The primary qualification for this seat seems to be that it go to a black person.
If that is the case, what kind of principaled position could possibly be involved?
Short of a quantity of cash in his freezer, I think he should be accepted and predict that he will be.
As for the Republicans in the Senate, why should they vote against seating him. The only reason the Dems would is the taint factor as it applies to their party, that city/state and Obama. It has absolutely nothing to do with his qualifications.
Democrats need to do everything they can to keep this guy out of the senate. He may or may not be a great nomination, but if he’s seated, this *looks like *the same kind of arrogance that brought down the Republican congress.
It looks like getting sixty seats is more important than punishing corrupt politicians. It looks like trading ethics for short-term gain.
Burris is tainted just for being dumb enough to accept Blagojevich’s appointment.
The senate should try to prevent him being seated. If that fails, they should try to expel him. If that fails, they shouldn’t let him caucus with Democrats, the Illinois Democratic Party should begin campaigning now for a different Democrat for the seat in 2010.
Two weeks and a Senate appointment ago, Burris was calling for Blago’s resignation and saying that his conduct was appalling.
Now he’s saying he doesn’t have an opinion on the governor and that Blago is “innocent until proven guilty”.
Burris may have a long career behind him, full of honest reputation and honorable conduct, but he’s tied himself to an anchor this time. Even if Burris still is the most honest and honorable politician in Illinois, he’s getting slime on him. The sad thing is that it’s not like Blago has been a stealth slime-producer.
If Burris ends up buried because of this, it’s his own damn fault for not refusing the appointment before it was announced. All it would have taken was for him to tell Blago “Don’t even say my name…I refuse right now.”
The inauguration’s on the 20th. Is Illinois being so badly deprived right now the somebody just had to be appointed right this second, regardless of any of the issues involved or the credbility problems of the representative?
ETA: Tim Johnson was out of action from December 2006 to September 2007.
Something to consider - Johnson was still a sitting senator with a full staff in place. By all accounts constituent service operations, which run independent of the representative or senator’s direct involvement, were still in place and ran smoothly while Senator Johnson recuperated.
Right now this seat is vacant - there is no office and no staff.
Rep. Davis is black. So it would appear that Blago was hunting for a black politician, any black politician, to appoint, deliberately hauling out the race card. I wonder whether Byron Rush knew this? And if so, whether he cared?
