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AmSpecBlog
Blago Spoils the Obama Honeymoon
So Blago makes a Senate appointment--of Roland Burris, the first African-American to be elected statewide in Illinois, at a moment when no other blacks sit in the Senate. And the Dems say they won't seat Burris. Won't this be fun!
My friend Robert A. George of the New York Post (and former Gingrich aide) peers into the future:
Obama supports Harry Reid and the US Senate's assertion that they will refuse to seat any Blagojevich-appointed senator. But, the issue of whether the Senate can block this appointment could end up in the Supreme Court. In a previous decision involving, yes, a black member of the House, New York Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the court determined that the chamber could only assess the objective "qualifications" of a member -- age, citizenship, residency, etc -- in deciding whether to seat him. Reid claims that the Senate is a different chamber, not bound by that precedent. We shall see. Regardless, anyone want to guess what Bobby Rush might be doing while the high-court of the land is deciding whether a black man should be allowed to sit in the Senate?
Such a scenario would be a nightmare for Obama, whose entire campaign -- and political life story -- is about bridging America's racial divide. Instead, the immediate fallout of his successful run for the presidency has been a farcical RNC campaign over Obama's cultural identity as the "magic negro" and now a potentially far more ominous racial conflagration over his former Senate seat.
Ain't politics wonderful!?
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ruth| 12.30.08 @ 9:55PM
Schadenfreude
VInceP1974| 12.30.08 @ 10:42PM
Reid claims that the Senate is a different chamber, not bound by that precedent
Typical Reid answer.. why let he Constitution get in the way?
Interloper| 12.31.08 @ 4:29AM
The more I've considered it, and after confirming my impressions by reading the applicable legislation and case law, I think not seating Mr. Burris would be a Pyrrhic victory.
The best response for the Democrats just might be to seat him, letting Blago 'win.' As I said above, that 'win' will not help the governor. He's toast, regardlessly. If one body or another wants to prepare a report confirming that Mr. Burris is as clean as pols come, that can be used as a fig leaf. Backing down is sometimes the best strategy.
VInceP1974 | 12.31.08 @ 7:58AM
All my neighbors here in Illinois are boiling in rage.
This government is so out of control and destroying our lives.
I dont know how much more they think they can keep abusing us.
People are saying things I would never have ever thought would be said in America.. Talk about revolt and whatnot. Now of course it's just talk.. but i'm telling you if this government doesn't start getting its act together , and NO ONE i know has any hope that the Democratic Party has any inclination towards making any improvement in anything, then things are going to explode.
I live in Chicago, we are immersed and surrounded and trapped by this corrupt one party rule.
I still cant' believe the idiots of this country have voted to import Chicago politics into Washington. These idiot voters have no idea what they have done.
WendyG| 12.31.08 @ 10:46AM
Best show in town!
The runner-up - the Caroline Kennedy fiasco. You know???
:)
ruth| 12.31.08 @ 4:29PM
I have to laugh that the only blogger here supportive of this Blago debacle is the imperious--'better than you' Liberal--Interloper. The Demos are imploding faster than I thought was possible. What jokes they are.
Ben| 1.3.09 @ 11:19AM
I actually think that this is all pretty comical. For Blogojevich to be caught up in some mess like this and watching the OBama camp as well as the Dems try their hardest to hog tie him makes a man wonder. Think about it, What does he have on them? I give it a month and he will die mysteriously enough and the whole matter will be moot. Problem solved however, the country and our God given rights will continue to go down the tubes as the grip of socialism and world unification under centralized government become a reality. I have to side with Vince and Ruth, we are screwed and it has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats, Racial issues, or such trivial things. Our government is as corrupt as the worst in the world and there is almost nothing we are willing to do about it.