So Gov. Blags basically says to the Democratic senators, “I fuckin’ double dare you to try to not seat Mr. Burris. Suck it, bitches”. Under different circumstances, Roland would be a good choice on several levels. Nice gentleman, been a decent politician (for Illinois anyway), had a good career. A little long in the tooth, but hey, there have been many senators that are older.
But to do it this way, Blags is defiantly waving both middle fingers at everyone, the senate, the state, the people. By picking this good black gentleman, Rottney is introducing yet another twist, throwing race into the equation just to make things even harder.
So to my ass pimple of a governor, nice move you fucking dickhead. Let’s make things as hard as we can for everyone, placing a huge distraction in Obama’s path, making the people of Illinois a laughing stock, clouding a fine man’s reputation (Burris, because I’m already hearing whispers about what “deal” he had to cut with Rottney…which I don’t believe, but the aspersion is there) and telling the US senate to kiss his ass.
When the US attorney finally gets you locked up, I hope you end up in the worst prison the feds have, you complete fucktard.
I think they should just go ahead and seat him. The best evidence is that Blago is a slime, but he hasn’t been convicted of anything, so da rules say we have to pretend he’s innocent until someone proves otherwise. (Which doesn’t seem to be much of a problem, but still.)
There is a very, very good reason we have that rule about innocent until proven guilty. Sometimes it bites us in the ass, but that doesn’t mean we dump it at our discretion.
“Innocent until proven guilty” applies to the legal system, not the Senate. The Senate can choose to act based on the appearance of impropriety if it wants to, rather than waiting for proof of a crime.
The rules of criminal law do say that, but not the rules of politics. Which realm do you think this is?
He can certainly have his technical presumption of legal not-guiltiness, but he is not entitled to anything at all regarding his tenure in office beyond having “his side” heard - and he hasn’t offered that. The evidence appropriate to the Court of Public Opinion, namely the transcripts, is already entered into the record there without rebuttal.
They asked him to do a bunch of things, and this is the one he did. I find it hilarious. Then again, I don’t live in Illinois, so I’m not directly influenced by it. You may all feel free to point and laugh at the Minnesota Senate race, and Michelle Bachmann.
Well, sure, if there is some “impropriety” in the selection, yeah. But if Burris is as clean as he has been presented (about which I know squat…) then the faults of his selector are not quite relevant.
I’m picking up hints that one reason the Dems don’t want to seat this guy is that he has a habit of losing elections. a perpetual nice guy who finishes second. Which would mean, if the pattern holds, that he will lose a bid for an elected term to a Republican.
The rules say that the Gov’s choice is legal and legitimate until such time as he is removed from office. We must be very careful if we are going to go about bending the rules to circumstances.
My main problem with Burris is his willingness to accept such a gift from such tainted hands. Rather poor judgment, in my estimation. But not enough to disqualify. I would be pleased to see him change his mind, and refuse the appointment.
But if we start in saying the rules don’t count when we are right, then the rules don’t count when we are wrong, either.
Burris has a pretty clean reputation, especially for Illinois politics. Seemingly he’s a genuinely nice guy, too. (I think I voted for him, actually.) Unfortunately, he also let his ambition override good judgment. The Senate went on record quite a ways back that they would not seat anyone Blago would appoint. And they had damned good reason for that, not the least was the Guv’s artless taped statements about the seat being to valuable too give away, what he’d expect in return for the “gift”, etc. What the hell else could they do? Cheney/Shrub are hated but Congress doesn’t have a great approval rating right now either. Just about all they can do is clasp their hands protectively over their posteriors and back away, fast, from Blago and all his works. They haven’t had “improprieties” like this to avoid since Congress fled en masse from public toilet stalls.
Too bad for Burris but he deserves to be booted. He knew the “gift” appointment came dripping with slime. He diminished himself into nothing more than a handy race card for Blago to play in his cynical game of keep-out-of-jail. (Rather funny, actually, how thoroughly Blago hates Obama; the youthful, dynamic guy who stole the national spotlight that shoulda been his.) Burris played along. He knew better. What the hell did he expect to happen?
Please, please, let the gears of justice grind on. They’re slow so I hope they’re grinding exceedingly fine, enough to send Blago away to do hard time, for a long, long time.
Just in case the actual facts matter (which you could have gotten from your own fucking link), it was Representative Bobby Rush, and not Governor Blagojevich, who played the race card. He likened rejecting Burris to a hanging or lynching.
Can’t agree with you on this one, Lib. Blago’s appointment of Burris was entirely cynical, laying that card face up on the table in the first place. Rep. Rush obligingly belted out the chorus, right on cue, which was entirely predictable, i.e. apply triangular little rubber hammer thingy to underside of kneecap…yep, forceful spasm.
I’m really disappointed in Burris for allowing himself to be involved in this. Stupid, really, because politics–maybe the lure of power?–can act weirdly on people, even the best of 'em. Party affiliation, philosophy, office: don’t matter. Burris has done some genuinely good work in office, so it’s sad to see him lured into being Blago’s cat toy.
You miss the point. Blag’s history here is to make life as difficult as possible. The fact that he picked Burris is a calculated move on his part to make things as difficult as possible. Why else would he have Rush at the microphones, if not to make that very statement? It was a clear calculation by Blags, cynical and manipulative.
I happen to agree with him about the lack of African-American Senators, which is ridiculous. But that hasn’t got much to do with the price of tea in China, and the problem isn’t magically solved if there is one token black guy in the Senate. If there was even a hint the Senate might reject Burris because he’s black, he’d be spot-on. We know that’s not the case, since they promised to refuse any Blagojevich appointment weeks ago. Most of the favorites at that time were white anyway. Suggesting they seat Burris just because he’s black is moronic.
There’s that, but he’d be running as the incumbent, which helps.
Screw the taint implications. He’s a good man and doesn’t deserve it. And it could be worse. Don’t forget that there’s long been the fear Blago would appoint himself.
ETA: I’m glad somebody decent said yes. I didn’t want Blago scraping the bottom of the barrel to find someone willing.
He was a good man. Accepting the appointment shows a serious lack of judgement, and accepting it with a history of giving Blago money makes him stupid.
I don’t want Blago finding anyone at all. He shouldn’t be making the appointment, and he wouldn’t if he had an ounce of integrity in him. Then again, if he had an ounce of integrity, he wouldn’t have gotten into this situation either. No, wait, this part is due to his idiocy in making incriminating calls on phones he knew were tapped.