Remarks of Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia

He has served in Congress for 51 years, 45 of them in the Senate. He has a new book out called Losing America.

I want to share with you some of what he said in the interview. The following excerpts are all Senator Byrd speaking.

"This man came to the fore in America saying he wanted to be a unifier, not a divider, saying that he would change the tone of America."

"...and we talked about the separation of powers and the Constitution. I listened carefully. And Erma and I thought as we went home that night that here was a man with whom we could reason. I felt good about it. Then suddenly he seemed to change. He seemed to display an arrogance toward the Constitution that I had never seen on the part of any President, and I served with eleven of them. As time went on I felt he looked down upon the legislative branch. He seemed to be a changed man from the role that I had felt he was playing on that interesting night when Ted Stevens and I (and their wives) had sat in the White House and listened to him. And his men, I say that with respect to the super hawks around him, his men did the same.

We in Congress became, in my view, just something to be used by the executive branch. He invited me to the White House on one or two occasions.... I don't like going there anymore, I've been there so many times.... but I felt that the meetings we were having at the White House were a sham and that we in the legislative branch were being used as potted plants, as back-up for the President.

All these things had an impact upon me and I came to distrust this administration and it seemed to change the image of America around the world. It was no longer a benevolent Uncle Sam but it talked about our erstwhile friends of long standing and said they were 'old Europe'. And our friends around the world began to wonder and to distrust us, and to be afraid of us. And when your friends start being fearful of you, it's time to be concerned. We reached that point."

"The legislative branch is the people's branch, it's closest to the people. And I see an administration which looks upon the legislative branch with contempt, as it were. And why do I say this? I see a little circle within the White House, the super hawks, people who were carried over from the Nixon administration. I was there during the administration of Nixon.....but the Nixon administration sought to work within the White House and to govern from the White House, and to be secretive, very secretive. We see some of the same people in this administration who served in that administration. Who? The Vice-President for one, Mr. Rumsfeld for another..."

....But anyhow, here's a circle that seems to be, to be secretive, to govern from within the bowels of the White House. We saw that in the formation of the Department of Homeland Security where this whole dream, this whole scheme, was developed in the White House by four men, Andrew Card (Chief of Staff), Mitch Daniels (Office of Management and Budget), Mr. Gonzales, the counselor, and Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania."