RIP 2010

[Alex]

I have no reason to doubt Byrd's reversal on race issues (in the famous "******" quote he was to a fair extent making the same point Chris Rock used to in his act, just using language that won't fly from a senator). Plus the fact that it is difficult to change ingrained vocabulary, especially with words that were socially common until midlife. But if his reversal was calculating and true then I still don't really care if it can't be pointed out where his internal belief was allowed to have public impact.

My issue with Byrd is that it is insane that he was in office and if dying was the only way to resolve that, I'm ok with it. He could have had the good grace to wait a week though so the people of West Virginia wouldn't have to deal with what will be a huge amount of kerfuffle over the rules on how to replace him (his death is just six days short of a deadline after which the governor would just get to pick a replacement for the rest of his term).