Dodd on Byrd:

In words that Republicans believe sound awfully similar to the comments that knocked Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) out of the GOP leadership, Dodd said, “It has often been said that the man and the moment come together. I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great Senator at any moment. Some were right for the time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been right at any time.”

Despite the charges of racial insensitivity that have been lobbed at Byrd over the years, Dodd added that his colleague “would have been right during the great conflict of Civil War in this nation” and at other key times. “I cannot think of a single moment in this nation’s 220-plus-year history where he would not have been a valuable asset to this country,” said Dodd. “Certainly today that is not any less true.”

--Roll Call

Dodd on Lott:

"If Tom Daschle or another Democratic leader were to have made similar statements, the reaction would have been very swift," Dodd said. "I don't think several hours would have gone by without there being an almost unanimous call for the leader to step aside."
...
Dodd agreed that the Republicans should make the decision about Lott but added that if the senator were to stay, a move to censure him "takes on more of a reality."

"But it ought to be bipartisan," he said. "It ought not to be Democrats versus Republicans."

--Croooow Blog (More on the subject.)

I'll agree with Dodd on that last point. It shouldn't be Democrats vs. Republicans. Plenty of Republicans took Lott to task for his statements, along with the Democrats. Now where is the Democrat outrage over Dodd's blunder?

I'm sure the outrage from the party that seems to think it's virginally pure on racial issues will be forthcoming in no time and that they won't simply fall back on the excuse that Dodd isn't their leader.