Free Republic

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- On a day when Democrats emerged triumphantly from a meeting with President Barack Obama appearing to have won the vote of Joe Lieberman for their pro-abortion health care bill, they may not be ready to celebrate yet. The Lieberman vote appeared to allow Democrats and Obama to secure 59 votes. The only holdout left appeared to be pro-life Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska who says he won't vote for the bill because it funds abortions. Political observers need to hang on to their hats because pro-abortion Sen. Rolland Burris of Illinois, ironically the lawmakers appointed to...

U.S. Senator Roland Burris has disclosed for the first time that he was asked for up to $10,000 in campaign donations by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother before he was appointed to the Senate seat by Blagojevich, according to a published report. Burris didn't make the donation, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on its Web site today. Illinois' junior senator gave the newspaper a copy of a sworn statement about the campaign cash solicitation, which he previously had sent to the head of the Illinois House impeachment committee. Burris, a Democrat, told the newspaper he sent the affidavit, dated Feb. 5,...

Amid the controversy over whether he should become Illinois' next U.S. senator, Roland Burris has been described by friend and foe alike as an earnest public servant with a long history in state politics. A closer examination reveals a prototypical Illinois politician, who put a relative on the public payroll, steered legal business to political supporters and sought to trade on his ties when he became a lobbyist. While not in the core circle of power brokers and fundraisers who have dominated the state's pay-to-play culture, Burris has always hovered in the outer ring. His lobbying clients have gotten tastes...

So the Chicago Way hauled off and slapped the U.S. Senate in the face—one of those backhands with the knuckles to unsuspecting lips—and guess who blinked? It wasn't Chicago. It was the Senate. Get used to it, America. And it won't be the last time either. Roland "Tombstone" Burris, the amiable Illinois Democratic political hack who is being called eminently qualified by the national Democrats—perhaps because he's from Illinois and he hasn't been indicted—has almost reached his goal of being addressed as "Yes, sir, Senator." Now Tombstone has President-elect Barack Obama behind him, muscling Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid in...

If the Senate Republicans truly wanted to make Tombstone Burris' march on Washington a spectacle to bedevil the Democrats, here's what they'd do. They'd put on some choir robes, stand outside Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office Wednesday and invite every news organization in the land to hear them sing. They'd sing a cappella, in a mournful baritone, to mark the latest Democratic public relations disaster—the all-white Senate controlled by Democrats denying a seat to a duly appointed African-American. So if they wanted a true spectacle, the Republicans would hold hands and begin to croon: "When Roland was in Harry's...

Reversing themselves, Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday morning opened the door to allowing Roland W. Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate. After a private 45-minute meeting with the former Illinois state attorney general, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said that they were open to recognizing Mr. Burris’s appointment as long as he meets a series of conditions.

Roland "Tombstone" Burris goes to Washington this week as part of the Illinois political freak show, and many of us back home will watch it and feel like cringing, at least at the beginning. Who among us could not wince at the prospect of Tombstone standing before news cameras, his head bobbing, smiling amiably, chattering nonsensically as is his way, insisting he feels no shame. All he wants is to become a United States senator, and he kissed a tainted hand to get there. His fellow Democrats may be ready to bar his entrance to the Senate chambers, and politicians...

'Thousands of phone calls' on feds' wiretaps MORE TARGETS | 'Multiple witnesses have come forward,' authorities say $$$ Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that they captured "thousands of phone calls" on secret wiretaps in their investigation into Gov. Blagojevich. The disclosure came in a government filing in which prosecutors asked for a 90-day extension to indict Blagojevich and his former chief of staff, John Harris. The filing also revealed that the government has additional targets in its ongoing probe and that the governor's Dec. 9 arrest spurred more witnesses to talk to prosecutors. "Multiple witnesses have come forward in recent weeks to...

Today, as I methodically break New Year's resolutions the way politicians break their promises of reform, readers get their writes. Because I am supposed to be on vacation this week, it's about time you readers did your fair share of the work around here, allowing me to recline on a couch, watch football and gulp down buckets of aspirin. OK, Kass, what are you paying Gov. Rod Blagojevich to give you material for your columns? Or is he the gift that keeps on giving? —Sue S. Dear Sue: As our esteemed governor has famously said, this thing is "bleeping golden."...

Illinois is the laughing stock of America and even the world, but you can’t say it just happened because of the scandal engulfing our governor, Rod Blagojevich. It’s been that way for a long time. The difference is that today, many in Illinois politics, Republicans and Democrats, are exploiting it for their own selfish agendas. The people declaring that Illinois is the nation’s laughing stock the most are in fact politicians, elected and government officials from Illinois, all seeking some personal advantage in the Blagojevich scandal. But the real challenge we face is not what the rest of America thinks...