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Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 12:24 a.m. EST
Ex-Klansman Blocks Condi's Confirmation
A former Ku Klux Klansman who once vowed to keep the military segregated is single-handedly holding up the confirmation of Secretary of State-nominee Condoleezza Rice, the first African-American woman to be appointed to the office.
"Senator Robert Byrd, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war, announced late [Wednesday] that he would not allow the Senate to approve Ms. Rice without a few days of consideration of her lengthy testimony, and at least a token debate on the floor," reports the New York Times.
Sen. Byrd's maneuver came just hours after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved her nomination by a vote of 16 to 2.
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The West Virginia Democrat, who officially left the Klan in 1943 but continued to advise the anti-black group for years afterward, said through a spokesman that he was merely assuring that the Senate fulfilled its constitutional role of advise and consent.
But the decision by Democrats to make Sen. Byrd the point man in the continuing assault against such a prominent African-American is a particulary awkward one, given his long history of racial misconduct.
In 2001, for instance, Byrd was forced to apologize after he blurted out the N-word twice during a nationally televised interview.
"There are white n****rs, I've seen a lot of white n****rs in my time," Byrd told Fox News Sunday.
In the early 1970s, Byrd pushed to have the Senate's main office building named after Sen. Richard Russell, a leading opponent of anti-lynching legislation who the West Virginia Democrat called "my mentor."
Byrd filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 straight hours. And three years after he said he'd left his white-sheeted brethren behind, he wrote to Georgia's Grand Imperial Wizard, urging, "The Klan is needed today as never before."
Sen. Byrd was also a fierce opponent of desegregating the military, complaining in one letter: "I should rather die a thousand times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds."
freeandfun1 said:But he opposes Bush, so to the left, he can't be all that bad!
Kathianne said:I think the dems have done more in the past 2 months to lose black voters than at any point since the civil war. The far left has been ferocious in their treatment of conservative minorities, but they assume that 'their minorities' will not be offended. Talk about assuming stupity.
freeandfun1 said:I agree that they are starting to take the black vote for granted, but that is hard NOT to do when the black vote comes to you no matter what you do. Blacks need to start standing up for themselves and letting the democrats know how they feel. But all we see is the vast majority of blacks tow'n the line for the "man".
I find it awfully funny (not really, but you know what I mean) that there is NOT ONE black in a leadership position within the Democratic party, yet blacks continue to think the Democrats care more about them.
Sir Evil said:As well as many here, but I just can't figure out why many other haven't!
freeandfun1 said:I agree that they are starting to take the black vote for granted, but that is hard NOT to do when the black vote comes to you no matter what you do. Blacks need to start standing up for themselves and letting the democrats know how they feel. But all we see is the vast majority of blacks tow'n the line for the "man".
I find it awfully funny (not really, but you know what I mean) that there is NOT ONE black in a leadership position within the Democratic party, yet blacks continue to think the Democrats care more about them.
