Byrd will be replaced by an appointed Senator for the next two years. Since West Virginia has a Democratic Governor, the partisan balance of the Senate won’t be disturbed. But other things will be.
It is highly unlikely that Byrd’s replacement will have any of Byrd’s committee chairmanships or responsibilities and certainly none of the respect bestowed on the late Senator. West Virginia will lose its greatest advocate and will sorely miss its longest serving Senator. Byrd was committed to reducing the state’s immense poverty through his role as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Moreover, he was devoted to the Constitution and the institution of the Senate. His sound leadership (and poetic prose) will be missed throughout the Senate and across the aisle.
It will be a difficult feat to fill the shoes of Senator Byrd. This two year transition period may give Governor Manchin, who has shown interest in the office but has already said he won’t appoint himself, a chance to escape the direct shadow of Byrd and shape his own objectives during a campaign. Manchin made the right decision because he would ruin his chances if he appointed himself and attempted to live up to Byrd immediately following his death.
8 comments:
IF Byrd was really committed to lowering poverty, he would have lowered taxes, eased burdensome regulations, opposed unionization, and cut government spending. Everything Byrd did only INCREASED the poverty of West Virginia and the nation by keeping people dependent on the government.
I would like to see polling about whether Republicans would have a better chance of picking up the Byrd seat in a 2010 special or the 2012 general.
If Republicans were committed to America, they'd have refrained from running up ten trillion dollars in debt over the last thirty years, cutting regulations to the point of uselessness, handing giant subsidies to the already-rich, and opposing unionization. By fighting to make the ultrawealthy pay their fair share, protect the interests of blue-collar mine workers by helping them organize, and bringing West Virginia's infrastructure up to modern standards, he saved hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents from grinding poverty.
Only a tiny fringe of crazed ideologues continue to babble about regulation being a bad idea in the wake of the BP oil spill in the gulf.
NRH, you have just proved how EVIL and IGNORANT you really are.
Regulations SHOULD be cut. Regulations are immoral intrusions on liberty.
UNIONIZATION IS EVIL. Unions should be opposed for the vicious, violent, abusive, evil thugs that they are.
Democrats also show that they are evil by demonizing the rich. The rich already are forced to pay MORE THAN THEIR FAIR SHARE****. Anyone who demonizes the rich like you is just a selfish, delusion brat. "The rich" are the successful honest people who produce EVERYTHING OF VALUE, even in the face of ENDLESS PERSECUTION by the government.
Democrats are the source of everything that is WRONG with America. The ONLY thing Republicans ever do wrong is when they go TOO FAR TO THE LEFT.
Everything Democrats support is EVIL. Everything Democrats support is harmful. Republicans are to be PRAISED for opposing Democrat tyranny. If only Republicans would be more "right-wing" we could actually fix Democrats' destruction of America.
**** http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23856.html
The real story of the day is the US stock markets' collapse to 8-month lows as the end of tax credits and other "stimulus" show just how phony Democrats' schemes always were... and just how thoroughly Democrats have destroyed the economy.
This is why Democrats will necessarily lose in the end. Their tyrannically abusive economic policies destroy the nation's economy. Republicans are like the frog and Democrats the scorpion. Republicans are the ones generous enough to provide everything of value to society. And Democrats are the evil parasites who steal from honest people. But you can't blame Democrats; they're just evil scorpions, that's just their wicked nature.
"Byrd was committed to reducing the state’s immense poverty through his role as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. "
Heh. I literally laughed out loud when I saw that. All the government "freebies", yet still so much poverty. I'll let you connect those dots...
Just the latest evidence of why unions are evil thugs and unionization should be opposed by all moral people:
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/06/29/union-thugs-attack-construction-workers-with-bats-at-toys-r-us/
NRH, all who are committed to America oppose unions. Unions are evil thugs who should be opposed by all moral people. Only evil thugs condone union extortion. Unions are pests that are destroying America.
Love Bug, someone needs to explain to you that when you were 'committed' to that nice building with the I-love-me jacket and the padded walls, that didn't mean what you think it means. Unionization is responsible for the forty-hour workweek, the existence of the weekend, the existence of workplace safety standards, and generally everything that modern-day workers rely on to permit them to enjoy the American way of life. Even in heavily union-friendly states, companies have an easy way to keep their workers from forming a union - provide an equitable work environment with honest distributions of bonuses and salaries. Unions are in fact comprised of Americans working together in the finest American traditions - and, by the way, massively outnumbering the crazy little fringe of right-wing extremists who decided to call themselves teabaggers.
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