And Three - Burris must bring us a shrubery! Something nice, with a two level effect, it's for the garden.

What a joke Harry Reid has become. Burris doesn't need a the Sec of State from Illinois to sign, the SecOfState only signs to verify that clean and proper election took place. There was no election, Burris was appointed. The power of the appointment is with the governor, not the secofstate.

Reid is now blathering about Coleman and that he'd never accept Coleman in the Senate, even if Coleman manages to overturn the vote in Minnesota. Doesn't Reid know when to shut up? Yesterday he said he never would let Burris into the Senate, but now look where Burris sits. Reid is so full of hot air the Senate  should sell carbon credits for him.

Harry Reid:  Don't be dumb. The majority of the Senate will vote in favor of Burris.  You are the one who is out of step here.  Maybe it is time to find a new Senate majority leader...Just maybe.

Step Two...SEAT BURRIS!!
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I think the Burris' situation should be put to bed. Seat him and let's get on with the economy, ( unemployment, housing, credit),  our 2 wars, and the Middle East. Burris was a fine public servant; despite what perceptions the media have given him.  Jessie, Danny, Jan, and all others maybe it's not your time yet!
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Tim Kaine as official DNC chair is a good thing to see; another fresh face.
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Uh..Beverly, it seems that every time a black person doesn't get their way, they throw out the race card.  I've met black people I didn't like because they were a-holes not because they were black, I didn't like them as people. I dont have anything against Burris, he just seems desperate, and doesnt have much pride. The reason they didn't want to seat him is because the governor was trying to sell the seat which tarnishes anyone he might want to put forward. It had nothing to do with Burris's race.
Oh I know..Beverly, now you'll scream I'm a rascist. Rascism can be found in ANY color, can't it.
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OLD WHITEY (Sent Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:10 AM), MSierra, SF (Sent Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:33 AM) or whomever you are,
Of Course, I don't think you're a racist.  I know many people of all races and persuasions I too care not to identify with. But, I do think you  are somewhat confused about the wants and needs of some African Americans. I cannot speak for every  African American. However, it just seems convenient for other races to accuse us African Americans of  the so-called “race card” when it comes to equality.  Truly, one can say it's a cultural  paranoia for every race if they feel slighted. But, I sure you know it's more  chronic for historical reasons; in African Americans.
The Civil Rights Bill of 1866  did nothing thanks to the Black Codes; then we got Jim Crow. Next,  we got another Civil Rights Bill in 1964.  To say playing the race card  is merely a covert function of the Black Codes and Jim Crow, and still is a current perpetuation of those injustices, IMHO, when whites mention race card it's then perpetuation. With this so-called “race card”issue and the  constitutional amendments,  still social mores, politics, economics, education, housing and jobs etc,  have all been mostly controlled by the dominant culture, Whites.
Do you think African Americans should continue to be servile when the culture of America is changing.   The representation  of the African American is a vital asset of our country's growth. That's why the country needs a Roland Burris, or any other person of color who will legislate for all the people of this nation. He is fair. Btw: Roland has lots of Pride; he may be desperate. He is getting old just like McCain.  The “so-called “race card” is a euphemism for many to ignore what change is. Yet, there  is a distinction between citizens  of color and  non-color. On our currency it clearly states "e pluris unum"--  which   indicates, to me,  we  are all different, but yet the same; Americans pursuing the same objectives.
I also wish you a Happy New Year Let's put this race card to bed individually and as a nation. One more thing—next year when you sing “Auld Lang Syne” I hope these issues will be behind you; and  you will usher in a more prosperous New Year for yourself and the rest of us Americans.

As a conservative, Reid (and Pelosi) are why I don't let my heart be troubled. That crew couldn't organize a two car funeral, let alone pass any significant legislation.

The funny thing is this,Our house and senate gave the crooks on wall street 350 billion dollars,no questions asked.The red neck rebels want the big three to show where they bought there undies,and how much they cost.And now they want Burris to jump thru hoops like a circus cat..After hearing that the average age of our reps is 63 years of age.one can only hope that age limits will be put into place.These old timers have had there time,new blood is needed,not retire age old white guys.

Neat, face-saving way to throw this hot-potato back to the State government.  This way whatever IL does, it'll be on them and not the US Senate.  Typically political, but admirably clever.

13 Days Until Inauguration Day!
http://jawillie.blog.com

just seat the worm and be done with it. unless you the dem's know of some dirt that is to come out on burris it is stupid to prolong seating this power hungry, egotistical ass.

i don't care what he accomplished. the fact that he would be a part of g-rods scheme just to get in the senate to add another accomplishment on his memorial is bull_ _ it. he don't give a damn about illinois. this is about burris and nothing else. they should give him an office in the farther reaches of the basement.  

Ah, finally, the grandstanding seems to be easing, but just a bit.  Senate Dems. are learning that Burris' appointment is legal, and beyond reproach, and therefore, they had not legal basis to keep him from sitting, ultimately, that is.  In other words, they are probably being counseled, as I suggested the other day, that Burris has a clear cut meritorious legal challenge, and he is 100% certain to win, and be seated, in the end.  Please, stop the nonsense, and get on with the real business.  We are tired of these so called non-issue events that are nothing more than food for the media.

Roland Burris should walk away from Barack Obama's Senate seat, according to an attorney who resigned from handling criminal appeals when Roland Burris was state attorney general after he ignored her plea that he was prosecuting an innocent man.
In 1992, Mary Brigid Kenney resigned because Burris refused to listen to her concerns that the office should back off from prosecuting the appeal of Rolando Cruz for the 1983 abduction, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County
Kenney, an attorney for the Cook County Public Guardian, said Tuesday that Burris' acceptance of Gov. Blagojevich's appointment "brings to mind how, in the Cruz case, Mr. Burris failed to realize the ethical obligations of a criminal prosecutor and how, now he again fails to recognize the difference between right and wrong. . . . There is a cloud over his appointment. He should have declined it."
Ultimately, Cruz was acquitted. By then, DNA evidence linked Brian Dugan to the murder. Dugan, who is serving a life sentence for two other similar murders, is now awaiting trial in that case.
Cruz and a co-defendant, Alejandro Hernandez, were convicted in 1985 of the Nicarico murder, but received new trials after the state Supreme Court ruled they should be tried separately. Both were convicted again and Hernandez was sentenced to 80 years in prison and Cruz was sentenced to death.
The appeal was assigned to Kenney, who examined the case and believed Cruz was innocent and should have a new trial. She asked to meet with Burris, but he refused, she said.
"I wrote very detailed memos," she said. "I was refused access to him. He said it was not his job to place his judgment over a jury. But he missed the question. . . . Cruz did not get a fair trial because the judge did not let the jury hear much of the evidence that corroborated Dugan and exonerated Cruz.
"In accepting this appointment to the Senate, Mr. Burris has done what was good for him, paying no heed to what is right or wrong, just as he did with Rolando Cruz."
Attorney Lawrence Marshall, one of the lawyers who helped obtain Cruz's acquittal in 1995 and who is now a professor at Stanford Law School, said in a separate interview, "Then and now, this is really the same person and the same behavior, which is that -- although I don't think Roland Burris is an evil man -- I do think his career has been about one thing and one only -- the advancement of Roland Burris."
Marshall said that in the Cruz case, Burris "lied to the public . . . and refused to take responsibility one way or another. He came up with a bogus story that it wasn't his job to decide whether to prosecute the appeal. Now, he is acting consistently -- he is saying, 'I don't care. I'm not going to worry about what's right. I'm going to worry about what's best for Roland Burris.'"
A Burris spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

I guess Reid finally understood that the law does not permit the Senate to block Burris from his seat.  But he still seems more entranced by politics than by law:  forcing the entire Senate to vote on Burris is a transparent ploy to buy insurance against the issue being used against Dems in 2010, by putting senior Republicans on the record in favor of seating him.  You know what would be really good politics?  Simply obeying the law.

C A, AL -Balancing the budget should be planned for but only after the economy has stabilized. Remember that when speaking of the economy you are speaking of people's jobs, homes and livlihood.

Remember when speaking of deficit spending, remember who is going to be paying for that, our grandchildren. And with the added burden of Social Security also going on their tab, don't be so quick to say spending the money that we don't have now is worth it in the long run.

There's a really great blog on this at Daily Kos -- White is now claiming that his signature and seal were just formalities; he blames it all on the Senate for not seating Burris.  But setting all of that aside, the one inescapable truth is that White was legally required to sign and put his seal on the document, and he took it upon himself not to do so.   Meanwhile, until sometime in the very recent past, the Senate was saying it couldn't seat Burris without the seal; but now that turns out not to have been the case.    

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/7/95546/97967/257/681127

Let the blame-shifting begin.

Don't you just love the fresh smell of politics as usual?  

How come the new white members of the Senate don't have to jump through any of these hoops?

What a load of hooey...seems funny those same senators didn't mind seating otherz who come from a less than stellar backgrounds...for instance how many times have real honest to gosh crooks like Ted Stevens been seated in the senate without objection? or bona fide racists like Jesse Helms and Bob Corker?

Hi, and congrats to Chuck Todd. And point that Mr. Todd forget to mention when asking the President-Elect is that while he has made no comment on the situation in Gaza, he did make a public statement following the Mumbai attacks last months and therefore he contradicted himself.

While President-elect Obama is correct that this is a senate matter, both before and after his 2004 election to the US senate, he stated publicly that he would finish his 6-year term. He obviously changed his mind, but to be fair this whole mess was created by Barack Obama and it ought to noted that overwhelming majority of his former Illinoisan constituents are against Roland Burris' appointment. These are the same Illinoisans that voted you in and now he has one last thing to do for us, get a replacement, and he won't do it.

Granted the economy is a major problem, but Barack Obama himself said, “It’s going to be part of the president’s job to be able to deal with more than one thing at once.” and also this reminds me how George W. Bush never answered a question he didn't like because he was busy fighting terrorism threats.

Barack Obama may say this is senatorial problem, but this Blagojevich-Burris scandal is truly an Illinoisan problem.

If you don't think the US Senate is delegitimazed yet, just wait for when Queen Caroline shows up with her entourage.

Harry Reid is stalling; the Senate has NO legal grounds NOT to seat Burris. They want to give Illinois time to either indict or impeach the Governor. However that STILL wouldn't affect his appointment. Stop the drama and seat Burris; he was legally appointed. Period.

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