Posts Tagged ‘senate’

Blagojevich puts Dems Between Rock and Hard Place

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

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

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.

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My State’s Governor (Rod Blagojevich) is a Badass

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Blagojevich proved his badassness to me today when he decided to appoint a black man to Obama’s vacant senate seat. What he basically did was put everyone trying to bring him down between a rock and a hard place. How are they going to block what could be the only african american in the senate? The can’t. Not without looking like a bunch of jackasses. His appointment, Roland Burris, a former state Attorney, is basically being used as a human shield. Of course Blagojevich tried to distance his appointment of this man from the charges against him saying:

“Please don’t allow the allegations against me to taint a good and honest man,” the governor said, turning to the smiling 71-year-old standing by his side.
“This is about Roland Burris as a U.S. senator, not about the governor who made the appointment.”

Burris was the first African-American elected to major statewide office in Illinois, serving as comptroller and running for governor three times — the last time losing to Blagojevich.

Of course he claimed he had no connection to the charges against Blagojevich, but what else would you expect him to say. I’m not going to defend Blago but I’m also not going to pre-judge him. Illinois is a really corrupt state - a fact that I’m proud of. If you read the post I wrote the day the Blagojevich story broke you’ll understand why. Chicago in particular is where pretty much all the corruption goes on. But Blagojevich was treated as a leper by all the corrupt politicians of this state because he wouldn’t play ball. He was like Rudolph except instead of a red nose he had an ethical dillema. The dilemma being that he acted ethically. Now it seems that exactly what he was fighting is what he became.

Before the announcement of Obama’s replacement all the corrupt politicians who are trying to look like they’re not corrupt by painting Blago as really corrupt (its kind of like trying to make yourself look tall by standing next to really short people all the time) were throwing hissy fits!

There’s one chink in Blago’s plan to get his appointment through by making it a racial thing. That chink is Jesse White, our Secretary of State here in Illinois. Jesse, a black man himself, said today that he won’t certify the appointment. And without Jesse White’s stamp of approval this thing ain’t happenin’. If Jesse doesn’t certify Burris no one can cry racism.

This is a pretty sad situation as Burris is an excellent choice for this seat. He ran against Blagojevich and lost some years ago. I bet he’s feeling vindicated now that all this happened to his former opponent. He could consider it a consolation prize.

Senate Democrats weren’t too enthusiastic with Rod picking Burris. They pretty much said “We don’t want that man picking a replacement because it makes us look bad” without really saying it. Their actual words were something like “We don’t want that man picking a senate replacement because its unfair to Burris and the people of Illinois”. But you know they only care about how it makes them look. Don’t buy the line about fairness. The official statement they put out said things like:

“It is truly regrettable that despite requests from all 50 Democratic senators and public officials throughout Illinois, Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety,”.
“Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic caucus.”

I feel bad for Obama in all this mess. The righties are trying to paint him as Blagojevich’s best friend. Sean Hannity tries to link him to Blago on a nightly basis disregarding all facts that say otherwise and making up his own facts to support his own whacked out non-reality based world.

Excerpt from Obama’s statement:

“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision,”

Leaders in the Senate pretty much shat their pants and got on the horn post stat for a conference call. A few people involved in that call expressed concerns about how it would look if they denied a black man this Senate seat. After all, there are no black Senators now that Barack moved up in the world.

One brave soul who spoke to the media (anonymously, of course ) after the conference call said this:

“We say this without prejudice toward Roland Burris’ ability, and we respect his years of public service,”
“It is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat.”

Rep. Bobby Rush decided to be a badass like Blagojevich by daring congress to block Burris’ appointment. I think that is absolutely hilarious. The fact that everyone is trying to tip-toe around this confirmation because of a man’s skin color rubs me the wrong way. This is what Rush had to say:

“There is no rhyme or reason why he should not be seated in the U.S. Senate. I don’t think any U.S. senator … wants to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the U.S. Senate.”

He told reporters that Senate Democrats should not “hang and lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer.”

HAHAHA LYNCH! Get it! I love how Blagojevich set this thing up to be about race and not about him. Then Bobby Rush using the word lynch and appointee (referring to Burris) in the same sentence! I love it!

Meanwhile Blagojevich’s own lawyer said that there would be no point in the governor naming someone to the Senate because leaders there would reject his appointment.

There’s more to the story but thats the basic overview. My governor has got some pretty big balls. He definitely proved that today. I don’t know wether he’s guilty or not and frankly, I don’t care. I just love the way he made this appointment about race suddenly instead of his own corruption.

His detractors are going to try to make it about the corruption of course but what gets more play in the media? Corruption or charges of racism? I tend to go with racism.


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Blagojevich: The reason I’m Proud to Live in Illinois

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Seeing as how I’m a politics junkie I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t followed the politics in my own state. Yesterday I woke up to Rod Blagojevich being arrested on corruption charges. For the sake of not getting carpel tunnel every time I write his name I will refer to him as Blago. Here’s the story: Blago is the fifth (I believe, the number may be slightly higher or lower) governor of Illinois to be charged with a crime. He came into office after George Ryan, our former corrupt governor. Ryan was involved in a lot of the same pay-to-play type deals but is most famous for his “Drivers Licenses for Bribes” scandal. Ryan is serving time in a Wisconsin prison and has solicited Bush for a pardon.

Blagojevich came into office promising to clean up Illinois government and made a lot of promises that the people were truly behind. Meanwhile the rest of Illinois government wanted to keep the status quo. And who can blame them? They were making bank off all the unethical behavior that had been going on for well, ever since Illinoisans can remember. So state officials blocked Blago at every turn. Blago felt as if he were the only legit guy holding public office in Illinois. That was at first. Soon Blago was in financial trouble. He wasn’t in on all the great scams everyone else in Illinois was in on. Since he was the odd man out no other state official would even let him in on those scams that were unethical but not quite illegal. You know the scams, pretty much the same stuff every politician in America was into; lobbyists paying for things, a contribution here and there, that sort of thing. But Blago didn’t even get that. Now desperate, frustrated, and in financial trouble, Blago starts to make some crazy deals. Maybe it was ego, or maybe it was inexperience but what he did certainly would qualify as crazy.

With Obama going to Washington he had a golden opportunity to cash in off the new senate appointment. Blago thought about naming himself to the seat and even running for president in 2016! The other option was to sell the seat to the highest bidder. I don’t think he did it because he was greedy but because he needed the money. He was trying to pull strings to get his wife a job on a board of directors and even attempting to collect speaking fees for any appearances he made after his term was finished.

There are two things that bother me about this whole situation and one isn’t the fact that we have a corrupt governor here in Illinois - Illinois government will always be corrupt and I am proud because of it (I’ll explain why in a sec). Its that Jesse Jackson Jr. may be that highest bidder I was talking about. I like Jesse Jackson Jr. and I would be heartbroken if he was the person Blago was selling the seat to. The other thing is if it hurts out chances at the 2016 Olympics. I love my city and would be so proud to have the Olympics a half hour drive away.

Despite the corruption that has and always will go on here in Illinois I am proud of it. I’m mostly proud of my city Chicago and because of Rod Blago I’m now proud of Illinois. Did you know Chicago is the murder capital of the U.S.? I didn’t either. But we beat New York and L.A.!!! How about the fact that Chicago is probably the most corrupt city in the U.S.? And what about all of Illinois now being considered the most corrupt state? We’ve had five governors charged with crimes (only one of which was found not guilty). That is why I am proud of this city and state. If we’re gonna have murders then we’re gonna have the most murders. If we’re gonna have corruption in state and local government then its going to the most corruption in America. If our governors are going to be charged with crimes then we’re gonna have more governors in jail than anyone else. This is the city where everything happens. Even our possibly felonious governor did most of his work in Chicago and rarely went to our real capital in Springfield. I think the capital should be Chicago. This is the city of the Smashing Pumpkins, the city by the lake. Its the windy city, the birth place of the blues. We have Wrigley field. We have the el. We may have the Olympics in 2016! This is the city with the Magnificent Mile. Its classier than New York and its not narcissistic like L.A. I challenge anyone to come here an think the place where they came from is better. We have Loyola University (the college I went to) and its hospital. We have Children’s Memorial and the University of Chicago. The Chicago Tribune and its parent company the Tribune Co. When its winter it snows like you’ve never seen, and when when we have summer its hard to keep your clothes on. We have Obama! We have Grant Park - the place where people from all over the country (and world) flock to for Lollapalooza. We have Millennium Park, where I have gone many times to see free outdoor concerts and movie marathons. We have the greatest city in the world, hands down, no question about it!

And as for Blago being a crook? Thats also what makes this place the greatest.


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