When Ted Kennedy died, there was a media shit-storm. Why nothing for Byrd?

[LLStarks]

I don't get it.

[slackmaster]

1. Ted Kennedy was a Kennedy

Senator Byrd was not.

[WI_DEM]

2. Well, I like and respect Byrd but Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family has held a

more special place in the American heart and history, so I understand it.

[tanyev]

3. Well, there's only so much shit to go around, see.

It's already been allocated to other stories.

[EFerrari]

4. There's probably less tape for Senator Byrd on hand.

I hope there will be some tributes, though.

[PCIntern]

5. the end of the Kennedy-era in toto...

now it's like the Barrymores...only the legend lives on...there's no real talent to speak of due to the natural process of entropy...

[Possumpoint]

6. Byrd Had Three Strikes

1). He wasn't a Kennedy.

2). He joined the KKK.

3) He opposed civil rights.

He repeatedly apologized for 2 and 3 but couldn't do anything about #1.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. He's not a Kennedy. Kennedys are mythological.

Byrds are not.

[virginia mountainman]

8. I would venture a bet,

That their is a fair bit of elitism going on...

Kennedy was viewed much more favorably by MSM, they identified far more with Ted, than with Senator Byrd, who was a "hillbilly".

I, as a resident of Appalachia, see this sort of "bigotry" all the time. It is actually condoned by many...

[EFerrari]

9. I think you're giving the media much too much credit.

Most of them probably can't name the state he was from, let alone, find it on a map. ;)

[virginia mountainman]

10. your probably right...LOL nt

[CountAllVotes]

11. you are so right

some cannot even spell his surname properly much less do they know who SENATOR BYRD was. :(

[Mimosa]

15. ^ LOL!^

Like who goes to W. Va anyway. The big shots can identify with Martha's Vineyard , Hyannisport and Boston.

But as a Southerner, I have to say anybody with a KKK back ground isn't my kind of person and never would be. That's stepping beyond the palings.

[EFerrari]

17. It's not about WV as much as it is that most Americans don't shine at geography.

My cultural anthro prof had to do a segment on basic geography at the top of his class just so he wouldn't lose everyone in the first week. lol

[polmaven]

19. Did Senator Byrd

have a brother who was president? Did he have 2 brothers assassinated? Did he, himself, run for president?

[Sheltiemama]

26. The Kagan hearings are partly to blame.

Byrd had the misfortune to die on a busy news day.

[lpbk2713]

12. There was no Byrd dynasty.

And he was never associated with Camelot.

[sandnsea]

13. Well, The Liberal Lion of the Kennedy Dynasty

vs a senator.

You really don't get it?

[Bert]

14. Filibster proof majority already gone

When Kennedy died it may have had more to do with our filibuster proof majority, though few thought we would actually lose his seat. Also the health care debate was still in full swing and he was right in the middle of it. Plus he is the last surviving Kennedy from his brothers Jack and Robert.

[Radical Activist]

16. For the same reason that mountaintop removal went on for so long.

Kennedy represents a wealthy Northeastern state and Byrd represents some backwater state full of poor hicks that none of the national press want to visit.

[davidinalameda]

18. as one of those poor hicks in that backwater state

I hope the fuck you stay in Illinois

[Radical Activist]

21. You disagree?

You think the press treats West Virginia fairly just the same as Boston? Do you think there aren't a lot of reporters with that attitude.

And do you think for one minute that the West Virginia mountains would be blown to shit if the people living next to them were rich? It wouldn't happen to the Adirondacks in a million years because too many old, rich families with names like Roosevelt have their summer homes there.

Maybe you didn't get my point. I was describing the attitude of reporters. Not mine.

[davidinalameda]

25. sorry

your choice of slurs just made it seem like you were referring to my fellow West Virginians as dumb hicks

[Tailormyst]

20. Ted was a kennedy and Byrd was 92

[stray cat]

22. My grandmother who died at 91 just short of her 92 b-day didn't get fanfare either

[GlennWRECK]

23. Who exactly was your grandma?

A good attempt at humor

[WinkyDink]

24. Gee, why no TV movies about Byrd? Or tons of books? Or reams of gossip? Cf., "20th Century".

[miscsoc]

27. Ted's brother was the president and got shot, basically

[Art_from_Ark]

30. All three of them ran for President

One was elected, but he was shot.
Another would have been elected, but he also got shot.

[missheidi]

28. My theory is

A: Gulf oil disaster
B: Ms. Kagan's hearings
c: The Kennedy's are legendary, and that was truly the end on an error.

[amandabeech]

29. Byrd was eloquent and emphatic in refusing to go along with the Iraq war.

How many in the media can say the same?

No one in the media really wants to run Byrd's speech back in 2002 again and again and again.