doubleplusundead

December 30, 2008

Blago appoints some poor schmuck to the seat no one wants to touch

Our favorite toupee stand has nominated former Illinois AG Roland Burris to the Senate seat President-Elect Obama vacated. I thought about liveblogging it, but I was too busy yelling at the television to put together much in the way of coherent thought. Burris was a deer in headlights, obviously unprepared to answer any questions about whether the donations he and his law firm made to Friends of Blagojevich ($14,000, if the reporter hollering questions is to be believed) had any influence on his nomination.

Burris's appointment was followed by an endorsement from Illinois Representative Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther who made it clear that the primary reason to NOT reject Burris as a Senator was because the only African-American in the Senate should be replaced by an African-American. He made a statement to the effect that the Secretary of State should worry about how the people of Illinois would react if he did not certify Burris (which happened almost immediately, God Bless Jesse White for standing by his word and not certifying Burris based on their shared race).

So I'm wondering...Is the general opinion here that Burris is...:

not politically savvy enough to realize this just made him radioactive?
thinking he's bulletproof enough based on his record to withstand any charges of corruption (donations to and fundraisers for Blago be damned)?
thinking that if he doesn't get accepted into Congress, either by Congressional rejection or the SoS refusing to certify him, he can turn this into a race brouhaha and get in anyway, and then should have an easy time getting reelected?

I honestly can't figure out what's going on in this guy's noggin. By 'this guy', I mean Burris, I think we know Blagojevich is crazy.

Posted by: Alice H at 04:24 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Geez. Illinois politics is teh awesome

Posted by: eddiebear at December 30, 2008 04:47 PM (wnU1W)

I think Burris' intention is to simply brazen it out. Based on his past election records, it's pretty clear that this is his one and only shot at getting into the Senate, so he might as well give it a try.

While I find this particular political circus amusing, it's equally disturbing. America's political class (on both sides) is completely dysfunctional, and their disregard for the electorate is becoming more obvious all the time. This is just one more step in that direction.

I also don't think Blago is 'crazy'. He's arrogant to the point of self-destruction, but he's also playing this whole saga rather intelligently. He's daring the rest of the corrupt establishment to take him down. It's pretty much a given that everyone in Illinois politics is equally dirty, so now that Blago is 'out of the closet' he holds a rather strong hand, and he's playing it for all it's worth.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at December 30, 2008 04:52 PM (WhFvm)

3 I hope he stays in. There is no constitutional impediment for his taking office. The best part is that in the next election he goes down. I don't think the Magic Negro stuff will rub off on him. He has a rotten electorial record in the last few years. Color this senate seat red in the next election. It proves you have to be at least half white to get elected to the Senate.

Posted by: Federale at December 30, 2008 06:55 PM (H1JJq)

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