Man, oh man. This has all the feel of a kind of Last Stand. It's amazing to see people invoking a struggle that stretches back to cotton and chains, simply in pursuit of naked power.
» Blago’s Backwards Bribery from Beautiful Futility
Yglesias, T-NC and virtually everyone in the wide, wide world of blog sports is getting in on the Burris appointment.
Since wiser heads than me are going over the legalities of whether the Senate can refuse to seat Burris, let me throw my two cents in... [Read More]
The racist arrgument is dumb! The senate already agreed way before Burris was picked that they would block anyone the governor sent up to DC. I have a feeling this mess is about to get ugly Burris and Rush are not thinking long term. Let's say they go ahead and seat Burris but as far him winning the seat on his own right in 2010 forget.
Burris is helping to laying the foundation down for a big fight with Republicans in 2010. I can tell right now Republicans will win this one. Why not let Lt. Quinn pick an African American for the seat once the Gov. is thrown out?! Oh, that's right Bobby Rush and the CBC wants a Black senator right now and not later!!! This mess will end ugly just the way Bobby and the Gov. wanted too.
The thing that continues to amaze me is that Burris accepted the nomination.
I guess he must think that this was his one and only chance to get this much power and that squandering his reputation was worth the gamble, but how can he believe that even in the very, very best circumstance he'll only be a Senator until 2010.
Does he really believe that if he gets the seat that he'll somehow be able to dazzle the electorate so much with his political prowess that he'd have any chance of being re-elected or even nominated by his own party?
Here is the funny part, if those two dumbasses Burris and Rush would have left off this race crap people might have been coming around by now. They are actually fucking up the program and damn near ensuring that everyone turns on them. Burris last night was actually deflecting the race angle in his interviews. I don't know which idiot got to him and told him to latch onto it like a damn leech but if he keeps this shit up they are going to snatch defeat from jaws of probably victory.
The "it is legal" argument is a much better one to make.
I can answer that one. Burris is 71 years old. Two years in the Senate is all he probably really wants. It would be a crowning achievement for him and would definitely but him in an elite class of not only blakc folks but of Americans period. Had he already been a very successful politician currently in an office I think he would have said no like Davis. But being as how he has tried time and again to get voted into the big leagues and failed this WAS probably a no brainer for him. Its like the guys who cross the picket lines when the NFL players were on strike. Well not exactly like that but still the same point. Most of those guys knew they wouldn't last when the regulars came back. But they wanted to be able to say they played in the NFL even if it was only for half a season. Thats something nobody will ever be able to take from him.
"I don't know which idiot got to him and told him to latch onto it like a damn leech but if he keeps this shit up they are going to snatch defeat from jaws of probably victory."
sg,
I'm guessing the idiot's name rhymes with "Flobby Mush".
I don't care that he's using race to try to get seated, and I actually don't even care if he gets seated. He isn't implicated with Blago, and shouldn't be punished for those actions. What I absolutely cannot abide is the 'It's a question that someone might raise' thing. COME ON, if you want to say something just say it, but no politician should ever be able to get away with assigning their own opinions to some hypothetical person they are not responsible for. It smacks dangerously of Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber and Socialism.
But of course no media figure anywhere will call them on it, because there is nothing more pundits like more than saying "I'm only talking about this because the question is 'out there'", as if 'out there' is a place that actually exists. Our entire political process is conducted in this weird hybrid of the first, second, and third person that is specifically designed to gut accountability. It's disturbing and dangerous.
I was just coming on to say this reminded me of Palin: the ugly last stand of a kind of politics that has worked in the past and could be employed with some level of subtlety. But as it loses its implicit appeal as we mature as a nation, it becomes more and more overt as a desperate attempt to retain it's power. I think this marks the beginning of the end of both the politics exemplified by Palin and (Bobby) Rush. But that doesn't mean the end won't be ugly and drawn out...
You know, that's a nice Senate building you've got there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it. Real shame, see? You should think long and hard about blocking my nomination. I'm a lucky guy! I don't know if you knew that, but buildings that I work in rarely burn to the ground. Buildings that I don't work in, however... that a different story. Anyway, just think about it, is alls I'm saying.
the evidence of racism is not in whether he is denied a senate seat.
the racism is in the fact that of the other 49 seats none are held by african americans, and few by other people of color, and that this is how it's always been.
You mean the other 99 seats. Don't let the Republicans off the hook. There are 100 seats in the Senate.
But Burris being denied has NOTHING to do with racism. He is kinda fucked on that one since before anyone ever knew that Blago would actually go through with appointing someone let alone a black person the Senate Dems had already gone on record as saying they wouldn't accept an appointee of Blago.
This is why white people do look at us as semi-dumb.It is wrong but guess what: that is what they see even with our intellectual. A man with a law degree, yet, he is acting just like a brotha with no GED hanging on the street. I am grateful that we have Barack, TNC and millions of us who knows what the value of eduaction is: more than a means for a higher paycheck.
Y'all need to read rikyrah's comment in the post below. I think he dances around the point -- which in my opinion is that this pick as all about Blago's using ethnic politics as a wedge for his political survival -- but his main point that race and politics in Chicago (and people need to understand that this is not an Illinois drama, it is a Chicago drama) go hand-in-hand (like peanut butter and jelly) is spot on.
As Peter Finley Dunne wrote: "Politics ain't beanbag: 'tis a man's game . . ."
Remember, this is all about Blago's political survival. Nothing more.
All these comments, like "The racist argument is dumb!" and "if those two dumbasses Burris and Rush would have left off this race crap people might have been coming around by now." do not understand the history and precedent (if only shallow) of this in Chicago politics.
That Burris accepted means that somehow he must have assured Blago he'd stick out as best he can the eventual fire storm regarding the appointment. That Blago needs some friend, any friend, in DC is obvious.
Bobby Rush. First, he's an old school ethnic politician. I believe he's been a Blago ally from the start. And it's important to understand that he's not an Obama fan.
But what seems clear to me is that Blago needs to build some kind of political base if he has any hopes of retaining his job.
At 4% approval, he has no where to go but up.
And by making the Burris pick and hammering home the race issue, he keeps Daley on the sidelines (and if Daley ever felt emboldened to join the fray, he's not stepping into it now) and, and I think this is key, he's hoping to put his arch-enemy Mike Madigan on the defensive.
The long and short of it is that everything Blago has done has precedent in Chicago politics.
BTW: As a criminal defense attorney specializing in federal defense and habeas, Blago, as raw and scummy he may be, is not crazy when he says he believes he'll be vindicated. I've read the criminal complaint twice, and there really isn't any there there. Maybe the indictment will beefier, but as to the criminal complaint itself, I'm not sure he broke any federal laws beyond a reasonable doubt. Sure, Blago might be a d-bag of epic proportions, but since when is being a d-bag illegal?
All these comments, like "The racist argument is dumb!" and "if those two dumbasses Burris and Rush would have left off this race crap people might have been coming around by now." do not understand the history and precedent (if only shallow) of this in Chicago politics.
That Burris accepted means that somehow he must have assured Blago he'd stick out as best he can the eventual fire storm regarding the appointment. That Blago needs some friend, any friend, in DC is obvious.
My comeback to that is this, Burris isn't trying to win an election of the people of Illinois. The people of Chicago won't decide if he gets seated or not. It will either be the Supreme Court and or the members of the Senate who make that call. He and Blago actually have a plausible case to be made that his appointment is legal and above board and that he shouldn't be "tainted" by Blago's problems.
That being said playing race politics in Chicago is like putting tits on a bull in this situation. Who gives a flying fuck? All the black people in Chicago could march in support of Burris but if public opinion of the rest of the country still shows that the majority of Americans don't want him in the Senate the other Senators are going to block his ass or at least try to. Those other Senators don't have to get elected in Illinois, they have to get elected in their own state and thats all they give a damn about. Add to that the fact that Obama has already put the kibosh on Burris and I would say that ginning up racial outrage is gonna be close to impossible. Its post racial times dontcha know?
Its the dumbest fucking card they could have possibly played and its likely to be the reason they actually lose out in the end.
Just noticed this post at Think Progress. The question, "Why would Burris take this tainted appointment in the first place?" is quite nicely answered in my head now.
I've found Burris' bald-faced desperation to hold onto this appointment sortof pathetic.
It's obvious that he sees this as his only chance to be sent up to Washington (since his failed bid for senate in 1984). We're probably going to have to pry this appointment away from him finger by protesting finger.
It's been what, 2 days? Just wait. It seems as though Blago's crazy is the kind you can catch.
I am as dissappointed in Burris as the next guy (or gal) but when people are using his cemetary monument to try to make statements about him when I have seen monuments like this one like this one tons of time in my life and nobody ever said anything negative about them makes me think maybe just maybe we are taking shit too far.
I probably should have added, Blago could give a rat's ass about whether Burris will or will not be seated (he'll probably have to be seated) or whether the country thinks it's a valid appointment or not.
If he's seated, he's seated. If not, then Blago can blame forces beyond his control, but at the end of it all he can say "This was a black seat, and I appointed a black person."
It's about his political survival, and since he has few cards to play, he played the one that has recent precedent in Illinois politics. It wasn't a dumb move. It won't work, but it was not a dumb move.
sgwhiteinfla: I believe your argument was "if they never played the race card, then the Burris appointment might be in fact accepted." That's probably correct, but Blago ultimately does not care whether the appointment would or would not be accepted, or whether it's good for the people of Illinois, the Democratic Party or the Country. All Blago cares about is Blago. That in and of itself is contemptible, but at a certain primitive level, it is rational.
Blago's approval rating is at 4%. What did he have to lose? If the appointment and the race card bumps up his approval rating to a meager 15% (unlikely, but possible, I suppose) he's tripled his support overnight.
Again, the appointment has little to with the rest of the country and everything to do with Blago's survival.
Indeed, sgwhite, I've also seen monuments like this, but rarely for the living.
The truth is: I don't know the first thing about Roland Burris or the traditional standards of Chicago politics. And I can only make a reasoned guess about the legal status of his appointment and the various efforts to foil it. The reason I find myself in opposition to Blago, Burris, Rush and their pals is that their clear intention is to profit personally at the expense of the Democratic party and its agenda. It's really not personal, but they are standing in the way of some very important policy initiatives--about which I care a great deal. And I wish they would back off.
Someone explain to these idiots that their antics have taken away political capital from the first black president. That's their place in history: the first black president had to waste time dealing with a bunch of crooks and race-baiting machine politicians before he took office. I've heard a number of Republicans crow that "Obama is the first president-elect to be investigated criminally" - and they're almost right, because prosecutors interrogated Obama before they could clear him on the scandal.
Thanks, Blago, Burris, and Rush. Maybe you could be more helpful and racially transcendent if you joined the Klan.
I agree with you on Blago but some part of me admires that he had the balls to pull this off. For a guy with a 4 percent approval rating who was arrested on charges of trying to sell the senate seat, to appoint Burris, if played right. could be political genius truly. The problem is not Blago now, its Rush and Burris. They are overplaying the race angle. They had to know that Burris' face would be all over the news and every cable station after he accepted so there is no need to play up the race card. People can see it with their own two eyes. So Blago appoints a black guy with a financial and law background who has never been in trouble and has been in politics for over 20 years. He is the epitome of a "safe" pick. And Dems could just resign themselves to primarying him with a better Dem in 2010, problem solved. But now Senate Dems almost HAVE to push back on this racist rhetoric Rush and Burris are spewing.
If I was a betting man Id say Blago is happy that they are doing it because it once again takes the focus off of him but also I bet it wasn't his idea. And it won't work out well for him as well ultimately if Burris isn't ever seated because of the pushback.
Sg nailed it: After two failed attempts at city (and state) office, this is as close as Burris is gonna come to the state house. And Shine's point about ignoring the history of IL politics is a salient one.
Am I on the only one getting "Wire" flashbacks right now? Blago is on some straight Tommy Carcetti shit.
Blago's white, but I think we can officially call this "Negro Nonsense" at this point. I swear Chicago politicians are becoming Obama's equivalent to crazy kin folks. I'm not sure what else they can do to annoy and embarrass the man.
Coates are you ever invited to speak on any of the cable outlets? I just heard Roland, of all people, making the case to seat his namesake...ridiculous.
Not really. But in all fairness, I'm suspicious of cable talk. I understand that people want another voice out there, but the format of cable news, really doesn't allow for much nuance. I probably would speak on the Burris piece. I think a lot of young black folks are worried--rightly or wrongly-- that Rush's position will be seen as the "black position." Of course that has more to do with television, than with Rush.
I usually like Roland Martin on CNN because he will say stuff that nobody else will. But I saw him talking about Roland Burris too and I came away very dissappointed. He never usually comes off like an old guard type but he did this time. He even tried to compare Burris to Adam Clayton Powell who WAS evidently denied his seat over race. And what was up with his eyes? It looked like he has jaundice or something.
I daresay Adam Clayton Powell's race didn't help at the end, but Powell, for all of the good things he did, destroyed himself more effectively than ny white pol could have done. As I recall, Charlie Rangel took his seat, n'est ce pas?
I quite like TNC's comment on Rush being seen as enunciating the default "black" stance respecting Burriss. It amazes me that these guys, year after year, still get away with this weird, outdated Huey Newton rhetoric....Cornel West added an academic patina and made a whole career of it, and cable news still laps him up. The white equivalent might be if if all the lefties still sounded like the Weathermen or the White Panther Party (remember them? Of course not).
I didn't catch Roland on CNN, but comparing Burris to Powell isn't particularly illuminating, despite a shared race and the relevant Supreme Court case. And Jetan's right - Powell was definitely not denied his seat due to race, even though I'm sure many of those good ole boys in Congress weren't too sorry to see him go. Powell served in Congress for over 20 years before the Supreme Court case in question. During that time, he did do several great things, but he ultimately did himself in with a stupid but not uncommon combination of power, incompetence, and greed.
Hey I don't know the history of Powell, I only know Roland Martin said race was the reason they kept him out. Could be he said it just to try to fit it into his own meme.
Americans of all colors including Blacks have been trained like animals to be racist pigs on steriods.
Those who call Bobby Rush a racist, simply for telling the truth of need for a Black senator in a Blackless senate are hypocrits.
Just Because Obama is the President Elect, does not change the history of America. People make a big deal about Obama because of the Racist history against Black People. Then to act like Blacks who speak truth to power and people about this are the scum of the Earth, confirms that America is constipated with White Supremacy always being right, and the right way to do things. Blacks should not have to protect whites from the truth. Who is racist in America when Blacks vote for White, Black, Hispanic and Asian senators, but the reason no Blacks are in the Senate is the racists modernist claiming liberalism that know Blacks may not secure these seats with out vast money or other races voting them in. If there are NO BLACKS IN THE SENATE AND PEOPLE WANT TO JUDGE BURRIS CHARACTER BY A WHITE MAN. NO WONDER THIS COUNTRY IS FALLING FAST AND BEING TAKEN OVER BY CORPORATIONS AND ILLEGALS. RACIST REGRESSIVE AMERICANS CHOOSE TO GIVE IT AWAY BY CRYING REVERSE RACISM BECAUSE OF A MIXED PRESIDENT AFTER 500 YEARS OF BLACK OPPRESSION. GOD BE WITH YOU, BECAUSE ANOTHER 911 WILL HIT EACH ONE OF YOU PERSONALLLY.
Bobby Rush is a frikkin joke and most of the people calling him out are other black folks so your diatribe is mute here. Like others have said before, Rush didn't give a damn about a black face being in the senate when he backed Obama's white rival back in 04. Should we have black representation in the Senate? Of course. Does Bobby Rush wear clown shoes for backing this particular black person in this particular situation? HELL YES! You might actually want to check out what Rush had to say about whether Blago should appoint someone BEFORE he decided to appoint Burris before you come off looking just as hypocritical as he does.
I'm sure every other black person in this country is like: yeah, there aren't any blacks in the Senate, but what the fuck is your point, man? It would not look in the least bit racist not to seat the man. As a black person myself, I say they should not seat the man just on principal.
Some people strive for naked power, and some abuse it. While Blagojevich should not have made the appointment for moral reasons, he has the authority to do so. Now, every politician and his uncle, who lack the actual power, are taking action to extra-legally remove that authority. Lisa Madigan files an obviously ridiculous lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court. Harry Reid threatens not to sit Burris even though there is a U.S. Supreme Court directly on point. And now, the Illinois Secretary of State chooses not to certify the decision granted solely to the Governor for no actual legal reason. When one person usurps the legally issued power of the executive, its called a coup.
You need to get out more :) Go check out the PETA and Greenpeace affiliated blogs (both official and unofficial) if you want some good, balanced grade A, first rate crapola. Balanced, that is, when compared to RedState.
I'm hoping we can look back a few years from now and someone will have done a documentary on the end of 60's racial politics, citing this Rush crap as one of the most telling coffin nails.
THE REASON THE SENATE IS ALL WHITE IS BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED THEM. HOW CAN PEOPLE SAY THAT IT IS RACISM? THERE IS A BLACK PRESIDENT WHO SAYS BURRIS SHOULDN'T BE APPOINTED. ALSO JESSE WHITE IS A BLACK MAN. AND HE REFUSED TO APPROVE HIM. ITS SO SAD.. IT IS RACISM FOR BLACKS TO TRY TO USE RACE TO GET WHAT THEY WANT. GIVE IT UP ALREADY. THE PRESIDENTS BLACK, YOU CANT USE THE RACE CARD FOR EVERYTHING ANYMORE!!!! ITS FUNNY EVERYONE AGREED ROD SHOULDN'T APPOINT ANYONE AT ALL BUT AS SOON AS ITS A BLACK GUY TRYING TO BE APPOINTED ALL THE OTHER BLACK REPS CHANGE THEIR MIND.. WHAT THE HELL??? RACIST BLACK POLITICIANS!! WHITE PEOPLE ARE PERSECUTED FOR THIS TYPE OF THINKING BUT BLACKS GET AWAY WITH IT EVERYDAY! TIME TO STOP BEING SCARED OF PISSING OFF THE BLACK POPULATION.
Here's a piece no one cared about. Meh, whatever, probably the most enjoyable article I did during my stint at TIME. Premiered a month before I got laid-off. The nail in the coffin? Ya think?
Here's me going after Al. I didn't so much have a problem with him, as I had a problem with media acting like this dude was the go-to guy for everything black.
This was my first real story at time. I was writing for the Business section, a real change of direction for me. At any rate, it's about Wal-Mart's attempts to colonize the inner-city. As much as I enjoyed this piece, I mostly enjoyed going out to Chicago, which is a beautiful, beautiful city.
This a piece I did about the cops just outside our nation capitol, in Prince George's County, a few years back. I wanted to offer a counter to the dumb, conventional wisdom that if you paint your police force black, you could eradicate police brutality. In fact, Prince George's--one of the richest, blackest counties in the country--also had one of the most brutal police force's in the country.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Deeply unimpressive, until the last 10 seconds, when it becomes just pathetic. "Is it racism? That's the question that someone may raise."
Can we please kill this shit.
The racist arrgument is dumb! The senate already agreed way before Burris was picked that they would block anyone the governor sent up to DC. I have a feeling this mess is about to get ugly Burris and Rush are not thinking long term. Let's say they go ahead and seat Burris but as far him winning the seat on his own right in 2010 forget.
Burris is helping to laying the foundation down for a big fight with Republicans in 2010. I can tell right now Republicans will win this one. Why not let Lt. Quinn pick an African American for the seat once the Gov. is thrown out?! Oh, that's right Bobby Rush and the CBC wants a Black senator right now and not later!!! This mess will end ugly just the way Bobby and the Gov. wanted too.
The thing that continues to amaze me is that Burris accepted the nomination.
I guess he must think that this was his one and only chance to get this much power and that squandering his reputation was worth the gamble, but how can he believe that even in the very, very best circumstance he'll only be a Senator until 2010.
Does he really believe that if he gets the seat that he'll somehow be able to dazzle the electorate so much with his political prowess that he'd have any chance of being re-elected or even nominated by his own party?
Here is the funny part, if those two dumbasses Burris and Rush would have left off this race crap people might have been coming around by now. They are actually fucking up the program and damn near ensuring that everyone turns on them. Burris last night was actually deflecting the race angle in his interviews. I don't know which idiot got to him and told him to latch onto it like a damn leech but if he keeps this shit up they are going to snatch defeat from jaws of probably victory.
The "it is legal" argument is a much better one to make.
Andrew
I can answer that one. Burris is 71 years old. Two years in the Senate is all he probably really wants. It would be a crowning achievement for him and would definitely but him in an elite class of not only blakc folks but of Americans period. Had he already been a very successful politician currently in an office I think he would have said no like Davis. But being as how he has tried time and again to get voted into the big leagues and failed this WAS probably a no brainer for him. Its like the guys who cross the picket lines when the NFL players were on strike. Well not exactly like that but still the same point. Most of those guys knew they wouldn't last when the regulars came back. But they wanted to be able to say they played in the NFL even if it was only for half a season. Thats something nobody will ever be able to take from him.
the seat smells, I wouldn't be the first to run up and jump in it.
"I don't know which idiot got to him and told him to latch onto it like a damn leech but if he keeps this shit up they are going to snatch defeat from jaws of probably victory."
sg,
I'm guessing the idiot's name rhymes with "Flobby Mush".
I don't care that he's using race to try to get seated, and I actually don't even care if he gets seated. He isn't implicated with Blago, and shouldn't be punished for those actions. What I absolutely cannot abide is the 'It's a question that someone might raise' thing. COME ON, if you want to say something just say it, but no politician should ever be able to get away with assigning their own opinions to some hypothetical person they are not responsible for. It smacks dangerously of Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber and Socialism.
But of course no media figure anywhere will call them on it, because there is nothing more pundits like more than saying "I'm only talking about this because the question is 'out there'", as if 'out there' is a place that actually exists. Our entire political process is conducted in this weird hybrid of the first, second, and third person that is specifically designed to gut accountability. It's disturbing and dangerous.
OGWiseman,
I was just coming on to say this reminded me of Palin: the ugly last stand of a kind of politics that has worked in the past and could be employed with some level of subtlety. But as it loses its implicit appeal as we mature as a nation, it becomes more and more overt as a desperate attempt to retain it's power. I think this marks the beginning of the end of both the politics exemplified by Palin and (Bobby) Rush. But that doesn't mean the end won't be ugly and drawn out...
You know, that's a nice Senate building you've got there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it. Real shame, see? You should think long and hard about blocking my nomination. I'm a lucky guy! I don't know if you knew that, but buildings that I work in rarely burn to the ground. Buildings that I don't work in, however... that a different story. Anyway, just think about it, is alls I'm saying.
"but is it racism?" burris, above.
the evidence of racism is not in whether he is denied a senate seat.
the racism is in the fact that of the other 49 seats none are held by african americans, and few by other people of color, and that this is how it's always been.
ccocolamala
You mean the other 99 seats. Don't let the Republicans off the hook. There are 100 seats in the Senate.
But Burris being denied has NOTHING to do with racism. He is kinda fucked on that one since before anyone ever knew that Blago would actually go through with appointing someone let alone a black person the Senate Dems had already gone on record as saying they wouldn't accept an appointee of Blago.
This is why white people do look at us as semi-dumb.It is wrong but guess what: that is what they see even with our intellectual. A man with a law degree, yet, he is acting just like a brotha with no GED hanging on the street. I am grateful that we have Barack, TNC and millions of us who knows what the value of eduaction is: more than a means for a higher paycheck.
My dignity would be (and is) worth more than a Senate seat! I thought ppl got wiser w/age.
Y'all need to read rikyrah's comment in the post below. I think he dances around the point -- which in my opinion is that this pick as all about Blago's using ethnic politics as a wedge for his political survival -- but his main point that race and politics in Chicago (and people need to understand that this is not an Illinois drama, it is a Chicago drama) go hand-in-hand (like peanut butter and jelly) is spot on.
As Peter Finley Dunne wrote: "Politics ain't beanbag: 'tis a man's game . . ."
Remember, this is all about Blago's political survival. Nothing more.
All these comments, like "The racist argument is dumb!" and "if those two dumbasses Burris and Rush would have left off this race crap people might have been coming around by now." do not understand the history and precedent (if only shallow) of this in Chicago politics.
That Burris accepted means that somehow he must have assured Blago he'd stick out as best he can the eventual fire storm regarding the appointment. That Blago needs some friend, any friend, in DC is obvious.
Bobby Rush. First, he's an old school ethnic politician. I believe he's been a Blago ally from the start. And it's important to understand that he's not an Obama fan.
But what seems clear to me is that Blago needs to build some kind of political base if he has any hopes of retaining his job.
At 4% approval, he has no where to go but up.
And by making the Burris pick and hammering home the race issue, he keeps Daley on the sidelines (and if Daley ever felt emboldened to join the fray, he's not stepping into it now) and, and I think this is key, he's hoping to put his arch-enemy Mike Madigan on the defensive.
The long and short of it is that everything Blago has done has precedent in Chicago politics.
BTW: As a criminal defense attorney specializing in federal defense and habeas, Blago, as raw and scummy he may be, is not crazy when he says he believes he'll be vindicated. I've read the criminal complaint twice, and there really isn't any there there. Maybe the indictment will beefier, but as to the criminal complaint itself, I'm not sure he broke any federal laws beyond a reasonable doubt. Sure, Blago might be a d-bag of epic proportions, but since when is being a d-bag illegal?
And as I was writing the above comment and trying to work at the same time, Matt Yglesias made essentially the same points and beat me to it.
Shine says
My comeback to that is this, Burris isn't trying to win an election of the people of Illinois. The people of Chicago won't decide if he gets seated or not. It will either be the Supreme Court and or the members of the Senate who make that call. He and Blago actually have a plausible case to be made that his appointment is legal and above board and that he shouldn't be "tainted" by Blago's problems.
That being said playing race politics in Chicago is like putting tits on a bull in this situation. Who gives a flying fuck? All the black people in Chicago could march in support of Burris but if public opinion of the rest of the country still shows that the majority of Americans don't want him in the Senate the other Senators are going to block his ass or at least try to. Those other Senators don't have to get elected in Illinois, they have to get elected in their own state and thats all they give a damn about. Add to that the fact that Obama has already put the kibosh on Burris and I would say that ginning up racial outrage is gonna be close to impossible. Its post racial times dontcha know?
Its the dumbest fucking card they could have possibly played and its likely to be the reason they actually lose out in the end.
Just noticed this post at Think Progress. The question, "Why would Burris take this tainted appointment in the first place?" is quite nicely answered in my head now.
I've found Burris' bald-faced desperation to hold onto this appointment sortof pathetic.
It's obvious that he sees this as his only chance to be sent up to Washington (since his failed bid for senate in 1984). We're probably going to have to pry this appointment away from him finger by protesting finger.
It's been what, 2 days? Just wait. It seems as though Blago's crazy is the kind you can catch.
I am as dissappointed in Burris as the next guy (or gal) but when people are using his cemetary monument to try to make statements about him when I have seen monuments like this one like this one tons of time in my life and nobody ever said anything negative about them makes me think maybe just maybe we are taking shit too far.
I probably should have added, Blago could give a rat's ass about whether Burris will or will not be seated (he'll probably have to be seated) or whether the country thinks it's a valid appointment or not.
If he's seated, he's seated. If not, then Blago can blame forces beyond his control, but at the end of it all he can say "This was a black seat, and I appointed a black person."
It's about his political survival, and since he has few cards to play, he played the one that has recent precedent in Illinois politics. It wasn't a dumb move. It won't work, but it was not a dumb move.
sgwhiteinfla: I believe your argument was "if they never played the race card, then the Burris appointment might be in fact accepted." That's probably correct, but Blago ultimately does not care whether the appointment would or would not be accepted, or whether it's good for the people of Illinois, the Democratic Party or the Country. All Blago cares about is Blago. That in and of itself is contemptible, but at a certain primitive level, it is rational.
Blago's approval rating is at 4%. What did he have to lose? If the appointment and the race card bumps up his approval rating to a meager 15% (unlikely, but possible, I suppose) he's tripled his support overnight.
Again, the appointment has little to with the rest of the country and everything to do with Blago's survival.
Indeed, sgwhite, I've also seen monuments like this, but rarely for the living.
The truth is: I don't know the first thing about Roland Burris or the traditional standards of Chicago politics. And I can only make a reasoned guess about the legal status of his appointment and the various efforts to foil it. The reason I find myself in opposition to Blago, Burris, Rush and their pals is that their clear intention is to profit personally at the expense of the Democratic party and its agenda. It's really not personal, but they are standing in the way of some very important policy initiatives--about which I care a great deal. And I wish they would back off.
Someone explain to these idiots that their antics have taken away political capital from the first black president. That's their place in history: the first black president had to waste time dealing with a bunch of crooks and race-baiting machine politicians before he took office. I've heard a number of Republicans crow that "Obama is the first president-elect to be investigated criminally" - and they're almost right, because prosecutors interrogated Obama before they could clear him on the scandal.
Thanks, Blago, Burris, and Rush. Maybe you could be more helpful and racially transcendent if you joined the Klan.
Shine
I agree with you on Blago but some part of me admires that he had the balls to pull this off. For a guy with a 4 percent approval rating who was arrested on charges of trying to sell the senate seat, to appoint Burris, if played right. could be political genius truly. The problem is not Blago now, its Rush and Burris. They are overplaying the race angle. They had to know that Burris' face would be all over the news and every cable station after he accepted so there is no need to play up the race card. People can see it with their own two eyes. So Blago appoints a black guy with a financial and law background who has never been in trouble and has been in politics for over 20 years. He is the epitome of a "safe" pick. And Dems could just resign themselves to primarying him with a better Dem in 2010, problem solved. But now Senate Dems almost HAVE to push back on this racist rhetoric Rush and Burris are spewing.
If I was a betting man Id say Blago is happy that they are doing it because it once again takes the focus off of him but also I bet it wasn't his idea. And it won't work out well for him as well ultimately if Burris isn't ever seated because of the pushback.
Sg nailed it: After two failed attempts at city (and state) office, this is as close as Burris is gonna come to the state house. And Shine's point about ignoring the history of IL politics is a salient one.
Am I on the only one getting "Wire" flashbacks right now? Blago is on some straight Tommy Carcetti shit.
Someone explain to these idiots that their antics have taken away political capital from the first black president.
I could be way off, but I really don't think advancing the career of Barack Obama is the first item on Bobby Rush's to-do list.
Blago's white, but I think we can officially call this "Negro Nonsense" at this point. I swear Chicago politicians are becoming Obama's equivalent to crazy kin folks. I'm not sure what else they can do to annoy and embarrass the man.
Emma: Are you saying that Chicago is Obama's Billy Carter?
Coates are you ever invited to speak on any of the cable outlets? I just heard Roland, of all people, making the case to seat his namesake...ridiculous.
k1
ryanculver.blogspot.com
southpaw
The guy is 71, how much longer do you think he has?
I don't know; he looks pretty hale. Twenty years?
The fascination here, I think, is that most people don't dig and decorate their own graves. But it's certainly not that big a deal.
K,
Not really. But in all fairness, I'm suspicious of cable talk. I understand that people want another voice out there, but the format of cable news, really doesn't allow for much nuance. I probably would speak on the Burris piece. I think a lot of young black folks are worried--rightly or wrongly-- that Rush's position will be seen as the "black position." Of course that has more to do with television, than with Rush.
k1
I usually like Roland Martin on CNN because he will say stuff that nobody else will. But I saw him talking about Roland Burris too and I came away very dissappointed. He never usually comes off like an old guard type but he did this time. He even tried to compare Burris to Adam Clayton Powell who WAS evidently denied his seat over race. And what was up with his eyes? It looked like he has jaundice or something.
I daresay Adam Clayton Powell's race didn't help at the end, but Powell, for all of the good things he did, destroyed himself more effectively than ny white pol could have done. As I recall, Charlie Rangel took his seat, n'est ce pas?
I quite like TNC's comment on Rush being seen as enunciating the default "black" stance respecting Burriss. It amazes me that these guys, year after year, still get away with this weird, outdated Huey Newton rhetoric....Cornel West added an academic patina and made a whole career of it, and cable news still laps him up. The white equivalent might be if if all the lefties still sounded like the Weathermen or the White Panther Party (remember them? Of course not).
I don't think there's racism in rejecting him.
But Burris's absolutely right: a) Burris is not Blago, b) Blago has the legal power to appoint him.
Its not racism to reject Burris. I don't think it makes sense to reject him, just because of the allegations and investigation against Blago.
I didn't catch Roland on CNN, but comparing Burris to Powell isn't particularly illuminating, despite a shared race and the relevant Supreme Court case. And Jetan's right - Powell was definitely not denied his seat due to race, even though I'm sure many of those good ole boys in Congress weren't too sorry to see him go. Powell served in Congress for over 20 years before the Supreme Court case in question. During that time, he did do several great things, but he ultimately did himself in with a stupid but not uncommon combination of power, incompetence, and greed.
Hey I don't know the history of Powell, I only know Roland Martin said race was the reason they kept him out. Could be he said it just to try to fit it into his own meme.
THERE IS NO REASON BURRIS SHOULD NOT BE SEATED.
Americans of all colors including Blacks have been trained like animals to be racist pigs on steriods.
Those who call Bobby Rush a racist, simply for telling the truth of need for a Black senator in a Blackless senate are hypocrits.
Just Because Obama is the President Elect, does not change the history of America. People make a big deal about Obama because of the Racist history against Black People. Then to act like Blacks who speak truth to power and people about this are the scum of the Earth, confirms that America is constipated with White Supremacy always being right, and the right way to do things. Blacks should not have to protect whites from the truth. Who is racist in America when Blacks vote for White, Black, Hispanic and Asian senators, but the reason no Blacks are in the Senate is the racists modernist claiming liberalism that know Blacks may not secure these seats with out vast money or other races voting them in. If there are NO BLACKS IN THE SENATE AND PEOPLE WANT TO JUDGE BURRIS CHARACTER BY A WHITE MAN. NO WONDER THIS COUNTRY IS FALLING FAST AND BEING TAKEN OVER BY CORPORATIONS AND ILLEGALS. RACIST REGRESSIVE AMERICANS CHOOSE TO GIVE IT AWAY BY CRYING REVERSE RACISM BECAUSE OF A MIXED PRESIDENT AFTER 500 YEARS OF BLACK OPPRESSION. GOD BE WITH YOU, BECAUSE ANOTHER 911 WILL HIT EACH ONE OF YOU PERSONALLLY.
Naked power would look pretty good to you if you were in chains picking cotton.
@DB Cooper by way of Burris
Someone = Burris, Rush and all those who can't get over the fact that their main political is dead, dead, dead.
Marlene
Bobby Rush is a frikkin joke and most of the people calling him out are other black folks so your diatribe is mute here. Like others have said before, Rush didn't give a damn about a black face being in the senate when he backed Obama's white rival back in 04. Should we have black representation in the Senate? Of course. Does Bobby Rush wear clown shoes for backing this particular black person in this particular situation? HELL YES! You might actually want to check out what Rush had to say about whether Blago should appoint someone BEFORE he decided to appoint Burris before you come off looking just as hypocritical as he does.
I'm sure every other black person in this country is like: yeah, there aren't any blacks in the Senate, but what the fuck is your point, man? It would not look in the least bit racist not to seat the man. As a black person myself, I say they should not seat the man just on principal.
Some people strive for naked power, and some abuse it. While Blagojevich should not have made the appointment for moral reasons, he has the authority to do so. Now, every politician and his uncle, who lack the actual power, are taking action to extra-legally remove that authority. Lisa Madigan files an obviously ridiculous lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court. Harry Reid threatens not to sit Burris even though there is a U.S. Supreme Court directly on point. And now, the Illinois Secretary of State chooses not to certify the decision granted solely to the Governor for no actual legal reason. When one person usurps the legally issued power of the executive, its called a coup.
Marlene,
That may be one of the most unhinged rants I have ever read on a blog, and I read RedState every now and then just for fun.
Sorry guys. I meant to delete that rant by Marlene. Please ignore from here on out.
Kevdog,
You need to get out more :) Go check out the PETA and Greenpeace affiliated blogs (both official and unofficial) if you want some good, balanced grade A, first rate crapola. Balanced, that is, when compared to RedState.
I'm hoping we can look back a few years from now and someone will have done a documentary on the end of 60's racial politics, citing this Rush crap as one of the most telling coffin nails.
Blago is playing the Democrats. They're not necessarily screwed, but he's set them up to look foolish.
Burris has little reason to back down. He doesn't suffer if he loses, and he wins big if he wins.
I wouldn't want to play chicken with a guy in his position.
How about Reid and the Senate Democrats?
Looks to me like there are 4 ways forward. Unless I'm missing something, the best the Senate Democrats can hope for is a neutral outcome.
Burris withdraws -- he loses a Senate seat, the Senate Democrats win.
The Senate succeeds in blocking Burris -- Burris loses, the Democrats gain nothing, and look bad in the process.
The Senate blocks Burris, but courts intervene in his favor -- Burris wins, the Democrats lose and look bad. Burris and Lieberman caucus together.
The Senate accepts Burris -- Burris wins, party unaffected. Maybe the Senate Democrats look a little silly for changing course, but what else is new?
THE REASON THE SENATE IS ALL WHITE IS BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED THEM. HOW CAN PEOPLE SAY THAT IT IS RACISM? THERE IS A BLACK PRESIDENT WHO SAYS BURRIS SHOULDN'T BE APPOINTED. ALSO JESSE WHITE IS A BLACK MAN. AND HE REFUSED TO APPROVE HIM. ITS SO SAD.. IT IS RACISM FOR BLACKS TO TRY TO USE RACE TO GET WHAT THEY WANT. GIVE IT UP ALREADY. THE PRESIDENTS BLACK, YOU CANT USE THE RACE CARD FOR EVERYTHING ANYMORE!!!! ITS FUNNY EVERYONE AGREED ROD SHOULDN'T APPOINT ANYONE AT ALL BUT AS SOON AS ITS A BLACK GUY TRYING TO BE APPOINTED ALL THE OTHER BLACK REPS CHANGE THEIR MIND.. WHAT THE HELL??? RACIST BLACK POLITICIANS!! WHITE PEOPLE ARE PERSECUTED FOR THIS TYPE OF THINKING BUT BLACKS GET AWAY WITH IT EVERYDAY! TIME TO STOP BEING SCARED OF PISSING OFF THE BLACK POPULATION.