This double standard must not stand!

And this from my GOP 2008 Newsletter. Go to above hyperlink for entire article. Interesting as heck.

Robert Byrd: Involvement with the Ku Klux Klan
Byrd was a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan for a period of time in the early 1940s, holding the title Kleagle; Klan recruiter. In a 1946, three years after leaving his KKK brethren behind, in a letter, he wrote to Georgia's Grand Imperial Wizard, "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia." However, when running for Congress in 1952, he announced, "After about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization. During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan."

Political moves perceived as racismStill, in 1964 he opposed the Civil Rights Act by filibustering it for 14 straight hours. He was against U.S. President Harry S. Truman's integration of the military. He opposed the nomination of Thurgood Marshall to the United States Supreme Court in 1967.

In addition, some conservatives contend that Byrd's 2004 opposition to some of George W. Bush's judicial and Cabinet nominees who are black, notably Appeals Court nominee Janice Rogers Brown and Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice, was motivated by racism. Byrd's defenders note that both nominations were widely opposed on the left by people of many different ethnicities and that Byrd has not opposed other people of color that Bush has nominated in the past, such as Secretary of Education Rod Paige and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

2001 racist remark and controversyOn March 4, 2001, an interview with FOX News Sunday host Tony Snow was aired. In the interview Byrd was asked about race relations: "They are much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime," Byrd said. "I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us... I just think we talk so much about it that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that." Then Byrd warned: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time; I'm going to use that word."
"We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

Byrd's office later issued an apology.
"I apologize for the characterization I used on this program. The phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society. As for my language, I had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone of another race."

American conservatives have pointed to Byrd's comments as evidence of a double standard in the treatment of Democratic and Republican political figures in regards to controversial statements about race (see Trent Lott, Rush Limbaugh). Limbaugh made this point loudly, more in reference to the Lott controversy than the one surrounding himself, when fellow Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd said in praise of Byrd, "There has never been a time in U.S. history that he would not have been right for. He would have been right for the Founding. He would have been right for the Civil War ..." Limbaugh stated that as Byrd had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, he would have undoubtedly been on the side of the Confederate States of America, and hence slavery, during the Civil War, and wondered if Dodd really thought that was a justifiable position. Again, because no general outcry in the mainstream media ensued, and the incident was hardly mentioned outside the venues of right-wing talk radio -- a silence was cited by those sources as evidence of a liberal bias in mainstream media, protecting the Democrats (Dodd and Byrd) and yet loudly attacking Republicans (Lott and Thurmond) for similar behavior.

Senator Byrd was also against Janice Rogers Brown, and Miguel Estrada, two very highly qualified Judges !

Contacting Senator ByrdFax your letter to his Charleston office at 304-343-7144; Call his Washington office at 202-224-3954.
Call his Charleston office at 304-342-5855;
E-mail Senator Byrd: http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html
http://committed.to/gobushmo