No matter ones personal feelings about Senator Robert Byrd when I saw this picture with its description it made me stop and think.

Does someone who has obvious limitations due to age and illness serve his constituents well? The Senator has always been known to bring home the bacon for West Virginia but as I read the accompanying story I questioned who was actually doing the heavy lifting for his home state.

At 89, the longest-serving senator in history and third person in the line of presidential succession has ceded major duties — such as handling appropriations bills on the Senate floor — to younger colleagues and aides.

Well, many Senators use their aides to do an abundance of their work, however:

When Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, asked, “Have you already voted on allocations” for the homeland security spending bill, Byrd did not respond. After an aide whispered to him, Byrd said, “Tomorrow afternoon.”

Moments later, when Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., sought permission to speak, Byrd looked at him blankly. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., sitting next to Byrd, said softly, “Senator Lautenberg,” and the chairman repeated the name in a robust voice. Later, when the room fell silent, an aide slipped Byrd a note prompting him to declare the meeting adjourned.

Arguments for term limits have been offered in various quarters for some time now and while the Senator Byrd has served his state well, perhaps the above is yet another example of why that is an idea whose time has come.