders. Cap and Trade cost them Ted Kennedy, Obamacare cost them Murtha and now the Fannie/Freddie/Goldman rescue bill cost them Byrd.
Who’s next?
I disagreed with Senator Byrd in life, but see no reason to continue to regard him as an enemy when he no longer has power, as far as I know, to take any further actions to influence Earthly affairs.
I hear WV has some absolutely beautiful parks, Flyoverman. Also gambling somewhere, if that’s your thing. I’d look for the parks. But I wouldn’t bother in winter; the mountains get really dangerous. I used to live within range of WV commuter traffic reports.
They had some kind of shopping outlet some time ago, but I believe it closed, also some time ago.
Harper’s Ferry is beautiful, as well as Charles Town. They caught John Brown in Harper’s Ferry, and hanged him in Charles Town.
heh.
BREAKING NEWS:
Robert C. Byrd has died. No word yet on whether he will run again for reelection or not…
It’s amazing they had lasted so long. Byrd, Murtha, Kennedy and
McCain.