heard on religious right broadcast,,R Byrd voted for FMA!!!!!!!!!!

[bobbieinok]

know anything about this????

Richard Land listed the democrats who voted for and the republicans who voted against

and said there would be new members in congress because true Americans would vote out all senators against ...... at least those up for reelection

[DemBones DemBones]

1. So? He was steadfastly opposed to the war and

was all alone in filibustering against it. I'll always be grateful to him for that & won't beat up on him for other votes. FMA was doomed, anyway, so he could have been doing it to make some of his constituents happy, knowing it wouldn't pass.

[proud patriot]

2. Sad but True

:-(

[hlthe2b]

16. Heavens to Betsy! There has been NO vote on FMA at all--

only a PROCEDURAL vote to continue (or not to continue) discussion on the bill and proceed to a vote on the bill itself: i.e., a CLOTURE vote.

Now, Byrd's position may well be opposed to gay marriage, but one can NOT necessarily conclude this from a vote on cloture. Byrd is a constitutional scholar and procedural advocate for the Senate. This may be impacting his vote on cloture. Unless someone has info on Byrd's specific view on gay marriage and a constitutional ban, then I think this is not a relevent discussion.

[theHandpuppet]

20. Byrd's views on gay rights...

Since you asked...

Robert Byrd has received an abysmal 29% score on the Human Rights Campaign's Congressional Scorecard, one of the worst in the Senate. You may find the information at www.hrc.org

Edited to add: That 29% was even *before* his vote for cloture on the FMA

[hlthe2b]

22. I looked at this and went further into Byrd's statements...

sadly, he is still entrenched in his old views, it appears...

[TeacherCreature]

23. uh huh

His old ways would be because he is old. He is religious, he has a lot of life conditioning to overcome. I forgive him, but I can garauntee you that he has way too much for the constitution to have ever voted for the ammendment had that come to a vote.

[hlthe2b]

25. Yes.. that was my original point... I see that he does not favor gay

marriage, (and clearly is not a major advocate for gay issues), but have not seen anywhere documentation of his specific stand on a constitutional amendment. Given that there are many Senators (of both parties) that have stated personal opposition to gay marriage-- but want to leave it up to the states and/or specifically oppose a constitutional "ban"-- it becomes hard to know how many would vote without a specific statement to the issue.

I too have to think that he would oppose the amendment to the constitution, regardless of his personal views on gay marriage. Perhaps we'll hear his specific view on this tomorrow, when he appears on MTP.

Regardless, his advocacy against the war makes it hard for me to discount him, regardless of whether he disappoints on this issue.

[nostamj]

3. it's true

much as I admire Byrd for his attacks on BushCo and the Iraq Invasion, his record on gay rights issues sucks...

[joanski01]

4. Yeah, Senator Byrd voted for it.

I heard it live on C-Span2. I was shocked! By the way, Senator Byrd is supposed to be on Meet the Press tomorrow morning, Sunday, 7/18. Maybe Timmy will ask him about it.

[Khephra]

5. It's been mentioned here several times

I've yet to find a single politician that votes "with me" 100% of the time. Maybe Wellstone, but that's about it, and I'm just guessing there.

[burythehatchet]

6. yep, the 2 dems were Byrd and Zell

not good company to be sure.

[Cha]

10. There were 3 Dems...I believe Ben Nelson was the

other. And 6 repubs who voted against it.

[Citizen Daryl]

18. Byrd and Zell? Then who were the 2 dems? n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

24. Get off it, Byrd's a good Dem in many ways.

Miller was a good Democratic governor and deserves credit for that but he's been a terrible senator.

[Fenris]

7. Yes, but it wasn't a surprise

His record on gay rights is quite poor.

[spanone]

12. He is supposed to be talking about Iraq and Politics.

This should be very interesting. He has no love for bushco.

[mzmolly]

8. Another example of imperfect human beings.

eom

[wndycty]

9. I am not surprised. . .

. . .there are very few senators who will get 100% approval for their votes. This is not to defend his vote its just to say that senators are human and just like with other DUers we will not always support the opinions of some of our favorite elected officials. Remember we were all not in agreement on who the party's nominee should be.

Also remember that Byrd represents West Virginia, not New York, not California, not Illinois, etc. . .and many of his core values reflect that of the state from which he comes.

[LiberalFighter]

11. He has been around a long time...

and has made changes with the time. There are some things that are not going to happen. And it would probably be pointless to elect someone else to replace him considering the liklihood that they would vote the same way on that issue.

It is the Senators from other states that might change given time. Nothing happens overnight. It takes persistance.

[eyesroll]

13. This was NOT a vote on the FMA -- it was a vote to end the filibuster

Byrd and Nelson said they would have voted it down had they brought it to a vote (Miller would have voted yes).

While keeping the filibuster ensured no one had to actually vote on the bill, it's not the same thing as supporting FMA.

See Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/7/14/154455/621

[TeacherCreature]

15. Thank you for letting us know that

I am glad to hear he would have voted it down had the actual admendment come to a vote.
Still either way I would have forgiven him. He is a social conservative and he is an old man. I will never forget his filibustering in the senate last year. He was brilliant and brave and for that I will stand for hours in the rain to pass by his coffin when he goes....hopefully a long long time from now.

[AlinPA]

14. That vote was not the actual FMA; it was the cloture vote to bring FMA

to a roll call vote. Some senators said they would have voted against FMA when the vote was actually to be made, for example, Specter of PA said he would have voted no.

[IronLionZion]

19. There are a lot of liberal weiners who don't care about the truth

If they hear from their brother's neighbor's cousin's dog's friend that some Democrat didn't vote the way they wanted, they throw a hissy fit. :P

on edit: there are a lot of conservative weiners who do it too. simmer down now!

[yardwork]

17. I think that Byrd voted to continue discussion because it made the Right

look so stupid, the more they talked about it.

I would have been tempted to vote to continue discussion. Let Santorum run his mouth some more. Let the other Repukes take their turn. Get them on record.

[Forkboy]

21. That's what I think to

I bet he was enjoying watching the right squirm :)

[jpgray]

29. I think you're confused about what a cloture vote is

Byrd voted to END discussion and bring the issue to a vote.

[Amarant]

26. Byrd has issues with

atheists and LGBT people unfortunately.

[TeacherCreature]

28. Atheists have problems with Christians

:shrug:

Some gay men have a problem with choice. I think we will all survive.

[tritsofme]

27. Some old habits don't die nt

[AngryAmish]

30. Remember, he was in the KKK

I guess bigotry is difficult to stamp out.

[Hubert Flottz]

31. Robert Byrd is God!

PLEASE, Remember that shit! If he runs again he's got my vote again!

Flame on! * Flame Out!

[jonnyblitz]

32. yeah, its ok for a DEM to be a homophobic asshole...

as long as he has that D next to him name...snicker..

[jpgray]

33. If Kerry had done it, there would have been a public lynching

Byrd's statements on the runup to war have more to do with his protection, I think, than his party affiliation.