PREDICTABLE TASTELESSNESS…. Right-wing blogs are not known for reaching heights of decency, so perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising when a site called “Confederate Yankee” published a post yesterday, hoping to see Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) die in order to block health care reform.
The post was headlined “All I Want Is A Byrd Dropping For Christmas.” It added that if Byrd didn’t die, the blogger would settle: “Even a nice coma would do.”
I was also struck by the conclusion, in which “Confederate Yankee” conceded that some may be offended by such distasteful commentary. He responded:
I’d remind them that the party wheeling in a near invalid to vote in favor of this unread monstrosity of a bill is the one that should feel shame.
What an interesting argument. As “Confederate Yankee” sees it, he can call for the death of a U.S. senator, so that 30 million uninsured Americans won’t get health care coverage. That’s fine. But if there’s an expectation that the senator vote on the legislation, reform proponents ought to feel embarrassed.
I knew there was a reason I stopped reading right-wing blogs.
For what it’s worth, “Confederate Yankee” has it backwards — Democrats didn’t create the circumstances that forced Byrd to vote; Republicans did: “[T]he ailing Robert Byrd was wheeled in at 1 a.m. to break a filibuster on the manager’s amendment. Byrd’s presence was not required, especially considering that he’d clearly telegraphed his intention to vote to break the filibuster. But Republicans forced him to travel to the chamber…. The Senate hasn’t just lost a bit of its collegiality. It’s become heartlessly ferocious — a place where the death of an honored friend presents an opportunity to kill his legislation, and in which the infirmity of an ailing colleague is seen as a potential path to procedural victory.”
