This Burris thing is getting ugly here in Chicago. They are saying on the local news

[mucifer]

that the republicans are thinking about trying to force him out and get a special election so they can get another seat. (CBS channel 2 in Chicago). Seems that he lied under oath. I just wonder when I hear that crap coming from people who start illegal wars and destroy our economy.

[elleng]

1. I hope YOU're not

the only one wondering!

[firedupdem]

2. More distraction that we don't need. I knew Burris was a disaster

but he was appointed legally so what can you do. I don't know all the details but why did he open his freaking mouth? The mess had finally died down. Jeez!

Rethugs get a pass with questions about their crooked asses.

[jobycom]

3. That's another reason we should never try to beat them at their own game.

They have no souls, so they have no problem with lying incessantly, and lying their way out of it whenever someone catches them. But the moment we lie, they will point it out, and the rest of the Dems (well, certainly not all, but a sizable portion) have too much integrity to lie for the liar, so he is hung out to dry.

Democrats define lies as "statements that are untrue." Republicans define lies as "Something someone else says." So they have no trouble rallying behind one of their own who lies, because by their definition, it's not a lie if a Republican says it.

[Fire1]

10. Theres one lesson we could learn from them and that's 'sticking

together.'

[Occam Bandage]

22. There's one more lesson we can learn from them:

Rallying around the corrupt leads to getting your ass kicked out of office.

[Fire1]

29. We'll see. Especially on the other side of the aisle.

[Occam Bandage]

30. We saw, in 2006.

I'd rather not see again in 2010 or 2012.

[Fire1]

31. So, you're gonna blame Burris if he or another Dem doesn't

get elected?

[Occam Bandage]

32. Yes. I will blame Burris for the loss of a safe seat if he doesn't get elected.

If multiple Democrats including Burris end up outed publicly as corrupt, the Democrats defend them, and the party then suffers losses with many voters claiming they were disgusted by Democratic corruption, I will blame Burris, the other hypothetically corrupt Democrats, and their defenders for the losses.

[Fire1]

33. That pretty much goes back to the premise of my original

statement.

[jobycom]

39. Stick together when we are right, sure.

:shrug:

[Orrex]

4. A special election isn't warranted, even if Burris is frog-marched out of DC

Doesn't Illinois now have an actual successor governor post-Blago? And wouldn't this governor appoint someone to fill the vacancy?

[mucifer]

9. The repubs will cry like babies and try to get public support to change that law.

[Orrex]

14. Those uber-tough Repubs? Cry? Certainly not!

You're right, of course, that they'll howl and wail and act like victims, all the while claiming to be working to protect the will of the people. And no matter who is appointed to the seat, Repubs will act like children and imply that the Senator's legitimacy is tainted.

It's to Illinois' great fortune that Blago is already out of the picture, because if he were still in power he'd race to make another appointment. Heck, he might not even bother to bill anyone for it.

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Eyes on the prize. This is the GOP war on health care, folks. Fight!

[mucifer]

6. I just don't get why he lied under oath about rob blago asking on 3 different calls

about "donating" $10,000 to rod blago's campaign. He refused to donate, but now he's admitting to the perjury.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Me, neither.

The little I saw of Burris when he was nominated set me back. I got the sense that he couldn't get enough of the spotlight, and maybe that's why he blurted out this unnecessary bit of information now.

I'm so damn sick of Democrats with deep-seated death wishes.

When are we going to get Senator Franken, I wonder?

[bertman]

27. " . . . I got the sense that he couldn't get enough of the spotlight, . . ." Right on.

And when they published the photo of Burris' mausoleum, well actually personal MONUMENT, I was certain there was going to be a problem.

Check it out here: http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1208/Roland_Burriss_Monument_to_Me.html

[Tangerine LaBamba]

34. I saw that

Talk about creeping out! That thing alone should have disqualified him. But, Blago was being crafty - who could argue with a qualified African-American Senator to replace a qualified African-American candidate?

That the nominee was nuts obviously didn't bother Blago. But, he's nuts, too, so.................................................

[bertman]

43. And we have a winner! Two nuts. What a tribute to Illinois government. At least the

voters of Illinois didn't fall for Burris in his previous attempts.

[riverdeep]

44. I saw that on the Colbert Report

or Daily Show, I can't recall. That's when I realized, yeah, this guy is nuts. Another egomaniacal politician, just what we need.

The whole thing stinks, from the way Blago was first arrested and then, what, nothing. He didn't resign, he just dug in. I don't think they were counting on that. Then nutjob A (Blago) appoints nutjob B (Burris). As far as a special election, it was a matter of timing. Things were grinding to a halt and how long would an election take?

[bridgit]

7. republicans are doing a bang-up job of stripping away any pretense to civility...

I do not advocate getting down into the gutters where they are, but I do think it reasonable to keep a foot on top of their heads suggesting them down where they belong. How? By understanding that these shity tactics of thiers are all they have. In fact they are so predictable we can prolly have our rapid response team compile a tick list of ready replies and take the next 6 months off cause republicans are not going to change, they will keep getting shittier till someone confronts them they lost and it's just not sinking in

[Occam Bandage]

8. This is exactly why I, and others like me, were adamantly against Burris's appointment.

The Dems would have won a special election. They are far less likely to survive a seat polluted by Blagojevich.

[mucifer]

12. I'm not sure we could win a special election. IL dems look very sleazy right now.

[Occam Bandage]

19. Now? I'm not sure either. Back when Blago was first arrested? I think we would have.

The entire Democratic party was presenting a pretty united front against Blagojevich; had they called for a special election to take the matter out of his scuzzy hands and into the hands of the people, it wouldn't have given the Republicans (who are in a very sorry state indeed) much ground to work with.

As it stands, they let Blago make the appointment, Burris apparently committed a felony to cover up his willingness to play ball, and the longer this goes on, the more Dems are going to be revealed as part of Blagojevich's web of corruption, and thus the worse they'll fare.

Had they simply called an emergency election, we'd already have a wholly clean Sen. Duckworth (or someone else) and a IL Republican party unable to get much traction against what should have been the grandest of all political gifts. Instead, it looks like Fitzmas II will be an extended holiday.

[firedupdem]

15. I was as well. I knew he was slime and a bit too fucking eager

to get that seat. He was running around like a damn chicken with it's head cut off. Asshole!

[BlooInBloo]

13. And DUers are right there in agreement with republicans.

[Occam Bandage]

20. When a Democrat is a criminal, I don't worry about "helping the Republicans" by pressuring

the party to extract its infected tooth; an infection left alone will cause far more damage in the long run than the Republicans' gleefully brutal dentistry does in the short.

[BlooInBloo]

23. You know he's a criminal how, precisely?

Well, I mean beside republicans saying so, of course.

[Occam Bandage]

24. Same way I knew Tom DeLay was a criminal. Because I'm not a moron. nt

[BlooInBloo]

25. Gotcha.

[rwheeler31]

16. This Durkin fool did the questioning, he was the screw

up here. We will get crap from the Illinois Gop nuts for years those two are pissed.

[PM Martin]

17. Does the new governor get to appoint the next Senator

if Mr. Burris is forced out?

[mucifer]

18. They will do anything to try to stop us from getting 60 senate seats.

[Occam Bandage]

21. Including forcing Burris to perjure himself for no goddamn reason? That's pretty powerful. nt

[marshall]

38. I'm not even convinced the money for a senate seat is illegal

It's not what the governor ended up being kicked out over. So if Burris did perjure himself, then he certainly did do it for no good reason.

[McCamy Taylor]

26. Scariest thought is what if the Dems do not want 60 seats. Maybe they don't want to do health care

or any of the things they promised. When I see them so ready to turn a safe Dem seat Republican with a special election that is not even prescribed by law, I have to wonder if they are getting money from Big Pharm, too.

[Occam Bandage]

28. The only thing scary about that thought

is that someone is apparently unbalanced enough to think it reasonable.

[Jane Austin]

35. LOL!

That gets you a heart from me!

[Occam Bandage]

37. Hey, wow, thanks! nt

[Jim Sagle]

41. It gets a big PPPPPPPHHHHHHFBBBBBTTTTTTTT from me.

[The_Casual_Observer]

36. In a spirit of bipartisanship & "there is only ONE united states", of course.

[dysfunctional press]

40. well...it would be kind of fun to see oberweiss throw more money away on a lost cause of a campaign.

:shrug:

[mucifer]

42. You should be more worried about mark kirk.