The Cheshire grin on Rolland truly creeps me out. It’s like he’s hiding a parakeet in his mouth.

Make that 2 parakeets.

MSNBC is saying that they’re trying to give Burris an ambassadorship or some other appointment in order to go away quietly, or that they’re thinking of offering to seat him in the Senate if he agrees not to run in 2010.

What exactly is pay for play
386 hrs & 42 min

At the end of the session, Bush reportedly told the group, “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.’’

Where the hell have they been for the past 8 years?

Jane, your snark makes my day.

Thanks.

Blago got the spectacle he wanted and Reid got his shoes manured.

anyway!

Let me clarify…

snark a la reality check…

So, lemme see … they want to bribe him to keep him from pressing to take up a post he was appointed to by another bribee? Convoluted, I’ll give ’em that. If Burris won’t go away … is it Reid vs. Burris fighting to the end of Reid?

the press corps remember nothing. Criteria for job was lobotomy, or something.

the politicians play their games and look like idiots. who will speak up for the people of illinois?

but we can remember, and where we forget we can remind each other.

(howdy kathryn!)

Blago’s in hysterics about now. you know he’s lovin’ this!
no one wants someone like the Blag in government, that’s undisputed.
BUT, there’s an opening in MN for a top comic, I hear.
There IS life after politics, Rod!

I say the Illinois Sec of State needs to do their job and sign off on the appointment. End of story. I am tired of the Drama.

Did the Senate Secretary put up a “Whites Only” sign at the drinking fountain as well?

With respect, people who think they’ve been ordained by their gods to be a sleazy politician shouldn’t hold any office. Presidency or Senate.

Now he can throw them at Bush, yes?

Dung beetles point to Reid, laugh and say, “Look at THAT loser!”

Scary isn’t it
386 hrs & 27 min

Oh, no you don’t! Don’t even be thinking about deporting Rod to MN! *g*

I was lucky enough to see Jane on MSNBC last night, talking about this with David Schuster. Gone was the snark, the biting wit. How are we bloggers ever going to get cred with the street if we can’t bring our “A” game? (the last two sentences in SarcasticFont(TM)) If you keep looking knowledgable and reasonable and support crazy ideas like the rule of law, are they even going to believe you are a wild eyed blogger? If they don’t, I will, as I have known you to be one of the brightest mind’s of our day, in a nice package, with manners, and even a suit to cover up the pajamas. (the last sentence in FawningAcolyteFont(TM)).

Go Jane!

I hope we see you regularly, such as in a “From the Blogs” spot on Rachel’s show. Don’t let anyone, critic or fan, stop you from helping us all to see the truth, even if we want to shut our eyes and let the pitch go by…

If he worships Money, maybe saying that God ordained it is just an admission that he paid to play.

That or wear them to bed. The smell of manure in the morning…

Jane sleeps in those suits!

I’m assuming “God” is Burris’ nickname for Blagojevich.

Burris is acting like he is some kind of innocent player in all this, like he was walking down the street and found a $20 bill on the sidewalk. Burris is playing the politics of this for all that he can. As selise brings up though at #10, the one thing Burris is not doing is acting and speaking for the people of Illinois. I could care less about Burris’ ego trip. It is the people of Illinois who are being given the shaft and that is where our focus should be.

What is the process by which the senate is keeping this guy from the senate? Is it extra legal? What are the charges and does he get a hearing? Can he face his accusers?

Seems like bullshit to me.

The guy was picked by a governor who has the legal right to do the picking- granted him by the citizens of Illinois..end of story one would think.

I am sorry

But what I see is Faubus and Wallace. How could they think we wouldn’t remember….
Once again there is no black senator.

Tell me, what did the Dems have to lose to be gracious and avoid a spectacle? Now they bring out the the shock and “s—”!

stop, stop, stop the drama!

hehe
sorrrrryyyyyyy, barb!

Where the hell have they been for the past 8 years?

Sucking up to the GOP and its quail wings?

WTF right does Reid have to say who the people of Illinois send to the Senate?

The most important question, you have asked?

oops
385 hrs & 56 min

WTF right does Reid have to say who the people of Illinois send to the Senate?

The people of Illinois aren’t sending anyone to the Senate, a crooked Governor is.

exactly.

I suspect that the reality is that God hates all politicians.. some more than others.

This is SO stooopid! Ried lets FREAKING TREASONOUS people go by without so much as a mustache twitch and then does this? Buerris is at least legal ~ which is more than you can say for ensconced administration vermin who betray our country and then thumb their noses at the legislature when they are subpoenaed to explain what they were doing!

You know sometimes I wonder WHY am I a Democrat when so many of them are such …freaking hypocritical prigs.

Thank you Jane, it is just so good to see someone who calls them out on their BS!

Cat In Seattle

Seems the rule of law has acquiesced to the whims of dysfunctional power hungry men, at best. Now Cheney swears in new senators?

The people of IL have, through their constitution, delegated to the governor the responsibility of making the appointment on their behalf. They have the ability to change their constitution for the future but not the past.
385 hrs & 51 min

i wish we were speaking up for the people of illinois. doesn’t seem like anyone else is.

Not the media!!!

i guess this means we will have nothing to say if bush pardons libby and cheney et al? because if it’s strictly legal there is nothing else to be said about it?

I believe it is a traditional responsibility of the Vice President.

What Blago Did To Harry Reid: A Metaphor

Yup, we’re free to criticize but we won’t be able to change it. The Constitution trumps all. Granted, elements of it are open to interpretation but the power of a president to issue pardons is clear.

Not sure how that works if they were co conspirators in crime. May make for new precedent.
385 hrs & 45 min

innocent until proven guilty

but we’re not criticizing it. we’re discussing, even arguing, over the political optics, the legality of legality of various politician’s actions – but we’re not talking about what should be done on behalf of the citizens of illinois or the country.

all circus. no bread.

Agreed, although as one of those citizens, I am accustomed to lack of representation. One of our senators has been preoccupied running for president the past two years and the other is Dick (Harry Reid butt-barnacle) Durbin.

I caught that too. Seems to find some way to give credit to God for his “rise” to the top, every chance he gets. (note to self: remind the lad cream is not the only thing that rises to the top)

The very essense of taking the name of the lord in vain?

Nice trick Burris. If it sticks on the wall, it’s a done deal, I suppose.

These people lose me at every twist in the road.

lol. well, putting on my “tilt at the windmill hat”

…. where the heck is it?

oh yeah, i’m wearing it.

um, where was i?

oh yeah. lack of representation sucks. another one of those things that needs changing.

He should go home. He is to blame with his desire for power.

I always thought why not refuse the seat from Blogo, I would (I think I know it must be hard being so close to such power/fame/etc).

Then I found out that the first person Blogo tried to appoint did refuse… so what the hell precident was set and he should have followed.

I wuz figurin’ cheney’d carry on in his accustomed style and pardon shrubby.

And not running is 2010 is stupid. I would never agree to that.

WHY THE HELL WOULD THE DO THIS PAY-TO-PLAY.

Ohhh I promise not to run for the club in 2010.

The fact that he is African American should not be an impact (other than the visuals and the story) since it has nothing to do with why he is not being seated.

The Senate is not on solid ground in failing to seat Burris. This is garbage. The law is clear. The losers are the people of Illinois. Now lacking representation, the constitutional intent of America’s founders, a representative republic might be usurped by “aristocrats” in the Senate?

So just to re-cap.

The Gov is on tape saying he is going to sell the Senate seat. The Senate is in some ways the “decider” of who to seat. The form was not signed by the correct officials in the state. The Gov is going to be impeached, and then is going to go to jail.

Just imagine for a minute if it was Jeb Bush (I know, he would never get caught since his family runs the CIA and NSA and FBI, but still). Can you imagine the disgust a progressive would feel at that…well that is the exact same disgust I feel now with this case.

I think that if I were Burris, in my lawsuit i would charge collusion between the democratic Senate leadership and the IL SoS to deny him his senate seat.
385 hrs & 16 min

“While Blagojevich has signed formal appointment papers, White has not, and Senate rules require that signature.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..55565.html

Wonder if White is getting Pay-to-Play by not signing it. In any case he would be the only law breaker in this (other than Blogo the shit ball crook).

Ya beat me to it.

Of course there will be not trail for this so I don’t think charging someone with zero evidence is going to do much.

That was Rep Danny Davis, who I read recommended to Blagojevich that he appoint Burris after he (Davis) declined.

The senate can only deny to seat someone for very specific violations. The SoS who has not signed has not signed in violation of the state constitution. It also seems that you have already tried and convicted Blago. Guilty as he may be this has not happened. The IL supreme court has already ruled that Blago is not not qualified to serve as alleged by the state AG. If Blago is found guilty in the future does that mean that his appt. is automatically guilty of something?
385 hrs & 8 min

Or they want to show its not personal, but that they are not going to seat any Blogo pick. They are fine with him being a smart and capable person.

It is a fine line though.

There is not pay-to-play though likey…because they are not going to seat him.

Look at the stuff the senate has done over the last 8 years, you think they are worried that the prols are going to rise up and care about this?

His words have convicted him…there is AUDIO. I heard him.

And his “alleged” crimes relate to… the Senate appointment.

So what do you say, change the name Blogo for “Jeb Bush” and how you you and others here feel?

He may not go to jail (heheh) but he is getting impeached very soon.

Again, very miraculous (almost as if it were God’s “will” that the SoS did not sign the papers).

Yeah, maybe some day Senators will support an African American presidential candidate and then we might have an African American POTUS.

I am sure if he were white they would have embraced him…

If Blago is found guilty in the future does that mean that his appt. is automatically guilty of something?

Hmmm…guilt by proxy? Is that a new concept?

There should be many African American Senators. You can put that on the rich/powerful in both parties/kingmakers and on the American electorate.
This is an isolated incident though, I really don’t see how they are being conflated, if the appointment were a white person they would have been rejected as well.

You have actually heard the tapes? All I have seen was what Fitz selected to put in his charges.
384 hrs & 57 min

It might be new to the legal system but not to the rethugs. see Wright & Ayers
384 hrs & 55 min

I do agree with this.

They are all a den of crooks beyond a shadow of a doubt (sorry did I convict someone without a trial…thats just me, my kids, and my future grand kids paying trillions of dollars for their crimes talking).

They just choose what to distract people with. The classic is Dems and Rs agreeing on war, money, etc and “fighting” over abortion and the 10-commandments in public (when they can’t even name 2 commandments).

Oh, I see. AG Fitz is lying in his indictment. He is just going to say he lost the tapes when it comes to trial.

And yes, he does implicate himself in the audio that has been released.

Not only that but we agree with it since we are citizens.

Blago will probably be convicted but since he was charged it became a part of his defense to make a squeaky clean appointment so the taint of Blago if applied to Burris, should not occur.
384 hrs & 48 min

Very interesting debate. Gotta run but thank you for pushing the main points.

The real sad thing is I really believe the game is setup to allow these losers to do whatever they want (so in some ways being rigid is a good thin). At the same time why does it always seem when its critical time that the “law” is protecting what sounds like the rich/powerful “criminal”?

I blame nothing on the appointee (though I think anyone should refuse the Blogo appointment).

Is there some sort of analogy here with what the SCOUTS did with Bush-v-Gore? Perhaps its easiest to think in analogy, that is sort of why I say think about what it would be like if Jeb Bush was Blogo in this case.

AAAAA, why are we surrounded by crooks and liars. Why is the law and financial system used to rape an pillage. AAAA!

If we substituted Jeb Bush for Blagojevich, there would most likely be the same level of outrage at the actions leading up to the indictment along with the same recognition that although we might not be pleased with the fact, that as long as he was in office, he would have the exact same legal authority to make an appointment, no matter how much it might displease us, as Blagojevich has.

There are a lot of laws in various states that give authority to the Governor(s) (or the President on the Federal level) that I disagree with. I’ve had to learn to live with those laws as long as they are on the books and to do what I can to get them changed.

Well said
384 hrs & 35 min

Blago is on tape tellin a member of his staff that he would LIKE money or other tangible benefits in exchange for a senate seat…to say that is not a crime- asking for it is- but we don’t as far as I know have him on tape asking for it.

But would you think that the person Jeb picked was complicit? If that is the case then its OK to seat a crook & liar with the other crooks and liars in the Senate?

In addition the quotation of the law is not on this post, I saw it last night and it is open to interpretation (just like most of them are to allow the folks in power to do whatever they want – in this case it happens to be the right thing; to your point it could just as easily be the wrong thing on purpose depending on the “situatiuon” and “interprestion”.

He’s no more crooked than all the rest we’ve had here (just dumb enough to say it on tape) and no one has provided any evidence that there was anything criminal about Burris’ appointment.

*laughs* You’ve gotta be kidding, Reid wouldn’t ever fail to seat a Republican appointment.

Thanks Jane.

I’m from Illinois. Political Shenanigans© is our copyright. I am appalled that our state is being used as a pawn in this power struggle between our corrupt governor, the (suspect) DoJ and the Senate in general.

I’m as disgusted as the next guy by Roland Burris’s somewhat “Jesse Jackson, Sr.”-esque grandstanding in this.

From what I can gather, until our Secretary of State, Jesse (The Tumbling Instructor) White signs off on the appointment, according to IL law it’s not official. And for whatever his reason (DUH!), our Secretary of Tumbling doesn’t want to sign. Considering the difficulties I’ve had getting my license plate tags renewed since he took office, I wouldn’t be surprised if the REAL reason was that he couldn’t find the paperwork.

I wish this would all just go away and get back to us not trusting any politician ever for any reason. It’s worked for decades here…

I share your cynicism, Jane. If the Senate had conducted itself with more integrity the last couple of years I might be buying this, but it’s hard to ignore such recent history. We’re not conservatives, after all.

Could someone please explain why:

An allegedly crooked governor making a legal appointment, for whatever reasons, is some sort of unethical crime against democracy, but…

A majority leader, chief-of-staff designate, or president elect, attempting to influence that selection, based solely on the appointee’s electoral chances in 2010, is just dandy?

Don’t get me wrong. Saying to Blago “We would prefer…” is certainly within any of these Dems’ rights. But folks who are adamantly opposing this whole appointment tend to use the fact that Blago 1) contemplated “selling” the seat, and/or 2) that his motivations for the Burris’s appointment are not “sincere” or “in the best interests…yadda yadda.”

My question simply becomes: why is it perfectly okay for Reid to suggest an appointee, not because he/she will be the best senator to represent Illinois, but because of his/her electoral prospects in ‘10? That strikes me as not a hell of a lot different than making it for personal gain.

So, apparently electoral advantage is a perfectly justified criterion, but personal advantage, not so much…