On Thursday's World News, ABC anchor Diane Sawyer took the time to devote an entire story to 92-year-old Democratic Senator Robert Byrd’s vote for the Democratic health care bill, which the West Virginia Democrat dedicated to former Senator Ted Kennedy, whom the ABC anchor described as "health care champion Ted Kennedy." Sawyer recounted that Byrd had to be brought into the Senate chamber in a wheel chair several times recently to cast votes related to the bill.
Sawyer informed viewers of Byrd’s long Congressional career and 98 percent attendance record, and then quoted his declaration that "I do what duty tells me to do" as he arrived to vote for the bill. After recounting the Democratic Senator’s emotional reaction and declaration of love for Senator Kennedy when he learned of Kennedy’s illness, Sawyer concluded: "Old comrades, old friends – one gone, one carrying on."
On the NBC Nightly News, correspondent Kelly O’Donnell only mentioned Byrd’s dedication to Kennedy within her piece on the Senate vote and recounted that "off camera, that moment brought tears to Kennedy’s widow Vicki," while Senator Byrd was not mentioned at all on the CBS Evening News.
Below is a complete transcript of Diane Sawyer’s story from the Thursday, December 24, World News on ABC:
DIANE SAWYER: And, by the way, Jon mentioned the crucial vote of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia – 92 years old. Well, we were there this morning when he came out his door. Before dawn this morning on a frigid Christmas Eve, a frail man in a wheelchair greets reporters with a rallying cry.
SENATOR ROBERT BYRD (D-WV): Let's go!
SAWYER: Fifty-six years in Congress, 18,000 votes, a 98 percent attendance record, the longest serving U.S. Senator in history told ABC's cameras:
BYRD: I do what duty tells me to do.
SAWYER: Over the past four days, he has repeatedly shivered his way up to the Capitol to vote, including at 1:00 in the morning. In part, it's personal. You may remember his emotional speech to the floor, shortly after his good friend, health care champion Ted Kennedy, was diagnosed with brain cancer.
BYRD, CRYING IN THE SENATE, DATED MAY 2008: Ted, my dear friend, I love you.
SAWYER: This morning, what did Senator Byrd think as he was helped into his wheelchair?
BYRD: This is for Ted.
SAWYER: And with that, he boarded the elevator up and into the chamber, where he voted yes and shouted again.
BYRD: This is for my friend Ted Kennedy: Aye!
SAWYER: Old comrades, old friends – one gone, one carrying on. And by the way, Senator Kennedy's wife Vicki was in the chamber watching.
—Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Then he said .. "Where am I"
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 21:23 ET by dark_dsThen he said .. "Where am I"
_______ Him and the Unicorn he rode in on
dark_ds
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 21:31 ET by matthewdeanI do believe that is the funniest six word post I have ever read.
MD
"There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Byrd
Fri, 12/25/2009 - 08:37 ET by Straight8Senator Byrd probably picked 20-30 extra years of life from the current medical system that he is trying to destroy. "Course now he doesn't have as much to lose.
STRAIGHT8...
Fri, 12/25/2009 - 11:51 ET by danybhoyBingo, you hit it. Your post also remided me of something Andrew Wilkow said on his Sirius/XM show "The Wilkow Majority", on the subject of health care & Ted Kennedy, he said that Kennedy did what his health care legislation would NOT allow you to do, shop around for the best treatment. If he really believed in what he was pushing for, he would have subjected himself to the same things those who vote for would have to go through. You know, go to a public hospital, get in line, fill out the paperwork, & then wait like everyone else.
He never would have submitted to that because he was better then you, & he still is, even in death. That's what we are supposed to believe.
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
Love Fest
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 22:39 ET by Red JeepI was stuck somewhere tonight where I watched this show. It was a love fest for the Dems. I couldn’t believe the spin they put on Harry Reid’s vote this AM in addition to their love for the former Klu Klux Klanner Byrd.
According to ABC’s World News Harry Reid had worked and toiled endlessly to get this passed. He had worked so hard, that according to ABC, he at first voted against this bill because he was so tired, then, realized what he had done and voted yes.
I couldn’t believe the spin! Harry Reid voted that way as a joke. Not because he was so tired from all his toiling. Geez.
obama solved illegal immigration
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 23:29 ET by lunaticcringeradioif we're going to have crap medical care, then there is no reason any bug covered, limping, infected, malnourished foreigner will have any incentive to leave his current state of insects, gimpy, infections and starvation, for the more expensive brand of american failure, incompetence, bureaucracy, hypocrisy, and mismanagement. whew leave more of that goodness for all of us here. whooopie obama solved illegal immigration.
nobody will want if nobody has. progressive equality.
lunaticcringeradio
Merry
Fri, 12/25/2009 - 10:51 ET by jessieHMerry Christmas! Since the whole world knows that Ted Kannedy was a murderer, makes me wonder how many will die under the obamacare crap.
I am sick to death of the
Sat, 12/26/2009 - 06:03 ET by bigtimerI am sick to death of the Kennedy name being invoked on us constantly, as if it's supposed to mean something good, these people in the news are seriously insane, let alone the congress-critters.
Our day of reckoning will come...soon.
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart
bt,
Sat, 12/26/2009 - 06:23 ET by R D HelmIt's amazing how the inside-the-beltway crowd truly doesn't get that most of America loathed Ted Kennedy.
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered. -Dorothy Thompson
-Dave
Howdy Dave... You know I
Sat, 12/26/2009 - 06:37 ET by bigtimerHowdy Dave...
You know I agree...I really am sick to death of the left constantly trying to make filth clean.... they've been doing this for over 40 years now that I can really remember in my own lifetime...if you didn't watch the Senate during all of this, you were smart, I watched a lot of it, as usual, as much as I could take anyway...the filthy dems had the audacity to tell the reps, with Baucus leading the screech, telling repubs they had better stop using/disparaging the Kennedy name...
Hey Baucus...can you read sign language...my middle finger is in your face...you POS!
What is really sadder than sad is the bull he put in the bill regarding Libby/asbestos $$$...it is all a sham, I could write endlessly about it, won't bother to bore anyone, ...the whole deal is when the hell are the people in MT going to wake up and get rid of this slime-ball?
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart
bt, Baucus is a mess
Sat, 12/26/2009 - 06:57 ET by R D HelmI can't believe he even got elected. They guy's an idiot.
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered. -Dorothy Thompson
-Dave
Dave...and the idiots here
Sat, 12/26/2009 - 07:14 ET by bigtimerDave...and the idiots here keep reelecting the scum-ball...I have wished many times ex Gov. Racicot would run against him, he's one of the best...he got out of politics, like a smart man, but dang we miss him...a lot!
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart