Robert Byrd has died.
All politics - and all of his history, bad and good - aside (a commentator on the radio this morning remarked: "There was, apparently, a time in Deep South politics where you pretty much HAD to be a Klan member to be electable*." (Or so said commentator said, see comment below) Though then again, I don't exactly think of West Virginia - where I was born - as Deep South**) he served for 51 years in the Senate.
In fillyjonk units, (because man makes himself the measure of all things), that means as I was being born in the West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown some 41 1/2 years ago, he had already been in the Senate 10 years.
Make of that what you will.
(*In which case, I hope if I had been a politically minded gentleman in the South of that era, that I would have chosen to become a preacher or schoolteacher instead. Though I suppose things being what they were, there was a share of both preachers and teachers who belonged to that organization.)
(**If West Virginia is the "Deep South," then maybe I need to start referring to people as "Sugah" (Sugar) and start saying "Bless your heart" more. ("Bless your heart," from at least SOME southern women, is NOT a compliment). The thought of me as a stereotypical Southern Belle makes me laugh. I don't think there's enough tulle and hairspray in the world to make that work.)
1 comment:
Let's not imply that Byrd joined the Klan just to grease his way into a House seat: he'd been a member for ten years before his first House run.
Still, his enthusiasm for all things Kluxy waxed and waned over the years, though he was never quite as penitent about such matters as, say, Strom Thurmond would eventually prove to be.
Factoid: Byrd was born in North Wilkesboro, NC, though he probably spent less time there than I spent in Lake County, Illinois (where I was born).
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