A DEMOCRAT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE DRUNK TO MENTION JESUS, BUT IT HELPS:

Reid Takes Center Stage, but He's Hardly the Star of the Show (Dana Milbank, January 5, 2007, Washington Post)

The attention quickly shifted -- to Robert Byrd. The 89-year-old West Virginia Democrat, beginning his ninth term, wore a red-white-and-blue tie and punctuated the opening prayer with shouts of "Yes!" and "Mmmhmmm!" and "Yes, Lord!" and "Yes, in Jesus's name!" When he was sworn in, he twice cried out "Hallelujah!" and then "Amen!" Minutes later, he was installed as Senate president pro tempore, the majority party's most senior member. "Yeah, man! Yeah, man!" he shouted. "Hallelujah!" "I do, so help me God!" he shouted when the oath was administered. "Yeah, man!"

His colleagues were amused. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) at one point pretended to tilt a bottle into his mouth, though it was unclear whether Byrd was the target of that gesture.

Could be worse, Ted could have accused him of being a bad driver....

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 5, 2007 10:40 AM