Posted on 12/30/2008 1:26:45 PM PST by BAW
The text of the statement released Tuesday by the Democratic leadership in the Senate . . .
It is truly regrettable that despite warning 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. We say this without prejudice toward Roland Burris's ability, and we respect his years of public service. But this is not about Mr. Burris; it is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. 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.
Next week we will start one of the most important debates of the year outlining an economic recovery plan to create jobs and invest in America. And in the coming weeks, we will be working to protect homeowners and consumers, make America more energy independent, strengthen our national security, and improve health care and educational opportunities. There is much work to do and a lot at stake. It is thus critical that Illinois and every other state have two seated senators without delay.
We again urge Gov. Blagojevich to not make this appointment. It is unfair to Mr. Burris, it is unfair to the people of Illinois and it will ultimately not stand. The governor must put the interests of the people of Illinois and all Americans first by stepping aside now and letting his successor appoint someone who we will seat.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
The Caucus, not the US Senate.
Burris is the next Senator from the State of IL, like it or not.
They'll deny him Committee seats, but that's about it.
He'll still vote with them.
L
Wow. I guess they really don’t want Burris. I can’t imagine they would actually hold up someone they WANTED to seat. They would still make sounds like they were dissappointed in the process, but would go ahead and seat the guy.
I wonder why Blagovich doesn’t simply declare himself “temporarily incapacitated”, and let the Lt. Governor appoint Burris.
No, they mean they won’t accept him, and since they are a majority, they will stop him from being a Senator.
The Senate has to accept each person who enters the senate. And they have the right under the constitution to NOT seat anybody they don’t want, although obviously if they abused that right the people would be expected to vote them out of office.
And no, I did not say that with a straight face. I tried, but I think that the modern american voting public would care LESS about abuses of power.
The Great One could end this today. A yay or nay from Obama would more or less settle it with the American people. He’s an incredibly eloquent man and, with the help of a teleprompter, could persuasively argue either way- for or against seating Burris. Unfortunately, the Great One has a major problem- he won’t take a stand.
Perhaps because Blagojevich has just called everybody's bluff.
The Governor of Illinois is legitimately empowered to appoint the replacement Senator. He has done so.
On what basis does;
a. The U.S. Senate reject Blago's appointment? They can actually do it, but how will they explain it?
b. The Illinois legislature impeach Blago? There is no hint of corruption associated with the appointment.
c. The U.S. prosecutor try him? Blago talked about corrupt practices...but he didn't actually exercise them.
Making the appointment needs to be interpreted as part of Blago's legal strategy.
He'll still vote with them.
Depends on how they treat him.
The IL GA can impeach him for bad breath. No criminality is required.
L
Depends on how they treat him.
How did they treat Joe Lieberman?
Technically true, but then they'd have to have a Senate trial and argue to the Illinois Senate that Blago is unfit to govern due to his bad breath and 2/3rds of the Senate should remove him for that reason.
They can impeach him on whatever they want, but they better have a pretty concrete case of wrongdoing to REMOVE him.
Of course, they can. But I don't think "bad breath" or "he's an asshole" is going to stand up in the court of public opinion.
Which is what politics is all about...
My contention is that Blago has just made it doubly difficult for his adversaries to do anything about him.
That is going to make the Rats REALLY popular with the IL blacks.
Burris is a black Socialist from Chicago... That means he’s a saint, is gifted in a 1000 ways beyond mere peasant mortals, and has never done a single thing wrong.
Anyone who votes against him is a racist and is guilty of genocide. He WILL be seated.
Yes indeed. Even with a case it will also take a lot of time to do that. And every news agency will have a crew of reporters living there, copying everything. That's why they wish he'd just quit and let Pat 'The Doofus' Quinn take over. They just don't have the balls to back up all their talk.
Absolutely so. I think he'll be able to bust through this with plain old brute force, the rest of the party will have to reluctantly go along since he's just doing his job. Without an indictment, they have no real ammo. "We refuse to seat Burris because we think the Governor is an asshole and should maybe be impeached" won't work here.
That's the impression I get also. He talks a lot but when it comes right down to it he won't make the difficult choices.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2156374/posts
Blagojevich Plays The Race Card On Fellow Democrats
Legal Insurrection Blog ^
Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:28:09 PM by Legal Insurrection
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris has put the Democratic party in a box. By appointing an African-American to the empty Senate seat, Blagojevich has forced his political opponents to risk being called racists. In supporting the appointment, Congressman Bobby Rush called opposition to Burris an attempted lynching. Whether this analogy is justified is questionable, but it is the same tactic that has been used against conservatives for decades, most recently by the Obama campaign. Democrats are getting a dose of their own medicine, and I hope it goes down like a bitter pill.
Apparently, I was wrong.Obama allegedly backed up the Reid and said they shouldn’t seat Burris.
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