Think Progress

“I wish I had voted as he did.”

By Nico Pitney on Feb 28th, 2006 at 11:17 am

“I wish I had voted as he did.”

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) on Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) lone vote against the Patriot Act.



47 Responses to ““I wish I had voted as he did.””

  1. kindness says:

    Man, they must really hate america….

    Wish they would have supported the fillibustering of Roberts and Alioto though.


  2. yankeluh says:

    Wish he still had cojones.


  3. Dubai-Controlled Media says:

  4. avh says:

    “…lone vote”

    One: the number of honest senators left. 2% ain’t bad, I guess.


  5. lib4 says:

    Yeah its a little too late there “BOB”

    Cant wait for you to regret your non-cloture on Alito

    But I guess you could’nt vote for cloture since your WV constituents (who would have re-elected you anyway) thought that making Mrs. Alito cry was more important than a full and thorough review of lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land….

    Thank god Feingold at least has the sense to put things in perspective at the time of his decisions….not after…


  6. Yachts and Lattes says:

    Ah, Joe. It’s too bad your flop is as predictable as your flip. Feingold’s a real man who’s not afraid to take the unpopular position.


  7. Howdy Neighbor says:

    Hey all you other Legislators who bought into the Dumbya/Chainy Fear Based Initiatives:
    It’s never to late to straighten your spines, admit your errors and rein in this monarchial administrations headlong rush to doom…


  8. gp says:

    We wish you had too, Senator.


  9. David says:

    The Patriot Act vote, much like the Iraq war vote, was in a highly politicized atmosphere. While that doesn’t excuse the craven way most/all voted, it does go a long in explaining it. And when you look at the way Dems were demonized in the mid-terms, the futility any faux bipartisanship is underscored in quite dramatic fashion. What’s galling is that nobody read the damned thing before they voted.


  10. Zookeeper says:

    It really would have meant something, Sen Byrd. Sleep well?


  11. west virginia hillbilly says:

    Our good Senator cherishes the constitution and is the kind of Democrat that represents people so crucial in forming the new democratic party.
    Leave no hillbilly behind!


  12. Howdy Neighbor says:

    #9 I echo your observations. No one read the (Police) Act because it was massive! It was so massive, there wasn’t nearly enough time for its preparation between 9/11 and its introduction to the legislature……. so…. who perhaps may have been slaving over it for years, and had it all ready to pull out of his bulging briefcase when the time came?
    My guess is Deadeye Dick.


  13. unbelievable says:

  14. person of interest says:

    Kindness – the left-wing thought police didn’t have the votes to filibuster Alito. Deal with that, brownshirt!

    Interesting that Byrd is the inspiration of hte left considering he was against civil rights and for holding black people down. True hero.


  15. gp says:

    Senator, while you’re at it, maybe revisit your rage over MonicaGate and compare it to our current situation.


  16. UAE Wants To Control Your News says:

    Oh-I see.
    How’s this:
    Hillary would sign the Patriot Act again.



  17. west virginia hillbilly says:

    Hey #14, you’re probably not old enough to remember how it was in the 1950’s &60″s. It takes a lot to let go of tradition and embrace change.


  18. Mary Poppin says:

    I’m from Wisconsin and prove that Senator Russ Feingold is my Senator. If he runs for President I will help him and vote for him. He is for the rights of the American people.

    Go Russ Go!!!!


  19. Granite State Destroyer says:

    “True hero.”

    Kind of like Shotgun Dick Cheney voting against Martin Luther King Day.

    Oh, yeah, and ALL the black Republicans in congress…Hmmmm….I think the number is 0, bupkiss, zilch.

    -GSD


  20. Jeff says:

    It’s a shame Feingold will be judged based upon his two divorces and being Jewish not his intelligence, courage and merit.


  21. person of interest says:

    #17 – then, we get Vice President Condi Rice and Bush gets a bump in the polls. Careful what you wish for.


  22. person of interest says:

    GSD – voting against a holiday and voting against civil rights are two different things. You’re getting there GSD, but you still have a ways to go. Byrd was a Klansmen too. Cheney was not.


  23. Howdy Neighbor says:

    #22 …. Yes, thought of that, and it’s still the lesser of two evils.
    So it will be Condi vs. Hillary, a real catfight, no?!
    And Russ will throw a bucket of water on ‘em both and we’ll all live happily ever after.


  24. avh says:

    #23 – yeah, cheney was just a motive force behind several of our gov’t’s recent attrocities. how many innocent people died in nicaragua because of him? how many in iraq? and guess what: byrd is not our inspiration any more than lieberman is. feel free to troll elsewhere.


  25. Rightly So... says:

    #24 – No, Condi will remain VP. Someone else will take the top spot. Hillary would be a huge mistake for Democrats who want to win. She is too polarizing and a known liar. The right will swift boat her and enjoy every second of it.

    Avh – stop being a partisan. Cheney is a good man getting a bad wrap from a bunch anti-American scum who should be tried for treason. Or better yet, forced to live in Iran since they think Bush is a bigger threat.


  26. Howdy Neighbor says:

    #26 Agreement with you that Hillary would be a big mistake, way to much baggage!
    As far as Condi’s situation, you are probably correct there as well.
    After Georgie picking Dick terminated the long American tradition of picking a VP who would be capable of assuming the job of president should the need arise, anything is possible.
    As the years since 2000 election have passed, any dolt can see that we have a marginally suitable person as the figurehead, with Chainy, Rove, and their oily buddies jerking the strings.
    The danger at present is as the strain of trying to contol, cover up and maintain the facade begins to take its toll on the string pullers, the marionette may come to believe he is capable of actually being in charge and making intelligent and rational decisions.


  27. Fatty bin Laden says:

    Interesting that Byrd is the inspiration of hte left considering he was against civil rights and for holding black people down. True hero.

    Comment by person of interest — February 28, 2006 @ 12:00 pm

    Big difference between Byrd and right wingers–Byrd was smart enough to realize that he was going down the wrong path and he changed. And he could admit that he was wrong. That’s apparently not possible with the True Believers who continue to shill for the Bush administration.


  28. David says:

    Interesting that Byrd is the inspiration of hte left considering he was against civil rights and for holding black people down.

    As opposed to the moral mandarins of the right (Strom Thurmond, anyone?) who didn’t seem to need to have any change of heart, while fathering mixed-up children. No contradictions or hypocrisy there.


  29. David says:

    17- didn’t Agnew pull the same when he was about to get indicted? Nixon sure did.


  30. David says:

    In re Hilary: She is too polarizing and a known liar.

    And those are qualities that Republicans will only accept from their own, preferably white, male, candidates.


  31. Howdy Neighbor says:

    #30
    You could very well be right, I was a little shaver then and don’t remember all the gory details….
    We will have gone thru this twice now in our lifetimes, lets not have a third, eh?
    Got to make sure there are no Poindexters hiding in the basement when the House gets swept clean this time…….


  32. Clif says:

    After Georgie picking Dick terminated the long American tradition of picking a VP who would be capable of assuming the job of president should the need arise, anything is possible.

    Comment by Howdy Neighbor — February 28, 2006 @ 1:11 pm

    With the possible execption of Bush41 picking Dan Quayle


  33. kindness says:

    poi is funny.

    History lesson son, you obviously spent your time flogging the monkey…

    brownshirts/fascists are right wing totalitarian supporters, exactly like you & your stated views.. Liberals are typicalyy portrayed as socialists. Got that?

    If Condi ran for president, you’d never get those racist Republicans to hold their nose & vote for her. Your “Southern Strategy” has worked all too well in the republican party and is now too deeply engrained.

    Stop drinking the Kool-Aide, you’re obviously over your limit.


  34. cynical ex-hippie says:

    Can you picture Condi at a political rally in the South, with confederate flags flying?


  35. Spudge_Boy says:

    Interesting that Byrd is the inspiration of hte left considering he was against civil rights and for holding black people down. True hero.

    person of interest,

    CNN
    February 28, 2006
    Sen. Byrd regrets vote for Patriot Act

    Sen. Robert Byrd, the Senate’s dean and resident constitutional expert, counts only a few regrets in his 48-year Senate career: filibustering the 1964 Civil Rights Act, voting to expand the Vietnam War, deregulating airlines.

    Add to the list a new one from this century: supporting the anti-terror USA Patriot Act after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

    “The original Patriot Act is a case study in the perils of speed, herd instinct and lack of vigilance when it comes to legislating in times of crisis,” the West Virginia Democrat said Monday. “The Congress was stampeded, and the values of freedom, justice and equality received a trampling in the headlong rush.”

    Once again, a troll has brought up old news to discredit somebody. Too bad that Byrd has already admitted that it was wrong.

    Why is it that you fvcker can forgive Bush for his DUIs and coke habit, but you can’t forgive somebody else for doing something wrong, even after they have admitted it was wrong, where Bush still hasn’t admitted his coke habit.

    Hypocrit.


  36. Spudge_Boy says:

    brownshirts/fascists are right wing totalitarian supporters, exactly like you & your stated views.. Liberals are typicalyy portrayed as socialists. Got that?

    kindness,

    Isn’t it funny how people on the right don’t understand the difference between right and left. They think socialists are lefties and totalitarians are lefties also. What a bunch of dumbasses. One group cannot be both of those things.

    They have to come to grips with the fact that their type are where Nazis come from.


  37. Clif says:

    Spudge some of the leaders ancestorsactively worked for the Nazis in this country, Prescot Bush anyone?


  38. Spudge_Boy says:

    Absolutely Clif.

    I see your Prescott Bush and riase you a picture of him in front of the US Senate.

    null

    Sen. Prescott Bush, R-Conn, attemps to ‘disassociate himself’ from Missouri Sen. Stuart Symington during a hearing on Capital Hill in this Aug. 17, 1962 file photo. Government documents show that Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp., seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, government documents show. (AP Photo, File)


  39. kindness says:

    funny thing too, if he was to call me a socialist, I’d have to say there are things that I have a socialist philosophy on:

    national health care
    education
    transportation

    I don’t think utilities or energy companies should be for profit. Sure, they should cover capitol equipment/expansion costs & stuff but nothing like the OBSCENE profits the oil industries currently generate.

    Now, I don’t want an administration to tell everyone everything either. So I kinda wander from liberal to socialist to libertarian.

    So….reichtwingnutz,,,,there are PLEANTY of things to make fun about us on without resorting to showing off your lack of education.


  40. Howdy Neighbor says:

    #33 How could I have forgotten that one?
    Perhaps the neo-cons were a bit dyslexic at the time…….
    Thanks guys, for #38 and #39!


  41. . says:

    #34

    I see your point Kindness. I guess thats why Blackwell, Steele and Swann are running as democrats.


  42. snookered says:

    Feingold is the best man to be US president.


  43. David says:

    Blackwell, Steele and Swann

    Hey, maybe they do believe in quotas after all.


  44. jim says:

    we haven’t had an “election” by definition in two presidential cycles. what makes everyone so sure there will be another? it’s not those that vote, but those that count the vote, that count


  45. bluespeak says:

    Thank you Senator Byrd for having the temerity to find your voice on the Patriot Act. One wonders why you did not see as clearly on the Alito cloture matter which has the potential to have as devastating an effect on the rights of citizens – and most specifically the rights of women in this country. Perhaps you will find the time to illucidate more clearly your position. Thank you also for your clear stands against the insanity in Iraq.


  46. Heynow says:

    The Dems are just as stupid as the Reps… One vote… they have to be commended. The rest are total idiots. Its not just Bushs’ fault we are in a mess. Any idiot could have seen the Iraq war was a lie. 2006 should be just a clean house election. People who are there now should be thrown out by voters. Bush is a failure, but so is the senate and congress. So pathetic. At least Bush has principles, even though he is mad as a hatter. The Dems are far worse because they don’t stand up to him when it counts. Then they have the nerve to complain and whine after Bush does what he wants.



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