Yellowdog2004 diaried this earlier and unfortunately the story did not get as much notice as it deserved. I had sworn off Senator Byrd diaries because of a falling out I had over his vote for Judge Alito. I find I cannot let this auspicious occasion pass without noting it for the record.
The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette has the numbers:
Sen. Robert C. Byrd becomes the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate today, having represented West Virginians for 17,327 days in the chamber.
Byrd began serving in the Senate more than 47 years ago, on Jan. 3, 1959, after spending six years in the House of Representatives and six years in the West Virginia Legislature.
He also has cast more votes by far than any member of the Senate: 17,662 times, as of last Friday.
More:
"I consider him to be the pillar of the Senate," says Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md. "His commitment to the United States Senate and its history, customs and procedures is equaled only by his commitment to the state of West Virginia, our nation and our Constitution."
Byrd's impact on fellow senators personally rivals his institutional role, some of his colleagues said.
"Senator Byrd has been a very, very important figure in my life," said Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican. "He is such a magnificent teacher of the history the Senate."
Warner recalls a conversation he had with Byrd when Warner was new to the Senate. "He said, `At one time, our states were together. I don't want to put them back together, but I want to work together as full and equal partners,'" Warner said.
I have mixed feelings regarding Senator Byrd. He's my favorite orator in the Senate. I'll always have a fondness for the leopard-skin vest.
And he served the state well in obtaining federal tax dollars to help create jobs such as the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown and the FBI's fingerprint data base near Parkersburg.
He once explained that he was only doing his part in returning a part of the national treasury to make up for that which had been looted from the state by the corporate powers.
His views on marriage belong to a less enlightened era even while his same views on the Constitution remain timeless.
But his work for the working people is commendable.
I'll be voting to give him a ninth term. Today I want to honor the Senator who said these words:
I continue to be shocked and astounded by the breadth with which the Administration undermines the constitutional protections afforded to the people, and the arrogance with which it rebukes the powers held by the Legislative and Judicial Branches. The President has cast off federal law, enacted by Congress, often bearing his own signature, as mere formality. He has rebuffed the rule of law, and he has trivialized and trampled upon the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizures guaranteed to Americans by the United States Constitution.
We are supposed to accept these dirty little secrets. We are told that it is irresponsible to draw attention to President Bush's gross abuse of power and Constitutional violations. But what is truly irresponsible is to neglect to uphold the rule of law. We listened to the President speak last night on the potential for democracy in Iraq. He claims to want to instill in the Iraqi people a tangible freedom and a working democracy, at the same time he violates our own U.S. laws and checks and balances? President Bush, I dare say in this country we may have reached our own sort of landmark. Never have the promises and protections of Liberty seemed so illusory. Never have the freedoms we cherish seemed so imperiled.
These renegade assaults on the Constitution and our system of laws strike at the very core of our values, and foster a sense of mistrust and apprehension about the reach of government.
I am reminded of Thomas Payne's famous words, "These are the times that try men's souls."
These astounding revelations about the bending and contorting of the Constitution to justify a grasping, irresponsible Administration under the banner of "national security" are an outrage.
Congress can no longer sit on the sidelines. It is time to ask hard questions of the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the CIA. The White House should not be allowed to exempt itself from answering the same questions simply because it might assert some kind of "executive privilege' in order to avoid further embarrassment.
The practice of domestic spying on citizens should halt immediately. Oversight hearings need to be conducted. Judicial action may be in order. We need to finally be given answers to our questions: where is the constitutional and statutory authority for spying on American citizens, what is the content of these classified legal opinions asserting there is a legality in this criminal usurpation of rights, who is responsible for this dangerous and unconstitutional policy, and how many American citizens lives' have been unknowingly affected?
That is the Senator who deserved his place in Congress for all of these years.