Roland Burris Receives Kiss of Death, Appointed to Obama's Senate Seat by Governor

This is a brilliant move by Blagojevich... nominate a rather non-controversial and black politician for the seat...

...puts the democrats in a bad position... will they have the balls to deny a senate seat to a black man? ...especially given that this would be the only black senator...

I couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole press conference... starting from Blagojevich's weird Feliz Navidad, etc intro... Reid and Co. are in a bad place, a very bad place... :D

This is great entertainment!
 
Reid has said himself that the senate would block any appointments, so he's stuck himself in the matter whether he should be or not.

From the cnn.com article:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has threatened not to seat anyone the governor appoints and has called for Blagojevich, a Democrat, to step down.

In a statement released Tuesday, Reid said it was "truly regrettable that ... Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety."

"We again urge Gov. Blagojevich to not make this appointment. It is unfair to Mr. Burris, it is unfair to the people of Illinois and it will ultimately not stand," Reid said. "The governor must put the interests of the people of Illinois and all Americans first by stepping aside now and letting his successor appoint someone who we will seat."
 
Indeed. :D

I've written of doing getting any real work done today. Especially since I need to run a couple errands and meet friends at the bar at 7:30. Oh well, it's still holiday week and the university is closed until the 5th so I don't feel too guilty. :D
 
I love Blago. That guy is a pimp. He just does what he wants and doesn't give a fuck. And damn that hair is insane. I don't know how he does it.
 
[quote name='Blackout']I love Blago. That guy is a pimp. He just does what he wants and doesn't give a fuck. And damn that hair is insane. I don't know how he does it.[/quote]
You know it. Blago is the MAN! Whoever gets to share a cell with him is damn lucky.
 
[quote name='BigT']This is a brilliant move by Blagojevich... nominate a rather non-controversial and black politician for the seat...

...puts the democrats in a bad position... will they have the balls to deny a senate seat to a black man? ...especially given that this would be the only black senator...

I couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole press conference... starting from Blagojevich's weird Feliz Navidad, etc intro... Reid and Co. are in a bad place, a very bad place... :D

This is great entertainment![/QUOTE]

Great entertainment for Republicans, that's for sure. Especially considering the Illinois state legislature (controlled by Democrats) could have easily taken this out of Blago's grimy hands by passing a law to provide for a special election, but failed to do so for entirely partisan political reasons (they felt that with the air so presently full of scandal the Republicans might take the seat in a special election).
 
It'll be interesting to see how this whole ordeal plays out... This is much more interesting than all those VH1 dating reality shows they have going on. :lol:
 
[quote name='freakyzeeky']It'll be interesting to see how this whole ordeal plays out... This is much more interesting than all those VH1 dating reality shows they have going on. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Yeah. Blago is one shrewd, gutsy summabitch. This is a helluva play, and it screams of "I'm taking all of you down with me!" Then again, anything other than resignation would do that, so...
 
Wow, I really did not expect the "take a black guy as a human shield" play. The Democrats need to take a scorched earth policy with this and get rid of both of them immediately. They might come out smelling like napalm, but it's better than smelling like shit.

~HotShotX
 
[quote name='HotShotX']Wow, I really did not expect the "take a black guy as a human shield" play. The Democrats need to take a scorched earth policy with this and get rid of both of them immediately. They might come out smelling like napalm, but it's better than smelling like shit.

~HotShotX[/QUOTE]

bart.png
 
Anyone want to take a bet that whoever Blago's replacement will be (I assume the LT Governor of IL, but who knows how deep this thing goes) he/she will name Burris to the seat anyway?
 
You think Roland Burris would take this to the Supreme Court if the Senate were to block him from that seat? From watching his interview with Rachel Maddow last night, it sounded like he would fight to keep that seat... It's a fucking mess, nothing short of that.
 
Burris wasn't even Blago's first choice. He first offered it to Danny Davis, another black congressman. Guess he really was determined to get a black male appointed to make it look bad for the dems trying to block it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/us/01illinois.html?hp

At a Tuesday news conference here, Mr. Blagojevich breezily introduced Mr. Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, as the “next United States senator from Illinois.” But United States Representative Danny Davis, who like Mr. Burris is a longtime fixture of the Illinois Democratic Party and an African-American, said he was offered the seat in a meeting with an emissary of the governor last Wednesday, and turned it down on Friday.

“Given all the revelations and all the controversy, I would not be able to take it from the governor,” Mr. Davis, who has represented a Chicago district in Congress since 1996, said in an interview. “I felt that if I was to take the appointment, I would spend so much of my time deflecting and defending the position that it would take away my real reason for being involved in politics and political life — to find solutions to problems.”
 
It's basically over. From every Democrat in the Senate signing a letter saying anyone Blago appointed would never be seated to Senator Burris in a week. Wow. They really handled this stupidly. It's pretty clear that the law is on Burris' side, while the craven Democrats controlling the state legislature put partisanship well ahead of the people's interest in having a special election and allowed this whole debacle to develop.
 
Reid should step down from his position as majority leader. Not that I feel he's bad as a senator, but he's an embarrassment for his position. His macho posturing followed by his predictable scamper, apology, and concession are predictable political theater.

Perhaps there was nothing anybody could do, short of defying constitutional precedent (oops!), to deny Burris his seat. As it stands, the only thing that did get in the way was the lack of one signature on a piece of paper.

But if that is the case, then SAY "hey, we can't do anything to stop this because we can't circumvent the law." Return the serve back to Blagojevich.

But Reed is like that ninny in the old comic book Charles Atlas ads, who tries to stand up to the tough guy on the beach who just kicked sand in his best gal's face. Except Reid doesn't email post and parcel to get the Atlas book. He puffs his chest, puts his fists up, and then gets ready to...put his hands down and walk away.

He did this for Burris, he did this for Leiberman, he did this for FISA, he's done this for financial appropriations for the Iraq war, and he's basically repeated the same "flex your muscles and roll over" theater for any controversial thing that stands in his way.

He's a goddamned poseur.

Now, I don't know if I think Burris is qualified. I know he's a narcissist. His two children are Rolanda and Roland II, and have you seen this man's tombstone?
2750018934_0e8778ca72.jpg


But this is his scandal, and Blagojevich's. Rolling over is embarrassing, and even beginning to *entertain* the notion that this could be, in the slightest bit, about race is akin to thinking that Sarah Palin was marginalized and maligned because of her gender, and not because she was a blithering idiot of monumental (Burris-sized monumental!) proportions.

Reid should step down, and let someone with some fucking cojones lead the senate. Like Feinstein.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Reid should step down from his position as majority leader. Not that I feel he's bad as a senator, but he's an embarrassment for his position. His macho posturing followed by his predictable scamper, apology, and concession are predictable political theater.

Perhaps there was nothing anybody could do, short of defying constitutional precedent (oops!), to deny Burris his seat. As it stands, the only thing that did get in the way was the lack of one signature on a piece of paper.

But if that is the case, then SAY "hey, we can't do anything to stop this because we can't circumvent the law." Return the serve back to Blagojevich.

But Reed is like that ninny in the old comic book Charles Atlas ads, who tries to stand up to the tough guy on the beach who just kicked sand in his best gal's face. Except Reid doesn't email post and parcel to get the Atlas book. He puffs his chest, puts his fists up, and then gets ready to...put his hands down and walk away.

He did this for Burris, he did this for Leiberman, he did this for FISA, he's done this for financial appropriations for the Iraq war, and he's basically repeated the same "flex your muscles and roll over" theater for any controversial thing that stands in his way.

He's a goddamned poseur.

Now, I don't know if I think Burris is qualified. I know he's a narcissist. His two children are Rolanda and Roland II, and have you seen this man's tombstone?
2750018934_0e8778ca72.jpg


But this is his scandal, and Blagojevich's. Rolling over is embarrassing, and even beginning to *entertain* the notion that this could be, in the slightest bit, about race is akin to thinking that Sarah Palin was marginalized and maligned because of her gender, and not because she was a blithering idiot of monumental (Burris-sized monumental!) proportions.

Reid should step down, and let someone with some fucking cojones lead the senate. Like Feinstein.[/quote]

I'll disagree in that it is to some degree about race. By that I mean - sure Reid would have rolled over for anyone, because he's a pansy, but he did it even faster for a black man.

I saw that Mausoleum on the Daily Show, and think it is awesome. Illinois is the land of giant egos. Or maybe that's just Chicago.

In summation, Illinois should hold a special election, and Reid should step down. The posturing just embarrasses him. And Blago...well I'm not going to say what I think should happen to him, and anyone who tries to sell our democracy.

Why is treason only external?
 
Ok, fair enough. Reid made it about race, because he felt the pressure of those who said "it's a racial thing" and reacted without thinking about the fact that an egomaniacal and corrupt politician like Balgojevich appointed Burris, and it was that which was the problem. Blagojevich could have appointed Jesus fucking Christ and people (wise people, anyway) would still have the same issues with the appointment. Making it race is creating a straw man problem to circumvent the asshole who put you in this spot, which is the REAL problem.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Ok, fair enough. Reid made it about race, because he felt the pressure of those who said "it's a racial thing" and reacted without thinking about the fact that an egomaniacal and corrupt politician like Balgojevich appointed Burris, and it was that which was the problem. Blagojevich could have appointed Jesus fucking Christ and people (wise people, anyway) would still have the same issues with the appointment. Making it race is creating a straw man problem to circumvent the asshole who put you in this spot, which is the REAL problem.[/quote]
Agreed. Which amendment do we have to repeal to make drawing and quartering legal here? I bet if we did that publicly to anyone selling influence it would stop real fast.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Reid should step down, and let someone with some fucking cojones lead the senate. Like Feinstein.[/quote]

Dude, you're losing your edge on fact checking... Feinstein was one of the first to back Burris stating that not letting him in would set a bad precedent... in fact, behind the scenes, it's likely that she bullied Reid into supporting Burris;)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/06/sen-feinstein-breaks-democrats-burris-appointment/
 
Leave it to you to overlook my obvious and not particularly clever attempt at suggesting the only dem with cojones is a woman, and beat down a joke with serious factchecking.

:lol:
 
Surprised the Democrats backed off this early, instead of waiting for the Sec. of State to sign whatever it is to make it official so then they could say 'there's nothing we could do'. Of course, they're trying to say it now. Too late, you dumbasses. But of course, people won't care.
 
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