LOL: Blago to Appoint Fmr. AG to Senate Seat

[Lunar]

He was that generic AA who said he would retire in two years

[Lunar]

This is a great political move for Blago.

Burris is a clean slate, announced his candidacy after the scandal broke as is promising to be a seatwarmer.  So now Reid or Jesse White have to decide whether they will turn down the perfect candidate

[Lunar]

This is a great political move for Blago.

Burris is a clean slate, announced his candidacy after the scandal broke as is promising to be a seatwarmer.  So now Reid or Jesse White have to decide whether they will turn down the perfect candidate

He's black.  Reid has to seat him.

Wrong.

"The Senate will not seat Roland Burris if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attempts to appoint him, a Democratic leadership aide said.

Majority Leader Harry Reid views Burris as “unacceptable,” the aide said."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/Senate_Leadership_Burris_unacceptable.html

[Lunar]

"The Senate will not seat Roland Burris if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attempts to appoint him, a Democratic leadership aide said.

Majority Leader Harry Reid views Burris as “unacceptable,” the aide said."

Racist.

Well, Reid won't have to do this because the Secretary of State, Jesse White, has refused to certify the results.  And he's black

[Lunar]

I'm not sure I understand what incentive Blago has to do this, but ok. Could it be that he just has a sense of humor and is fucking with everyone?

He's trying to act like someone who has done nothing wrong and forcefully trying to do things a governor would be doing naturally right now -- it's an argument against his impeachment as well.  If he's signing bills into law and appointing senators just like any other governor would, it's harder to argue he's unfit for office or whatever.

[Lunar]

This is not so surprising. He promised before the arrest to fill the seat by Christmas, and he's only a few days late. I think that White and Reid have little choice but to object, and let the courts force them aside.

Indeed, White and Reid will be shoved aside by the courts if Blago and Roland truly wish it (I suspect Burris would step aside and let Quinn appoint him perhaps rather than go to the Senate and be shunned/denied committee slots).  The Senate does have the nuclear option after Burris is forcibly seated however - a 2/3rds vote to expel him.

[Lunar]

This is not so surprising. He promised before the arrest to fill the seat by Christmas, and he's only a few days late. I think that White and Reid have little choice but to object, and let the courts force them aside.

Indeed, White and Reid will be shoved aside by the courts if Blago and Roland truly wish it (I suspect Burris would step aside and let Quinn appoint him perhaps rather than go to the Senate and be shunned/denied committee slots).  The Senate does have the nuclear option after Burris is forcibly seated however - a 2/3rds vote to expel him.

How many votes does it take to stop a senator from taking his/her seat?

Um, I assume 51 if he's unqualified.  But if he meets the age requirements and stuff, no amount of senators can stop him from taking his seat.  They could vote to expel him almost immediately, however.

[Lunar]

Stranger, have you even been listening to Bobby Rush?  He's all like "Thank God" for this pick and “He’s an esteemed member of this state and of this community… My prayers have been answered.”

So I guess my question is why would Burris accept Blago's offer to be appointed a senator he's going to have to go through [winnable] legal challenges only to be shunned by fellow senators and possibly expelled? Seems an awful lot of trouble to go through for merely being a seatwarmer....

Well, there would be some thought that as a Black (not only that, but the first black elected statewide in Illinois), esteemed statewide politician, who promises to only hold the seat for two years, he might be allowed into the Senate -- especially if Reid needs that 59th vote starting January 2nd.

[Lunar]

Well, there are prominent black candidates for both Colorado and New York.  Can Ritter PLEASE announce today or tomorrow that he's picking Groff to shut Bobby up?

 

Congressman Bobby Rush:

"This is a matter of national importance. There are no African Americans in the Senate, and I don't think that anyone, any U.S. senator who's sitting in the Senate right now, wanna go on record to deny one African American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don't think they want to go on record doing that..."

You missed all of the "thank the heavens" stuff, but still great wrist-twisting.

It doesn't matter how awful of a senator they may be, as long as they're black they're in!

[Lunar]

Rush: don't "hang or lynch the appointee"
Blago: “Feel free to castigate the appointor but don’t lynch the appointor,”

[Lunar]

Roland's two kids are named Roland II and Rolanda

omfg

truth

[Lunar]

He could expel the senator with 2/3rds though, as was stated.

Interesting tidbit Jeff, you know who replaced Powell in the next election?  A certain Mr. Rangel

[Lunar]

Well, Burris said on MSNBC that he'll challenge any decision by the Democrats to not seat him.

This is going to get ugly folks.

[Lunar]

There's nothing wrong with this guy. Reid should seat him if he knows whats good for him.

He did give $11k to Blagojevich's campaign in exchange for consulting contracts, but who in Illinois hasn't?

Reid wants to keep this guy at arms-length, but it's going to be difficult.  If Burris wants to challenge him, he could end up, I believe, shunned in the Senate (denied any committee assignments like "Dollar Bill" Jefferson was in the House) or expelled.   Burris has a great shot at being appointed by Quinn, so Burris may play this slow rather than hard and fast -- I think Quinn's only two options are his friend Schako and Burris and Quinn probably doesn't want Bobby Rush calling for his execution on Day 1.

So, Reid very well me faced with Burris.  If he was smart, he'd start pushing for a special election in Illinois and agree to Burris as only a "temporary" six-month senator until the people of Illinois elect someone. 

[Lunar]

Expulsion is a lot harder to do.  No Senator has been expelled since the civil war and Burris himself has done nothing wrong.

I've rambled quite a bit in a thread no one responded too about why Obama has to be *VERY* friendly to Blagojevich right now because if things get heated Blagojevich can just start making crap up about all of the things Barack Obama offered him in exchange for the seat.  Well, at the very least, I'm sure this is the type of guy who can and will start naming names when the time is right.   He's very clearly vindictive to the point of delusion.

I think Blago's danger to Obama, should Blago feel slighted by the president-elect, is underestimated by the MSM

[Lunar]

While it would have been easy to expel Stevens, who was convicted of felony corruption, is it really feasible to bring down the hammer on Burris who would have just successfully sued Jesse White (to get him to certify the governor's decision) and Reid (to seat him)?

Roland Burris is a fairly inoffensive guy too, the first black elected statewide in IL and all..

Roland has a couple screws loose though.  As I've repeatedly stated, his two kids are named Roland II [understandable] and Rolanda [crazy]

[Lunar]

I think it's pretty clear this guy has to be seated.  Reid would have to be a complete idiot to not seat him, and even if he didn't, the law is on Burris's side.

Reid knows the law better than either of us, I'm sure.  But he has two goals:
1) Try and bluff Burris into not even trying
2) Force Burris INTO the lawsuit, and thus absolving Democrats for being associated with him since they just very publicly fought tooth and nail to prevent him from being seated

[Lunar]

Who has the video of the press conference? I gotta watch this.

Nevermind: http://www.poliblogger.com/?p=14703

This is pretty great stuff. Lunar must be in heaven right now.

What can I say?  This is political food at its epic best.  I can't believe political junkies like us [me?] are lucky enough to observe this madness.


Also remember that I spent 15-20 hours researching Blago's appointment, reasoning through the advantages and disadvantages of various people, considering things entirely within the political realm (which one gives him the most political capital, constituencies for his reelection, etc.) while this whole time he was selling the seat for suitcases full of money while planning his 2016 presidential run!  

[Lunar]

Who has the video of the press conference? I gotta watch this.

Nevermind: http://www.poliblogger.com/?p=14703

This is pretty great stuff. Lunar must be in heaven right now.

Why does Bobby Rush talk like a 90 year old who's had a stroke?  I mean, his black panther days must have been wild, but the man is in his early 60's.  Skip to the end of the video 15 minutes or so in if you want to see.


Anyone else remember this quote from 2000 from Bobby Rush?
"Barack Obama went to Harvard and became an educated fool. Barack is a person who read about the civil-rights protests and thinks he knows all about it."

[Lunar]

Reid's office put out a statement that is horribly, horribly, horribly, wrong and they're going to lose, but here it is:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Lunar]

Reid's office put out a statement that is horribly, horribly, horribly, wrong and they're going to lose, but here it is:

I guess your point is that it is irrelevant whether the seat was sold (worst case scenario) or not, it's still a legal appointment?

I would assume the "elections and returns" part of the clause would empower the Congress to judge whether or not a person actually received a legal appointment or not.

If there was evidence that the seat was sold, then that would be different.

It was a legal appointment.  I don't see how Blagojevich isn't currently a governor capable of legally appointing a senator.  He  hasn't been convicted of anything.  In fact, the legislature was going to pass a bill to hold a special election that Blagojevich supported (mostly to strip the power away from Quinn, whom he hates), but the IL legislature stalled.  I think it's pretty clear that in the absence of a U.S. senator and any relevant state laws, the governor is within full jurisdiction.

I mean, you can see a couple legal opinions on both sides here.  

But Reid's case is pretty weak.  It has a little bit of merit, but it's weak.

I'm not even a legal amateur and don't really have an interest in law, so I'm sure even an awful lawyer arguing Reid's side could defeat me in court/debate.  Let's just say I'm confident Reid will lose in court

[Lunar]

I wonder if, after Quinn is seated, if he could "reappoint" Roland while Roland is still serving in order to grant him legitimacy

[Lunar]

Oh, and the person who has the most to lose by Bobby Rush's injection of race into the issue (using words like "lynching" "hanging" and saying no United States Senator could refuse to seat the one African-American in the Senate), Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a person friend of soon-to-be-gov Pat Quinn and likely the frontrunner for the position, has gone out of her way to condemn Bobby Rush's comments:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16945.html

Hilarious politicking, but it all fits together pretty obviously. 

I'm not sure if Bobby Rush (who, like I said, sounds like a 90 year old stroke victim) is enough of a tool to be completely used by Blago for racial ends.  He might be agreeing to only be partially used as a tool to inject race into the issue so that Quinn feels forced to keep Burris in the Senate rather than choosing Schako instead.

[Lunar]

I wonder if, after Quinn is seated, if he could "reappoint" Roland while Roland is still serving in order to grant him legitimacy

I don't see that that would have any legitimacy unless Burris resigns first. Quinn can't fill a vacancy that doesn't exist. I don't think the theater of a paper appointment helps matters.

Well, I mean Quinn can simply state that he would have appointed Roland/endorses Roland.  Thus granting Roland some committee assignments at that point.

Or, I wonder if Quinn could tomorrow preemptively state that he intends/intended on appointing Burris.  That might end some of the circus right there.  But that'd be boring

[Lunar]

I heard that he's not legally able to do that but don't know the law in question, so a quick court decision should push the SoS aside if I heard correctly