This blog has become deprecated. I will continue to add new posts for the next week. After that only partial posts will be available for one week. After that you’re going to have to stop being stubborn and move on over to the new site. All posts available here (even old and archived posts) appear on the new site: ‘to the Left of Bill: version2point1‘
First off, I am aware that I’ve neglected the blog and haven’t added any meaningful content for a while. So here’s the deal- you get a bonus post. Immediately following this article I’m going to post a new one.
The Democrats are really between a rock and hard place with this whole Blogojevich deal. Last week he ended up appointing Roland Burris as the new Senator to fill Obama’s empty seat. Burris isn’t the problem. In my opinion he’s actually a victim in this whole thing. Roland Burris has served in public office for a long time here in Illinois. The guy is truly respectable and doesn’t really have any marks on his record to speak of.
Roland Burris speaking at Chicago's Midway Airport
Mr. Burris, having been very legally appointed by Rod “he-must-have-a-huge-’Rod’-to-not-have-stepped-down” Blagojevich, went to work today. But the managers (notice I say manager and not employer-the people are the employers) turned him away. The reason for this is where the water gets kind of muddy. The governor who appointed this man may or may not be guilty of trying to sell the seat Burris is filling to the highest bidder. As soon as that news broke all of government and the news media went apeshit. The court of public opinion immediately found Blago guilty. Patrick Fitzgerald went on TV speaking in the most indignant tone telling the world that Lincoln would be rolling in his grave, saying that what the governor did was so terrible, and using truly inflated language when speaking about the charges. I think he even said that Blago was running an underground baby eating ring. Check out the press conference on YouTube and listen closely. He came out and pretty much said “My name is Patrick Fitzgerald and I am putting my name and reputation on the line because I am 100% certain that Governor Rod Blagojevich is involved in a pay to play scheme and also eats babies on the weekend”.
At that point Blago couldn’t make any appointments. Not because he was incapable of it but because of the political climate. But lo and behold our good (loyal to Bush) buddy Pat Fitzgerald came on TV about a week after the whole “Lincoln rolling in his grave” press conference and held another one. I won’t bore you with the details but I’ll give you a condensed version of what he said:
“Umm… I’m Pat and I’m holding this press conference because it turns out that Blago might not be a corrupt baby-eating cannibal after all. Umm… You see… well, we kind of need some time to get our shit together so we can frame this guy properly because we sort of did a half-ass job. Yeah… so… about that other press conference… yeah… well, I think I might have gone a little overboard but please still believe me when I say Blagojevich isn’t quite a baby-eating cannibal but he does like hang out at the University of Chicago on the weekends and pull the plugs on old people on life support. I swear. Please still hate him.”
After that my guy Blago got some wind back into his sails and appointed our good man Roland Burris. (I only say Blago is my good friend because I am truly in awe of a man who gives the metaphorical middle finger to the state’s attorney while the evidence against him is so damning. ) Blago is 100%, positively, absolutely, with no argument within his rights to appoint this man. He cannot be certified incapacitated because he isn’t sick. As long as Blagojevich is in office he can do all the things our state and federal constitution allow him to do. It doesn’t matter if he’s under investigation, it doesn’t even matter if he gets a blow job from an intern in the middle of a press conference - as long as he is still governor he can do what he wants.
Now there’s Jesse White to contend with. On a side note, I was listening to my local Air America affiliate here in Chicagoland (WCPT 820AM, 92.5FM, 92.7FM, and 99.9FM) and there was a guest on the Tom Hartman show who corrected Tom Hartman after he reffered to Jesse as a man and told him that “I think its a she, Tom” and he took her word for it. So to set things straight, Jesse White is a black man. As it turns out, the senatorial appointment needs to be certified by the Secretary of State. I’m not sure if that’s a part of the state constitution or what but them’s the rules.
This is why the “manager”, as I like to call him, of the Senate, Harry Reid (spelling?), basically booted his ass out of the Senate today.
The Republicans couldn’t be happier about this situation. No matter what the Democrats do they lose on some level. If they reject Burris then the Right can attack them for not allowing what would be the only African American into the Senate. They can also attack the Democrats for not allowing a legally appointed representative serve. In fact Sean Hannity is talking about this right now on his radio show. He’s basically saying that Harry Reid should just ignore Jesse White’s disapproval of the candidate and let him in. Apparently Sean Hannity doesn’t have any respect for our state’s constitution which is ironic considering how Republicans love to wrap themselves in to keep themselves warm. (In reality what they really do is burn the Constitution for warmth. Example: Most of the Bush Administration’s actions over the past 8 years.) If Burris is allowed to come to work then the Democrats will be attacked for allowing a guy who was appointed by corrupt governor serve.
So lets recap:
If Roland Burris is allowed to serve:
- Democrats are corrupt by association
- Democrats are afraid they will lose a special election
If Roland Burris isn’t allowed to serve:
- Democrats are racist- they won’t let even one black man into the Senate
- Democrats don’t follow the rules- Burris was legally appointed (The rationale of Republicans on this one is basically to pretend that Jesse White doesn’t have to certify the appointment
What do I think they should do? Well I already made the point that no matter what the Democrats are going to look bad somehow. So what I would do is apply the “Band-aid Rule” - let Roland Burris serve now. Its going to make you guys look bad for a second but its better than being involved in a drawn out process that makes you look worse for longer. Just like a band-aid: You rip off quickly and it hurts for a second. You peel it off slow and it hurts just as long as you keep pulling it.
