Robert Byrd, 1917-2010
Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of Senator Robert Byrd.
As for the politics of it, his seat might go Republican in the fall and it might not. Depends on the available candidates and the resulting campaigns.
The (Democratic) governor of WV will have a lot to say about the framework of that campaign when he names Byrd’s successor in the coming days.
Clearly, you could have a repeat of the Coakley-Brown fiasco in Massachusetts. Or you could get a candidate who understands that Byrd’s legacy is much loved in WV. If that candidate appropriates his legacy — and campaigns hard to protect it — s/he will have the best chance of winning.
Prediction: look for Bill Clinton to campaign hard in the fall for the replacement.
As for the KKK, it’ll get mentioned in his obituaries as the opening act in his long and storied career. But this will also get mentioned:
If the United States leads the charge to war in the Persian Gulf, we may get lucky and achieve a rapid victory. But then we face a second war: a war to win the peace in Iraq. This war will last many years and will surely cost hundreds of billions of dollars. In light of this enormous task, it would be a great mistake to expect that this will be a replay of the 1991 war. The stakes are much higher in this conflict.
People laughed him off the stage (while mentioning the KKK) for saying that. Turns out he was exactly right and had we listened — and followed his advice — we’d be much, much better off today than we are.
And don’t you forget it.
