Byrd on Bush: "The Senate can send you home. You better believe that"

[Bob Geiger]

There's not much that's glamorous about the part of covering the Senate that requires reading through hundreds of pages of Congressional Record a week. But, if you're a wonkish sort, it can be endlessly fascinating and can sometimes even yield pure gold.

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) gave a short speech when the U.S. Senate returned from recess yesterday and the longest-serving member in Congress renewed his commitment to the Senate resuming the role it traditionally held until the Republicans took over.

"Senators and other close observers of the institution have grappled with their own ideas about the Senate seeking to highlight its unique and enduring attributes, and to explain its role in the American system of checks and balances. What is it? What is it? What is it that makes the Senate stand apart from other legislative bodies?" said Byrd on the Senate floor Monday."

"But, if the Lord wills it -- God willing, in other words -- over the next few months I plan to offer a series of addresses in which I shall sample these ideas of the Senate with some explanation of each observer," continued the 88-year-old Byrd, considered by his colleagues to be the Senate's premier authority on the body's history. "Their ideas have ranged from the necessity of the Senate to its role as a balance wheel with the "People's House," the other body. They have focused on the rules of the Senate and its civility and decorum. They have viewed the Senate as a protector of constitutional liberties, a source of stability, and a product of politics."

But here's where Byrd really kicks his philosophical speech into gear and addresses George W. Bush -- based on Bush's perceived control of the Senate, via the rubber-stamp GOP majority -- and, most importantly, broaches the subject of impeachment.

Despite more than two centuries of pressure to change and "modernize" the Senate, as an institution, it remains remarkably similar to the body created at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It retains all of its original powers, including providing advice and consent -- yes. You said it. You better read that again in the Constitution.

It retains all of its original powers, including providing advice and consent to Presidents on nominations and on treaties, serving as a court of impeachment -- you better believe it, Mr. President. The Senate can send you home. You better believe that.

If the House impeaches you, the Senate will try you. The Senate, don't forget it, serves as a court of impeachment and has an equal say with the House on legislation. The Senate has an equal say with the other body on legislation.

"If the House impeaches you, the Senate will try you." Man, I like the sound of that.

Byrd, who lost his wife of 68 years just last month, then went on to reinforce the talks he will give in the weeks ahead, saying that his words "…will suggest, the distinctive features of the Senate have survived for so long because they have purpose and will endure as long as they serve the good of the Nation."

Between that and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) lashing out at Bush today, you've got to like whatever gumption some of these guys found while they were on their Congressional break.

You can reach Bob Geiger at [e-mail] and read more from him at Democrats.com.

[William769]

1. Just one of the many reasons, I love that man!

[saltpoint]

2. "The Senate can send you home, Mr. President." Hot Dog.

[Pierzin]

4. God Bless Senator Byrd!!!

[lonestarnot]

34. That's a Crackerjack!

:popcorn: all around!

[DearAbby]

3. I like the sound of that

"If the House impeaches you, the Senate will try you."


Heck, yes!

you better believe it, Mr. President. The Senate can send you home. You better believe that.


Double heck, yes!

[Homer Wells]

5. Hot Damn!!!

Thats our man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :wow: :wow: :wow:
:kick: :kick: :kick: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :party: :party:

Good for you, Senator Byrd

:hippie:

[windbreeze]

6. Let's just not forget this one thing, whilst we celebrate

that one thing is...that cornered animals become very dangerous...so with the polls free falling...all that re-election mandate gone, vanished...maybe we should wonder what that this man/bunch is really capable of...the closer it gets...the more I worry about whether he/they are going to allow anyone to take it away from them....I seriously doubt it and I will be very surprised if they do...they worked for many years, (at the very least, several decades), to manipulate a complete take over of every branch of gov't...I can't see them walking away quietly now, or better yet...allowing any Congress to try to impeach them and send them home...and I hope to hell I'm wrong...
windbreeze

[durtee librul]

22. Windbreeze,

I couldna said it better myself! These rats will do anything to save themselves and there is no honor among theives....and this is what they all are.

They won't go quietly and they won't go quickly either. The lessons they have learned from the '00 and '04 elections and how to 'sway' them their way.....they aren't forgotten and you can take it to the bank, it's all gonna come out again in November...

And lest we all think that Rove is going away, or that his tricks are going to go away regardless of the GJ.....fuggedaboutit. His 'legacy' of lie, cheat and steal' will be with us a long time which is really the saddest fact of this admin.....we won't forget, but then neither will the history books and that in itself is a small comfort to me (course i am assuming that books will still be allowed!).

Think about that for a minute - - Fright white momma's dream of a Bush dynasty....Jeb, the dummy, Hubby, the one term loser who upchucks on foreign dignitaries, drunken gand daughters fathered by a drunk and drug addicted draft dodger....the list goes on....

It's like I said, a small comfort that the Bush clan will be laughed at in the future.

[elocs]

37. I have thought this for a long time now.

The lower Bush's numbers drop, the more dangerous he will become. We can look forward to a summer of orange terror alerts or worse. Wingers give Bush credit for no further 9/11s on his watch, aside from the big one that DID happen on his watch, but if another happens by chance or otherwise they will not blame him. For Bush, a great heads I win, tails you lose scenerio. If the Dems take one or either house next fall, then watch out. I do not see Bush and the neocons going gently into that good night. In that case I would fear for the future of the Republic. We will also need the help of honest and truly patriotic Republican leaders such as Senator Howard Baker who asked during the Watergate hearings, "What did the President know and when did he know it?"

[fooj]

7. Let's get this on the greatest page......

Peace.

[joanski0]

8. I was watching when Sen. Byrd gave that

speech. It was wonderful. By the way, Senator Byrd looked a lot stronger to me than he did before the Easter Recess. I was glad to see that. We need him.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. K&R -- and welcome to DU!

[autorank]

10. I want VA to merge with WVA so we can have a Senator worthy of our roots.

Jefferson, Madison, Mason, and, most certainly the rabble rouser, Patrick Henry would have all looked as Byrd as a peer. Lets do it. Merge "Virginia is for Lovers" with "West Virginia, Wild & Wonderful" and you've got Byrd and our new Senator to be, Webb. The state motto could be changed to "Virgos for Wild Lovers, Wonderful!"

[Petrushka]

19. Ps-st! Don't look now, but . . .

. . . DINO Governor Manchin changed the welcome signs to:

West Virginia, Open for Business



So-o . . . hm-m??


Virgo Lovers Open for Business



:eyes:

[autorank]

31. "Virgos" haha. Uncritical use of spell check. "Virginia" is the term I

misspelled. But then again, "The poor workman always blames his tool.";)

You Virgos are so helpful, keep everything running, service and that. You deserve more pub.

[Vadem]

28. Yeah, I'm a Virgo, so I'll go along with your premise........n/t

[autorank]

11. Bob Geiber, Welcome to DU!!! Very Welcome n/t

[raccoon]

12. I love Byrd! He's one of the few in Congress, D or R, who has

any backbone.

[PegDAC]

29. Now that Fritz Hollings is gone,

Sen. Byrd is one of our greatest senior statesmen.

[Jose Diablo]

13. Byrd tells Bu$h, the Senate can give you a time-out

LOL, I love it when Byrd spanks those young puppies.

[Ishoutandscream2]

14. Senator, just hang on

I know elderly spouses who lose their husbands/wives have a very short live expectancy afterwards. Make this, Senator, your driving force. We need you to continue fighting against the forces of darkness. We need you sir, now more than ever.

[radio4progressives]

15. not a damn word of this in yesterday's msm cable news shows...

i wouldn't have known about this because i've been very busy with other stuff these past several weeks - (moving) and i would not have had the pleasure of even imagining Sen Byrd's senate floor remarks or the pleasure of reading them were it not posted here..

i didn't even hear about it on air america - maybe i missed it...
i was busy..

and another thing the msm hasn't reported are the three state resolutions for impeaching the president..

not a freaking hint any of this occured yet... typical yes.

but just the same, shouldn't they be given holy hell (by the viewing citzenry) for failing to mention these remarkable events?

instead let's hold a public trial in the media on the lacrosse rape case ...

[PegDAC]

30. I'm surprised

that Keith Olbermann hasn't covered this.

[samhsarah]

16. I would rather they send him to the Hague.....

But for now I'll settle for home.

[pat_k]

17. Impeach to Win!!

http://impeachtowin.com

[Strawman]

18. meh. we'll see Bob

This is a message about the Senate first and foremost and Presidential power threatening it. And I'm all for reigning in this president's power and for impeachment in principle, but I'm not sure I buy all the rest of the argument.

Byrd is technically right. The Senate retains all its powers on paper and I think Byrd has placed retaining those formal powers above everything else. What really seems to bother him is when the Senate is threatened or ignored or irrelevant. If that means rolling over on right-wing SCOTUS appointments to avoid the nuclear option (congrats on your embrace of Alito Bob, that was a shining moment where the institution's relevance prevailed :sarcasm:), that's fine so long as the standing rules and customs survive...on paper. What have they done over the last six years to make anyone here think they'd be inclined to send Chimpy home?

In a couple years, when we have the House and the White House and are nominating judges, I wonder how many people will be so enamored with the Senate as an institution. If the Republicans in the red states keep moving right and they still retain at least 21 red states out of 50, we'll see if anyone cares about the deliberative function of the Senate (as if real deliberation goes on there anymore).

I don't know. Just throwing it out there since everyone is reacting to the utterance of the word impeachment (which is a bunch of hot air coming form this bunch of Dem Senators) and not engaging the crux of the argument. I could be wrong about the usefulness of the Senate as an institution. I think it's silly to pretend that the Senate continues to perform it's traditional role. It clearly doesn't. What's deliberative about voting on giant omnibus legislation you don't bother to read? That's how the sausage is made. The crux of Byrd's argument is a defense of an inherently reactionary anti-majoritarian institution. When we're in power and have House and Senate majorities I think we should fucking steamroll them rather than give the fundies and reactionaries the opportunity to put the brakes on reform in deference to tradition.

I could give a damn about the Senate's prerogatives and traditional role. Alot of good that's done us in the minority (War, right-wing judges, etc.) and it will be a roadblock when we're back in the majority where were for about 50 years with only minimal interruptions after the New Deal. The majority is where we belong since we represent the interests of the overwhelming majority of people in this country. That's where we're gonna be and that's where I'll hang my hat.

[scarletwoman]

21. Thank you for a dash of reality.

I'm an old timer here, since mid-2001 (I rarely post anymore). I only mention this in order to point out that over the past 5 years there have been LOTS of threads about stirring, heroic Robert Byrd speeches (yes, my friends, he's been speechifying mightily throughout the entire installation of the bush* cabal)

Years ago, DUers organized our very first flower extravaganza for Senator Byrd for some stirring speech or another pre-Iraq invasion.

I'm much less easily impressed at this point. To me, his avowed plan to "offer a series of addresses" deliniating, apparently, the nature and definition of the Senate as an institution, rather comes off as self-aggrandizing naval gazing, and of little practical use.

Not that I don't think that he has wisdom to offer -- however, the country as a WHOLE, our Constitution, our form of government, our society -- EVERYTHING -- are all extremely endangered. The arcana of Senate traditions have not clearly NOT provided any kind of effective protection against the takeover of our government by what is basically an extremely powerful criminal syndicate.

If you want to believe that long-winded speeches before an essentially empty chamber, (which is how most of Senator Byrd's inspiring speeches have gone down for the past five years), unnoticed and uncovered by most mainstream news sources will somehow produce salutory results, more power to you.

Myself, I just see an old politician mainly looking for a shot at rhetorical immortality. He's not so much concerned with the fate of our republic as he is with his personal historical legacy. Not a wholly unadmirable effort -- in other, less crisis-ridden times, I'd happily cheer him on.

It must be kept in mind that through his ACTIONS (like his vote to confirm Alito) he has allowed and abetted much more than he has ever forestalled by his rhetoric. His stirring speeches over the past 5+ years have neither stopped nor slowed the bush* juggernaut one whit.

sw

[motocicleta]

27. Thank you both

Are we so starved for attention that we are willing to forgive all trespasses for one utterance of impeachment? For someone threatening to send Bush home?
For a guy that voted for Alito, that is nowhere near enough for me.
The damage has been done, and I will start believing in the Washington Dems when they have gotten Bush sent home, or to The Hague, gotten some movement towards dealing with climate change, and brought our troops home. Not before.

[Voltaire99]

33. Agreed. Let Byrd jabber.

Actions speak loudest, and his vote for Alito spoke volumes.

Leave him to his belles lettres. In his windy addresses, Byrd reminds us of the role his party has shamefully come to occupy: ceremonial decoration. The worst president in history could not have hoped for a better "opposition."

[LeahD]

32. Exactly! Speeches that no one hears mean little, and

his vote for Alito was heard from sea to shining sea. We'll suffer the consequences of that vote for years.

[FighttheFuture]

20. The "gumption" they found was very deserved lashings from their...

constituency. At least Pelosi, I suspect. Byrd has always been rather candid.

[rainy]

23. Robert Byrd has my heart ever since he stood on that floor

and denounced Bush and his war plans. He fought the good fight and he was heroic.
I hope history prints his words over and over again when this regime collapses.

[panzerfaust]

24. Bush is a turd ...

... swirling down the toilet bowl of history.

Sadly, he is taking America down the drain with him.

The senators of the United States, like the senators of Ancient Rome, waited too long to act: The Republics were gone by the time they awoke.

[Vadem]

25. I was watching C-Span and saw him say that.....I was screaming..

at the TV and cheering on Bob Byrd (the Senator from my hometown of Sophia, WV!!!) I love him! I'm really amazed at how energetic he seems after the death of his wife of 60 years, although, she was very sick for many years and perhaps he feels it is a blessing that she has passed on to prevent her from having more pain. God love him!

[Independent_Liberal]

26. You said it Mr. Byrd!

The Senate can send you home. And when you get sent home, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

:)

[NavyDavy]

35. Man, some of you guys/gals, and you know which ones I am talking

about, can take good stories and turn them into the "sky is falling stories". There is to much negativity from a few posters at DU no matter what will say something to take the wind out of our sails.

Before you attack me for being new to DU, I am not new I have been here since 2003.

Just my -1 cent.

I respect all my fellow Dems, even those who I disagree with : P

thank you

[Demeter]

36. The Senate Better Send Him To Jail or the Hague!

He doesn't deserve a bus ticket home. No cushy retirement for BushCo, not a one!