# 93 year old Sen. Byrd is doddering & barely able to function, yet he hangs on. Is power that yummy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497 "2010-05-23T20:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/41 "2010-06-28T01:37:46Z")
[This is related to a thread I started a couple of years ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448265) The problem here isn’t all with Byrd - it also lies with Senate Democrats who use seniority as their _only_ criterion for giving out committee chairmanships. House Democrats and Senate and House Republicans do not do this - they use seniority as a factor and with Republicans chairmanships in the House and Senate are term limited. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/42 "2010-06-28T11:20:06Z")
Well, Robert Byrd isn’t hanging onto anything any more. RIP Senator. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/43 "2010-06-28T12:38:32Z")
So WVa is going to find out about the downside of pork. No doubt sites like the FBI’s fingerprint repository in Clarksburg and the Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center in Kearneysville (!) are going to be moved/closed in no time. So there goes the jobs leaving behind local economies that will be worse than if the facilities were never put there in the first place. Beware of senators bearing pork. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/44 "2010-06-28T13:36:43Z")
Why would those places be moved? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/45 "2010-06-28T16:26:56Z")
Perhaps the last great bloviating orator. That’s a description, not an insult - to listen to him speak was to hear an echo of an age that past long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/46 "2010-06-28T16:28:35Z")
I still see no reason to remove him from his seat or any of his committee positions. What noticable difference would there really be from the past ten years or so? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/47 "2010-06-28T16:50:09Z")
Weekend at Byrdies? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/48 "2010-06-28T17:34:34Z")
God… now I feel bad. My thread killed a man! Bad thread! Bad OP! Go to your room! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/49 "2010-06-28T17:38:18Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I still see no reason to remove him from his seat or any of his committee positions. What noticable difference would there really be from the past ten years or so? Ha ha! I mean, seriously. I thought that guy was dead a long time ago. “Why do they have that dusty old robot sitting there? Shouldn’t they get a human being, or at least something alive?” ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/50 "2010-06-28T17:54:08Z")
Those things aren’t going to get shut down in the short term and moved any more than major facilities vanished when Stevens or Thurmond left office. And the state still has Senator Rockefeller who has a fair amount of seniority including the chair of Commerce, Science and Transportation. Senator Byrd had power but he wasn’t a deity or a magician and things don’t disappear once he is gone. The state won’t get as much pork, but like every state, it will still get a good bit. And pork won’t disappear, it will just go to Hawaii and Maryland and Montana. I’m any case, as much as I disagreed with the Senator (which was a lot), he served his state’s interests well which is what he was elected to do. Rest in Peace Old Man. You’ve met the one law that no one can filibuster. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497/51 "2010-06-28T18:12:20Z")
This Washington Post [article](http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/06/in_concert_hole_at_930_club.html?hpid=news-col-blog) is about a disastrously bad concert Courtney Love gave locally last night. She apparently told the crowd that she was starting late because she had been spending the day with a Senator friend. Several commenters are jokingly speculating that it was Byrd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/93-year-old-sen-byrd-is-doddering-barely-able-to-function-yet-he-hangs-on-is-power-that-yummy/540497.md?page=2)