I just naively went to Google news stories on this Robert Byrd-Chris Dodd brouhaha and, of course, that there is little controversy outside the blogosphere and right-wing radio. To summarize, Dodd said, at the Byrd’s milestone 17,000th vote: “It has often been said that the man and the moment come together. I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great senator at any moment. Some were right for the time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been right at any time.” That would former KKK-er Robert Byrd. Dodd went on to say, ” He would have been right at the founding of this country. He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution. He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this Nation. He would have been right at the great moments of international threat we faced in the 20th century. I cannot think of a single moment in this Nation’s 220-plus year history where he would not have been a valuable asset to this country. Certainly today that is not any less true.”
Dodd was just being nice to a (very) senior senator who happened to stand for some terrible things a long while back. Now replace “Dodd” with “Lott” If Lott had to resign his leadership position for saying something stupid in a tribute to Strom Thurmond, shouldn’t there AT LEAST BE PRESS COVERAGE of the Dodd remarks?