Robert Byrd Returns to His Favorite Resting Place

Don't you dare mess with Robert Byrd's State even once. His health state, that you can mess with three times in one half season.

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) was admitted to the hospital for the third time this year on Monday night, this time for overnight observation after suffering a high fever. Byrd, 90, the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, was taken to a Virginia hospital in the early evening and will stay there overnight after feeling ill throughout the day, spokesman Jesse Jacobs said. Jacobs said Byrd had felt “lethargic and sluggish” throughout the day, but attended the lone Senate vote of the day, at 5:30 p.m.

Shortly thereafter, Byrd went home and reported the same symptoms to his caregiver. The caregiver discovered that Byrd had a fever and consulted the senator’s physician, who recommended a hospital visit, Jacobs said.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, we begin to veto predictions that this is the end of the road for the Senator.

[AP]
[Hill]

A Byrd in the Bed is Worth Poo vs. the Bush

Avid Best Death Pool Ever readers (me? Live Like You Were Dying?) will of course remember the case of Senator Robert Byrd who has not been quite free as a…bird, after falling and hurting his hip in his home nest.

Well, Byrd also happens to be the chairman of the Senate’s appropriations committee, which is working on a crucial supplemental spending bill related to the war in Iraq.

Which makes us wonder: Hmm…How can you be reading documents when the documents are in your briefcase? (NSFW-ish) Said otherwise: How can you be leading a committee when the committee is in the Senate?

Now, reports are surfacing that Democratic Party leaders are also pondering this same question and are meeting to discuss the future of the endangered Byrd:

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., told The Hill newspaper that Democrats have concerns that Byrd won't be able to move the committee through spending bills quickly enough. "The concern is that we've got a lot to do, and we've got to move quickly," Lincoln told the newspaper. She added that Byrd's recent illness has held up the committee's progress.

To us, this seems like an overdue lesson in the Byrds and the bees, as in Byrd shouldn’t be chairman anymore.

[Charleston Daily Mall]

Free as a Byrd No Longer, Robert Back in Hospital

Check out this bird's reaction. Tall and limber. Now compare that to this Byrd's reaction. Frail as can be.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, is back in a hospital for tests after a reaction to antibiotics. Spokesman Jesse Jacobs says doctors want to run tests to determine which medicine is best to treat Byrd for his reaction to drugs taken for a urinary tract infection. His stay is expected to be brief.

After a fall at his home last week, you'll recall, Byrd had a stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. No Birds were harmed in the making of this post. (We hope.)

[AP]

Robert Byrd Falls From His Perch

Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was hospitalized Tuesday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after complaining of back pain after a fall at his home, his spokesman said.

Byrd, 90, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the nation's longest-serving senator, was staying in the hospital overnight for observation, said spokesman Jesse Jacobs. It was not immediately clear whether he had suffered broken bones.

Byrd, who as Senate president pro tempore is third in line to the presidency, walks haltingly with two canes. Due to his frail condition, some Senate Democrats reportedly explored ways to replace him as Appropriations chairman, but he continues to hold the post.

He fell last night at his home, but was able to make it to work today. It looks like it's time for this old man to step down from the Senate floor.

[International Herald Tribune]
[Denver Post]