Senator Robert Byrd (who eventually figured out that it doesn’t pay to let your racism show, and that pork will keep you in politics), served 51 years in the Senate, “longer than anyone in American history“, and longer than any one person should, consecutively (or otherwise), serve.
Loved his Iraq speech on the Senate floor (Today I Weep For My Country), but for all the good it did he might have well kept it to himself. Well into his eighties at the time, I don’t think too many people were hearing him at that point, despite his eloquence.
Not that age bears no worth. The sagacity, if not a thoughtful rationality, that accompanies age is certainly worth something, though not 50 year run in the Senate. The Senate is a nice job however, hard to give up. Many do whatever it takes to keep that job, Byrd just did it better.
Did Byrd make living in West Virginia better? Did he help improve the graduation rate, increase the chance of his constituents going to college, or improve the chance of making a good living, a living on which you can do more than survive.
As far as I can tell West Virginia remains one of the poorest states annual income wise, perpetually in the bottom ten, I think lastly 49th.The state also, though with what appears to be an increased high school graduation rate – especially for minorities, is in the top ten for sending the fewest people on to college, but with income and college tending to go hand in hand that is not surprising.
He had fifty years, did he do anything sustainable or was he elected again and again because of the temporary pork?
May he rest in peace.
Can we please have term limits now.
Peace
That would be nice, but pork is really the only way Senators can make their states richer. That and voting against other people’s bad ideas.
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You may be right but isn’t that a shame.
Our guy is ancient, he falls asleep in meetings and has some young mistress whose apartment recently burned down.
In some cases it’s tradition and that is why we get nowhere most of the time.
Fifty years is too long. I’m not sure what else WV has. It’s a strange state, it’s huge and in some parts beautiful, in others it looks like welfare state full of people like “the whites of west va”.
The part closest to us is horse racing and gambling and people going over the line to purchase cigarettes.
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Your guy is my guy and I worked for him one summer – ha ha.
Seriously fifty years is almost as old as my father – simply put it is just not right.
I always wished West Virginia didn’t seem like such a scary state to me. I know that Martinsburg was close to the border and a lot of the town was on welfare at one point, and there was a lot of crime. It was such a beautiful old town too. Old Victorian houses, but no jobs, houses fell part, a lot of business closed down years and years ago now lots of crack and so on and so forth. And that is the part close to civilization. I wonder about the rest of the state and don’t travel there much.
51 years is a long time .
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I rather like rambling around in tat state, at least skiing and hiking…never alone though. I have only been directly over the line to kayak in recent years, no further, except in the in the winter to ski.
Pork goes good with sauerkraut but only on New Years Day.
People complained about how little Ted Kennedy and Strom Thurmond did, too. Byrd, tho, too it to new depths and helped the coal industry take down a few mountains for better profits when they could have hired a few more men and kept the wilderness wild instead of disappeared.
Guess I’ll have to see if the WV guv is a dem or a rep. Not that the super-duper majority thing helped unemployment benefits be extended for the recent wave of chronically unemployed.
sauerkraut recently posted..Bite Your Ass Friday- shut up
On thing West Virgina does still have is some wilderness.
W VA, still in the top ten of Welfare Caseloads (per capita).
That I think may well be true.
Dare I say anything about West Virginia? Living in a state where the Dems make excuses for who is running for Senate, and a meeting of the local Democratic party, ah!!!!
Byrd’s speech was great and long forgotten.
Well he had a fifty year career and I’m not sure one or two speeches make up for it…
Hell yes, we need term limits. After fifty years you would think the man would have his state in the top ten list of everything. If years in the senate doesn’t equal quality than move those old farts out of there– Before they die!
Bathwater recently posted..The Carpet
More than two of my lifetimes
Honestly, I’d rather see terms reduced from 6 to 4.
When we hear that Byrd was a staunch defender of Senatorial processes, we should remember his 10-hour leg of the filibuster against the Civil Rights Bill of 1965.
Though in his defense, I don’t know what would save West Virginia. Maybe legalizing pot…
EsotericWombat recently posted..Drill- Baby- Drill
I don’t mean this to sound however it may sound, but I think there is a certain segment of the population of West Virginia who think it is legal, or to whom the term legal or illegal means little.
Term limits are needed. I think two 4′s in a row and then back to the general population for at least 4 years.
I’m not against allowing someone to try again at a later date. 50 years is not reasonable, he wasn’t that good.
casey recently posted..Longest Workday
I think casey is right. There are like two West Virginia’s though at least that is what people I’ve been there to hike and snowboard,there is a lot of poverty even in the town bordering MD but I understand that is improving. Further on in i wouldn’t want to venture alone, I’d travel alone in most foreign countries over West Va any day….
probably because I speak Spanish and French and virtually no West Virginian.
A politician, he did well for himself, carving a nice 52 year career as Senator of a state full of people who could have done worse, though they never tried to do better.
50 YEARS BAD
At least make it ten years. Set some goals, complete them and get out. A decade should be enough to complete anyone’s goals.
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Ever notice how as bureaucracy grows so does the time it takes to get anything done?
I remember his speech. Wish someone would have listened.
Didn’t know about the other stuff until this morning.
Wasn’t there a proposed amendment for term limits a few years back? I suppose it’s much easier to vote yourself a pay raise.
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Of course, when given a chance it’s self preservation all the way.
One of my oldest friends lived in West Virginia growing up. All she used to do was complain about the state of education in her home state.
Now I know why.
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I think one of the largest differences is in some places you can have really shitty parents and still come out ok because there are some decent schools..Maryland or parts of it and some Northern VA schools are included. This is certainly not the case is W Va. After 50 years Byrd should have the whole state going to college instead they remain on the bottom of the heap…