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July 25, 2008 7:38:59 AM CDT

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'Too Old' Byrd to Critics: Shut Up!

Posted Apr 17, 08 2:40 AM CDT in Politics,  US 

(Newser) – History's longest-serving senator has two words for people who think he's no longer up to the job of chairing the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee: "Shut up." Democrat Robert Byrd, 90, has been hospitalized twice this year but his management of a two-hour hearing on Iraq war spending yesterday apparently silenced his critics, the Hill reports.

Byrd is physically frail but was in complete command of his faculties during the hearing, and sharply criticized the president's handling of the war. Colleagues praised his performance and slammed reporters for paying "macabre" attention to Byrd  because of his age. "This ought to stop,” said Majority Leader Dick Durbin. “This poor man is working himself as hard as he can, and all you can do is kind of boil the pot a little.”

Source The Hill

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Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. walks to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., presides over a hearing of the committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Sept. 26, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., smiles during the unveiling of his portrait on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007.   (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)
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Senate  • Harry Reid  • Iraq war spending  • Dick Durbin  • Robert Byrd  • Senate Appropriations Committee


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