Burris Drama

You can't fool me. There IS no sanity clause!

I say tomorrow night right or right after the meeting.

@Paul Dirks: Blago should get ten years at Leavenworth, or eleven years at twelveworth or five & ten at Woolworth's.

[...] more like a stroke of genius designed to take the spotlight off the embattled governor, while as Larry Sabato described it giving the middle finger salute to the Democratic Party. Blagojevich has created a [...]

"in a scene reminiscent of a lot of Civil Rights scuffles"

Say what??? It's way over the line for Ms. Newton-Small to drag that specious angle into this. There is zero evidence to suggest that Mr. Burris being turned away has ANYTHING to do with race, or that it represents any group's disenfranchisement. It's a cheap-shot reference used to amplify the drama and gin up reader anger. Leave that to cable or right-wing talk radio.

It's ridiculous for Burris to have shown up expecting to be seated. Clearly he didn't think he'd get the job any other way or he'd have avoided the controversy.

We should start a pool here at Swampland to determine what day and hour Harry Reid caves in? Any takers?
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I suggest the pool is based on a false premise. If this were not good for repugs, (actually good for them) Reid would already have caved. He only disciplines Dems (see: Dodd, Senator Christopher).
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So I say Reid doesn't allow Burris in until an external force (the courts/ maybe?) makes him, or until the Repugs tire of the game.

Now why in hell is Reid growing a backbone now? And why this? Is it because Blagojevich defied his warning?
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Reid is going to take the Democratic party through all types of embarrassment with this bit of determination. And, on top of it, they will lose. No questions there.
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Seat Burris. He didn't do anything wrong!
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He shoulda grown one of those backbones a while ago. You know, when it was the Republicans that needed standing up to...

In a surprising move DiFi just came out publicly for seating Burris. First she hits Obama in the mouth yesterday over Paneta, today she bloodies Harry Reid's nose. Is she angling for Majority Leader?

Apparently, the rules of the Senate require the certificate of appointment to the Senate to be signed by both the Governor and the Secretary of State. Blago has signed, but the Illinois SOS, Jesse White, has not. So, as long as White continues to refuse to sign off on the certificate, Reid can continue refusing not to seat him
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unfortunately, its the US Constitution, and not the senate rules, that are relevant here. And the Constitution states:

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the
legislature may direct.

Absent a requirement in Illinois law that the Sec of State must sign off on an appointment (and there is no such requirement - the power to appoint is given to the governor alone) the Senate has no authority to deny the people of Illinois their representation.

The only time Reid grows a backbone is when he's been personally slapped.
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Just wish he coulda grown one a couple years ago...

Calling it a drama doesn't make it one, except to the likes of Halp & Co. Blago is corrupt scum, but so are countless others--though they temper their hubris a bit more for the cameras (and FISA mikes).

But I personally don't care--I think they should seat him temporarily until IL gets their crappy house in order. Otherwise, do a real job and start posting on matters of real concern. You know, the cratering econ, two wars, the fact that our $/weaponry are being used to kill Gazans, that stuff, the less dramatic stuff. Note: no longer my $.

53_3: Now why in hell is Reid growing a backbone now?
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Same reason Reid is "well respected" amongst his colleagues; that Lieberman gets a pass; that Stevens could divert billions of $$ to Alaska; that Feinstein opposes Panetta.
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The Senate is a fraternity, and they care more about enforcing their weird social norms than they do about governance.
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Torture, illegal wiretapping, wrecking the economy - we can overlook. Bucking the rules? That is crossing the line, sir!!

"Torture, illegal wiretapping, wrecking the economy - we can overlook. Bucking the rules? That is crossing the line, sir!!"
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But why can't I just have a sharply worded memo, like everyone else?
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Now where is Rahm Immanuel...

it's crazy what Blagojevich has gotten away with already... he's an international embarrassment

Says Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page:

"Contrary to Rep. Bobby Rush's prediction, Roland Burris turned away at the door to the Senate did not look like a scene from the segregated 1960s in the South. It looked more like a disco in the 1970s where the bouncer ordered him to wait his turn behind the velvet rope.