Blagojevich Circus heads for Washington
With all the low cunning of an escaped mental patient, the heavily indicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) appears at a “bizarre” press conference to appoint the formerly respected ex-Illinois Attorney-General Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate to the seat 
vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Taking to the podium at the end of a bizarre, shambolic press conference in which Governor Rod Blagojevich sought to appoint Roland Burris to the US Senate, Congressman Bobby Rush dared white Democratic senators to block a black man from joining their ranks.
He urged people “not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer” and, after saying repeaedly that Burris would be the only African-American in the Senate, said that he believed no senator would want “to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the US Senate”.
Roland Burris thought this was a good idea. Who is advising him these days ? He must be sticking it to somebody in the Democratic Party here in Illinois to lend his good name to this charade.
ADDENDUM:
Also commenting on Governor Effing-Golden…
December 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I’ve always thought Roland Burris was probably a decent enough bloke but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. This confirms the latter and makes me wonder about the former.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:49 am
Burris probably figures it is a decent shot at the Senate seat.
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If I were Harry Reid, I’d have a hearing, get a bunch of people through to say "Roland is a good guy, don’t pay too much attention to the Blago thing." Then say, "Well, OK".
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That would be the end of the whole charade.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:53 am
[…] Gwin Ifil’s phrase “not exactly the new generation” is as good a description as any for the appointment of Roland Burris to become Illinois’ junior Senator. […]
December 31st, 2008 at 12:58 am
Another way to say it. Say, I’m Burris. I take it. I go to Washington and dare them to send me home. If they do, I run in the special election. Or whatever.
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Burris is no spring chicken. When is he going to get this close to a U.S. Senate seat again? What is the downside? He stays in Illinois, exactly where he is. Upside? He’s a US Senator. No brainer.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:23 am
hi Lex,
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Well, the downside is the Senate Democrats might find a pair ( or hide timorously behind some nebulous statement from a Black figure with some kind of moral authority in the public mind) and boot Burris back home in ignominy, leaving his swan song in public life being today’s shabby performance.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:49 am
Well, then he just keeps his current job. As long as he is impervious to embarrassment, it is a break-even.
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Shamelessness is often rewarded in politics, especially in Illinois.
December 31st, 2008 at 5:07 am
" As long as he is impervious to embarrassment"
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Possible. Clinton re-set the bar for that one where it’s possible now for a politician with enough narcissism to brazen out any scandal short of being caught with a dead girl or a live boy.
December 31st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Look at it this way: it’s a great show! Buy an extra bag of popcorn, sit back and enjoy it.
December 31st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
"With all the low cunning of an escaped mental patient…"
What a way to start the morning…. I heard the Senate cannot block him b/c of a Supreme Court ruling 40 odd years ago. Is the Illinois Supreme Court stepping in considered the last resort?
December 31st, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Hopefully we can have a fun constitutional crisis, with the Senate (rightly) ignoring the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional meddling in its internal business!
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
It figures and is an old concept recently considered a new invention: controversy will always gain you attention and possibly cause you to win the crazy popularity contest. Does anyone else think mowing your grass in the snow is a bad idea?