The American Spectator

Yes, Robert Byrd. As this article shows, the man is, for all his faults, intellectually consistent on some important matters. It tells about how Byrd is knocking Obama for outlandish executive power grabs. And Byrd is right. Do read the article. Meanwhile, for all of his porking ways and for all of his pomposity, it is worth remembering that Byrd will stand on principle even against his own short-term desires. Stephen Carter relayed in one of his books the story of how Byrd helped assure the confirmation of judicial nominee Daniel Manion even though Byrd himself opposed Manion, merely in order to uphold a point of honor in the Senate. It’s a great story. As an addendum, the way I remember it (I don’t have the book handy in front of me), Carter’s account does not identify the senator who violated Byrd’s sense of senatorial integrity in a way that led Byrd to help keep Manion’s nomination alive, but I THINK the senator who drew Byrd’s wrath was Joe Biden. If I am wrong, I hope someone corrects me…..