May 23, 2005

Note that a murderer or rapist is never called a former murderer or former rapist. That’s because once you have committed such a heinous crime, you are properly branded for life with the moniker. Some odors, once attached to one’s epidermis, just can’t be lost.

Such is the case with the Democrats’ own Ku Klux Klansman, Sen. Robert Byrd. Once a Klansman, always a Klansman.

Byrd’s own words should have seen to his political demise decades ago, but because he is a Democrat rather than a Republican, liberals look the other way and give this card-carrying racist a pass regardless of how many crosses he burned, how many nooses he tied and how many African-American heads he forced into those nooses.

What’s that, you say? We have no evidence that Byrd actually personally lynched anyone? That might be so. Then again, we also have no evidence that Adolph Hitler personally gassed any Jews. Nor do we have any evidence that Pol Pot personally shot anyone in Cambodia or that Saddam Hussein personally tortured to death any of his enemies.

The revered (by racists) senior senator from West Virginia has had some fascinating things to say about the Klan long after he claims to have resigned from the race- and faith-based domestic terrorist group. For example, in a letter in which he railed about the armed forces being desegregated, Byrd wrote that he would do whatever was necessary to prevent ever having to fight “with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."

Nice.

Years after he supposedly resigned from the Klan, Byrd took it upon himself to pen a letter to the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, in which he said: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia.” But Byrd didn’t just want to see the Klan reborn in his home state. No, he went on to say that it was a dream of his to see the Klan again riding through the countryside with torches lit, shotguns booming and certain necks being stretched in nooses "in every state in the Union."

The appointments of Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas were both angrily opposed by Byrd because of the color of their skin.

Byrd, spewing his racist venom on the floor of the United States Senate, filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Mind you that Byrd was no run-of-the-mill Klansman. He was a recruiter for the genocidal organization. Called a “kleagle” in the Klan, he was paid $10 for every wannabe terrorist he could get to sign up.

As a student at the Dynamics of International Terrorism course at the Special Operations School, we discussed how terrorist groups send members into politics. While learning about domestic terrorism, it was noted that one domestic terrorist had been particularly effective in climbing the rungs of American political power: Sen. Robert Byrd.

So the unanswered questions remain:

How many African-Americans’ lynchings did Sen. Robert Byrd participated in?

How many cross burnings?

How many African-Americans’ homes did he burn to the ground?

Does he still creep into his lair late at night and retrieve his white robe and hood and lovingly stroke the Klan insignia?

Does he moon over old black-and-white photos of black men hanging from tree limbs, his brother Klansmen surrounding the lifeless body?

When he sees Secretary of State Condi Rice or African-American military personnel performing their duties, or when he sees African-Americans riding on buses with whites or sees them eating at lunch counters with whites or using the toilet beside a white man, does he thrust his head past the rim of a commode and wretch? (The very idea of an African-American general must infuriate and sicken him.)

Many liberals love the idea of a racist terrorist being in the U.S. Senate.

Now why is that?

Author’s Note: I drew heavily from my colleague Michelle Malkin’s syndicated column (Creators Syndicate, 2001) in gleaning these facts about Senator Byrd. Therefore, she gets much of the credit for this chapter. Michelle’s column and books should be required reading for every American. Her guest appearances on my shows are among the most popular with my audiences.

Bob Newman