The Burris Timeline
Allah reminds us of the timeline:
After Reid sends Blago a letter co-signed by every last Democrat in the Senate warning him not to appoint anyone, the state legislature huddles and decides it’s going to pass a bill making the seat subject to a special election. No bill emerges. Blago then flips Reid the bird by appointing Burris, drawing new warnings plus a rebuke from The One himself, who declares that Congress “cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat.” Enter Bobby Rush, demagoging the hell out of anyone who so much as looks at Burris cross-eyed. Burris shows up to Congress and is turned away, supposedly because the secretary of state refused to sign his certificate of appointment. Then he meets with Reid, who, it turns out, has gotten a phone call from Obama urging him to make this go away. Suddenly the secretary of state has a change of heart, Reid and Durbin have a change of heart, and Burris is officially the senator-designate, insisting all the while that he’s never played racial politics even as he’s paraphrasing Malcolm X about being seated by any means necessary. Did I miss anything?
Links and more analysis in Allah’s post. Nicely done.
It will be really hilarious if it turns out someone DID pay Blago to appoint Burris. Don’t think it matters if Burris had no part.
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 1/13/2009 @ 12:03 amAside from Pat invoking the (R)-coined term of “The One”, I see nada but speculative rancor disguised as a question.
The hands of the Senate are tied by the laws of We The People. Don’t like them? Petition, or vote, for change.
As it now sits, the law is OUR voice. Our, meaning We, as in all of Us. Congress has no business creating or enforcing ‘rules’ that subvert or undermine the will of the people. That’s why passing a law is such a challenging and important matter, and why it takes so long to change them.
Farkel Berry (e4230b) — 1/13/2009 @ 2:18 amWelcome, welcome everyone to Chicago style politics. Good, bad, indifferent, it does get things done, it just kinda of has a way of getting, you know, “we the people” out of the way to let the, you know, important people run the show.
We are so screwed!
J. Raymond Wright (e8d0ca) — 1/13/2009 @ 5:28 amAnd now Burris may have unpaid campaign debt.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/13/maybe-roland-burris-needs-a-bailout/
Is there ANY politician in that state that isn’t crooked?
Techie (6b5d8d) — 1/13/2009 @ 6:23 amStop me if you’ve heard this:
Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield. One contractor was from Springfield, another was from Litchfield, and the third was a union contractor from Chicago. They go with an official from the Governor’s staff to examine the fence.
The Springfield contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well”, he says, “I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me.”
The Litchfield contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”
The Chicago union contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the Governor’s young staff member and whispers, “$2,700.”
The inexperienced idiot, incredulous, says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?”
The Chicago union contractor whispers back, “$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the dummy from Litchfield to fix the fence.”
nk (2a3e35) — 1/13/2009 @ 6:28 amDid I miss anything? Not really.
glenn (fcbc78) — 1/13/2009 @ 6:33 amWhat’s missing from the timeline is any evidence that Obama and the Democrats ever considered the constitutional guidelines that ought to govern this decision. They were only seeking a good political solution, and they failed to even find that.
Amphipolis (fdbc48) — 1/13/2009 @ 6:41 amI stand by that Reid and Obama were secretely happy Blago did what he did and avoided a special election (which might have elected a Republican). They just needed to protest it enough to declare they were against it, but what can they do now.
Joe (17aeff) — 1/13/2009 @ 6:55 amObama, Reid and the rest of the Democrats demonstrated that they are steadfastly against corruption and tried everything in their power to stop the corrupt Illinois Governer, but thier hands were tied by the Constitution and the Law.
tmac (f9e092) — 1/13/2009 @ 7:26 amTmac: that’s just not true. The Senate should have refused to seat Burris and forced him to sue them. That would have been ‘everything in their power’.
But they didn’t do that; they made a show of refusing to seat him and then caved at the first little bit of pressure.
It would certainly be nice to have a Congressional leadership with a spine rather than a plexiglass implant.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 1/13/2009 @ 7:38 amYour statement fails due to plexiglass still being rigid, and thus no where near what congressional leadership possesses.
Reid’s is somewhere between memory-foam and butter.
Also, would this be a bad time to point out
Stroud being, of course, a Blago supporter as well…
Do Democrats even know what the hell vetting IS??
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 1/13/2009 @ 7:46 amIf you find one, let us know… We want to preserve them in a jar and put them in a museum somewhere…
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 1/13/2009 @ 7:48 amNo, Blagojevich is the only crooked one, and that’s probably because he is mentally ill. And remember, Juggy is really from Hawaii.
nk (2a3e35) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:00 amRe: Farkel Berry (aka
truthnjusticeHeThatShallRemainNameless)Aside from Pat invoking the (R)-coined term of “The One”, I see nada but speculative rancor disguised as a question.
— What’s “speculative” about a factual timeline? What’s “rancorous” about the truth, as ugly as it may be? What’s “disguised” about a straightforward question?
The hands of the Senate are tied by the laws of We The People. Don’t like them? Petition, or vote, for change.
— Which body has the direct power to change the laws . . . We The People? or the Senate? Also (and this is a slightly important point to make), who EVER said that we don’t want Burris to be seated?
As it now sits, the law is OUR voice. Our, meaning We, as in all of Us. Congress has no business creating or enforcing ‘rules’ that subvert or undermine the will of the people.
— That’s just great . . . in theory. A theory that doesn’t quite come to grips with the reality of representative government. We place our trust in elected officials (including Blago AND the Senate) to make decisions in our name. That’s why Patterico (not you, Pat) is pointing out that Reid & Co. were wrong from the beginning in not following their own rules; rules that they have the right to change ‘in our name’.
That’s why passing a law is such a challenging and important matter, and why it takes so long to change them.
Icy Texan (b7d162) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:03 am— Laws are passed nearly every day that the Congress is in session. Go ahead and actually watch CSPAN once in a while; you might learn something.
Well we’re movin on up,
To the east side [of the Senate].
To a deluxe office suite in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
Earmarks don’t fry in the kitchen;
Bills don’t burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin’
Just to get up this hill.
Now we’re up in teh big leagues
Gettin’ our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it’s you and me baby
There ain’t nothin wrong with that.
Well we’re movin on up,
Joe (dcebbd) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:05 amTo the east side.
To a deluxe office suite in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
Icy Texan: polls show that a majority of Americans polled do not want Mr. Burris seated.
I think the political capital of the Congressional leadership will shrink because of this.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:06 amIcy Texan: polls show that a majority of Americans polled do not want Mr. Burris seated.
nk (2a3e35) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:21 amRACISTS!It’s none of their business. I don’t want Harry Reid seated, either, but Caesar’s Palace never bothered to poll me.Icy Texan: polls show that a majority of Americans polled do not want Mr. Burris seated.
— So what, aphrael? I want Robert ‘KKK’ Byrd & Teddy “Swim, Mary Jo! Swim!” Kennedy out of the Senate, but there they sit, decade after decade. As nk said, this isn’t a matter to be decided by a poll. We are a small “r” republican form of government. If there were a clause in the IL constitution that said a Governor under investigation cannot make an appointment, then you’d have something. As it is, unless conclusive proof that Burris paid-to-play shows up . . .
Icy Texan (b7d162) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:37 amA commenter wrote:
So I pondered…what are those Congressional approval ratings right now?
Eric Blair (3e2520) — 1/13/2009 @ 8:53 amI think the political capital of the Congressional leadership will shrink because of this.
But think about how much the average penis size, figuratively (but also literally if you wish), of Congress will increase because of this. 😉
nk (2a3e35) — 1/13/2009 @ 9:02 am
Icy Texan (b7d162) — 1/13/2009 @ 9:04 amCongressional Black CockusI denounce myself.Actually, Icy Texan, I truly meant it as praise for Roland Burris. He did not back down and as far I can see he wiil be the Senate’s only alpha male.
nk (2a3e35) — 1/13/2009 @ 9:16 amA shame Hillary left… They could have been two… 🙂
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 1/13/2009 @ 9:44 am