An excellent example of liberal media bias.

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WV has an awful education system and an awful health care system. I feel bad for the residents there. Byrd could be doing a lot more but I doubt he cares.

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How do you know this? I am not questioning that you know it or that the statement is accurate -- I don't have any idea -- just wondering how you come about your information about West Virginia. The rest of the US isn't exactly wrapped up in West Virginia's affairs.

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WV has an awful education system and an awful health care system. I feel bad for the residents there. Byrd could be doing a lot more but I doubt he cares.

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How do you know this? I am not questioning that you know it or that the statement is accurate -- I don't have any idea -- just wondering how you come about your information about West Virginia. The rest of the US isn't exactly wrapped up in West Virginia's affairs.

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I look at the rankings that various organizations put out ranking the state in their number of childern covered under health care and the adequacy of the state education systems.

Here's an example:

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"West Virginia is the most undereducated state in the nation, recent Census figures show, and it’s not just because it’s also one of the oldest states in the nation."

"For decades, West Virginia has ranked low on lists of education attainment, that is, the highest level of education people have completed. It’s made some improvements, but it’s fallen further and further behind in the national rankings -- not because it hasn't made progress, but because other states have made more progress.

West Virginia is the only state in the bottom five in both percentage of people ages 25 and older with high school diplomas and percentage with at least a four-year college degree.

Because education and income are linked, it may be no wonder that the least educated state is also the state with the lowest household income and among the lowest in per-capita income."

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It is clear that West Virginians need some federal help.

We shouldn't consign people to poverty just because they don't have the means to afford a quality education.

It can't be done at the state level because the incomes in the state are not high enough. The state is tapped.

[BCPVP]

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He should be challenged in the WV Democratic primary by a true liberal. Byrd doesn't give a [censored] about WV. He's too focused with grabbing more and more pork to name more [censored] after himself in WV.

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And a true liberal wouldn't be focused on grabbing more pork...?

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He should be challenged in the WV Democratic primary by a true liberal. Byrd doesn't give a [censored] about WV. He's too focused with grabbing more and more pork to name more [censored] after himself in WV.

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And a true liberal wouldn't be focused on grabbing more pork...?

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Conservatives grab a lot of pork as well. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Pork is not bad, but Byrd grabs pork just so he can get [censored] named after himself, and a lot of it doesn't even go to actually help people.

I don't believe in pork for [censored] like a theatre or an exhibit on the mating patterns of some exotic bug.

Pork for a hospital to build a new children's ward to treat infectious diseases, would be good pork, in my opinion.

Or money from Washington for new computers at an elementary school. Good idea.

[BCPVP]

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Conservatives grab a lot of pork as well.

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Several Republicans grab a lot of pork (Ted Stevens of Alaska comes to mind!). Fiscal conservatives should not be grabbing pork.

When I think pork, I think waste that should come from the level at which the money would benefit. Federal money shouldn't be spent on things like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's waste.

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You totally ignored the rest of my post. I agree that crap like this is a total waste.

But if it is going to something worthwhile like a hospital or a school, then it's a different story.

[Cyrus]

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[Robert Byrd] used the phrase "white nigger" on Fox News Sunday. " The ex-Klansman showed his true colors when asked by Fox News Sunday morning talk show host Tony Snow about the state of race relations in America. Sen. Byrd warned: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

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You think I belong to the Robert Byrd Fan Club, think again. If he is a racist, he is racist and should be denounced for that - period. If he is not (any more), I would not have a problem ignoring his "youthful indiscretions". And not because he is a Democrat, either.

Now, that quote from Fox sounds racist indeed. Was it? I do not know the context. (I don't care for the interpretation by Fox.) I hear the word "nigger" used routinely by people who have not a single racist bone in their body. Perhaps I should just mention Tarantino here. Anyway, I would rally want to learn more before I agree that "Byrd is still a racist".

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Pwned.

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A couple of presidential elections ago, or more, I saw a clip on TV from likely voters being polled and there was this one redneck right out from central casting, tatoos, fat, baseball hat, dirty clothes, the works. He was a rustbelt unemployed man, and the field of candidates was looking like the usual offering of bastards to him - except for Rev. Jesse Jackson who, at the time, was railing against corporate America. The redneck looked straight at the camera and said "I'm with the nigger".

Perfect.

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I'd never heard Tarantino use that word in discussions or conversations, but I don't follow him close enough to know for sure if he has or not publicly. I know that he uses a lot in his movies. So do rappers. That's not the point.

The point is that it is all about context, as you said. And if it can't be determined from that, then you look at the person and their history of remarks. Byrd has been making racist remarks for decades.

There is no reason for us to conclude that his remarks on Fox News Sunday were anything but racist.


And the anecdote involving Jesse Jackson has nothing to do with this discussion.

I think that you are being too partisan here. Just because Byrd is a Democrat, just because he opposed the war(good on him, btw), doesn't mean that he should be immune from criticism and attacks.