Headline writers are calling Robert Byrd “the orphan who made history.” Byrd did indeed make a lot of history during his 92 years, 58 of which were spent in Congress. He was also on the wrong side of history on a wider range of issues, from race to the Reagan economic program, than just about any comparable figure of consequence.

Byrd had his admirable qualities as a defender of Senate tradition and legislative power under the Constitution; he also had the less than admirable penchant for paving West Virginia with pork. Byrd went from being a member of the Ku Klux Klan to an endorser of Barack Obama. Had he been more conservative, he probably never would have lived down the former or been a viable political figure long enough to do the latter.