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Politico gets the Duh award for asking the right question at the wrong time – way to late and in the wrong context
In politics, does race trump gender?
After a whole year of BROS BEFORE HOS hurled at us in every which way in the presidential race – primaries and general, it’s the senate mess that gets the question
How come Roland Burris has had such an easy time getting to the U.S. Senate while Caroline Kennedy has had such a hard time?
Could it be that the race card trumps the gender card in U.S. politics?
First of all, define “hard” and “easy”. In Burris’s case it wasn’t the cries of race so much as Politico says
Once supporters of Roland Burris made his appointment to the Senate all about race, the deal was done, though it took a few days for Senate leaders to wake up to the fact.
Reid , who had opposed all the black candidates resisted Burris as long as he could – and in the end it was the old law that eventually prevailed.
As for Caroline – how hard is she having it? The brat who went against the favorite daughter of our state, who did her best to assure we don’t see a woman in the White House would have some chutzpa claiming sexism.
While I agree with many that a male Kennedy of similar lack of experience and ineptitude would get a better treatment by the media, the princess will start her political career at the top, elbowing more deserving candidates anyway.
So, while this is true
What about gender, however? Supporters of Hillary Clinton observed repeatedly during her presidential campaign that black men in America were legally given the vote before women were. Their point was that women were also an oppressed class and that the gender card was legitimate.
The gender card – legitimate? We’ve fallen that low? I think we need to take it up with LATER
Continues Politico
Sarah Palin recently complained that Caroline Kennedy was getting much easier treatment by the press than Palin had gotten, but in reality Kennedy has gotten a pretty vigorous going-over by reporters.
A better comparison for Palin to make would have been the patty-cake treatment Roland Burris has gotten from the press.
C
A nice little piece of Schadenfreude writing from Top of the Ticket
Even in another time zone, the cloistered cackling of Illinois Gov. Rod “Bleeping” Blagojevich could be heard. It was his arrest on corruption charges and release on bail in early December that prompted Reid to get 49 other Senate Democrats to sign a letter and announce how that body would never accept any appointee of a tainted governor like fellow Democrat Blagojevich. And a vacationing Obama agreed with Reid.
and his keeping score ends with
Oh, and Democrat Blagojevich is still sitting at the governor’s desk. With his guy in Obama’s seat. And his close friend, Rahm Emanuel, as White House chief of staff starting next week. Other than that, Blago lost everything in this struggle.
I like also the way Cinie writes it
Senator Roland Burris.
Ha, ha, ha.
Obacrats are going to be choking on that one every time they have to utter the word, “Senator” in front of the name “Roland Burris,” which is going to be a lot, since he is the junior senator from Illinois.
Burris himself issued a statement that recalls the little unpleasantness:
I would like to publicly thank Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and my long-time friend and Illinois’ senior senator, Dick Durbin. Never once did I doubt their intentions were motivated by anything other than doing what was right for the people of Illinois and by what they believed had to be done to protect the Senate as an institution.
The scape goat also gets mentioned
Secretary of State Jesse White, whom I’ve known for more than 30 years, is also owed a debt of gratitude. He also happen to be someone whose autograph I cherish.
And much as the move has been done as discretely as possible
The move, done with no cameras present to provide lasting video evidence of the political debacle for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Illinois’ other senator, Dick Durbin, should get the political mess out of the way in time for Obama’s inauguration next Tuesday, as his aides had suggested.
it will provide a lasting proof of the clusterfuck of corruption and incompetence that the Obamacratic party is.
And what’s shadenfreude without a trip to Mudville?
Like this comment
Even so, it is a shame that Illinois should be represented — and Obama succeeded — by someone who has shown himself to be such a joke. I hope and expect Burris’s tenure in the Senate will not last beyond 2010.
This one is good
I was writing a post earlier called “Free Roland Burris” because Harry Reid has turned this whole episode into a bad joke and an embarrassment, but it now looks like he will be seated and fast.
.and
I’m still pissed that he accepted the appointment…….
.summing up from the other side via Hot Air
Think about this. You’ve got a popular Democratic incoming president, a Democratic lieutenant governor and secretary of state, and overwhelming Democratic majorities both in Congress and in the Illinois legislature. Everyone involved was opposed to letting Blagojevich make the pick.
And together they still couldn’t figure out a way to stop him.
complete with an exit question:
Exit question: The boss calls this Harry Reid’s humiliation. Isn’t it just as much Obama’s humiliation, too?
Now that all that huffing and puffing failed to stop Burris seating, it’s time for the blame.
Astonishingly, Politico reports under this headline
Dems stew in botched Burris imbroglio
Democrats angry over the botched handling of the Roland Burris imbroglio are putting the blame on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin and President-elect Barack Obama
Oh, noes! Teh One? Must be his first mistake then!
They actually are surprised for some reason that:
Other Democratic insiders put some of the blame on Obama, complaining that he kept his distance from the Burris controversy then jumped in at the end to claim the mantle of peacemaker — much as he did in the flap over Sen. Joe Lieberman’s support of Republican John McCain’s presidential bid.
Ha!ha! Silly Democrats! It’s not like you didn’t meet senator “Present” before us, the voters. And what was Obama’s reaction to all this?
A spokesperson for Obama didn’t respond to inquiries about the president-elect’s role.
I guess now, he didn’t even have to be “present”
If Obama had gotten involved earlier, “I don’t think the situation would have unfolded this way,” one Democrat said.
Why would he “get involved”? it’s not like he wasn’t talking to Blago about his proposed successor in Senate and this one too before they fall through the memory hole. Whose senate seat was it anyway? And what invilvement did they have in mind? Because I remember Obama opposed seating Burris loud and clear:
“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision
So, what peacemaker did he come as at the end?
So, try reading the news from last week, silly Democrats. If you are going to blame Teh One, at least blame him for the right thing: weaseling out of it with the help of the medua instead of looking as ridiculous as the rest of you.
After Diane Feinstein disagreed with Reid and the senators on blocking Burris
“Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes,” Feinstein said, urging the Senate to settle the matter. “If you don’t seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America. … Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician.”
Politico reports of a new meeting taking place today
He’s now got a top Senate Democrat on his side, a growing chorus of Congressional Black Caucus members backing him and an apparent edge in pending lawsuits.
An edge in pending lawsuits! Way to go, No Drama!
And just to make it sure I have no favorites on any side of this fight, my good friend Jim-Clintonsare racist Clyburn weighs in on the other side
South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a member of the House Democratic leadership and the highest ranking African-American in Congress, told Politico that the Constitution is on Burris’ side.
“I thought we ought to follow the Constitution, and I think, whatever we do, we don’t get away from the Constitution, irrespective of our feelings politically,” Clyburn said.
Something tells me that Clyburn would not have hugged the Constitution so tight had Burris’s color been different.
NYT editorial elaborates the point
THE scene of Roland W. Burris being escorted from the Senate by the Capitol police on Tuesday could be only the first act of an unpleasant and distracting drama. But in the days since Mr. Burris’s appointment to Illinois’s junior Senate seat was announced by that state’s scandal-tainted governor, Rod Blagojevich, it has become clear that the Senate’s power to reject Mr. Burris is, at best, highly debatable. The wisest course for the Senate is to end the dispute by accepting the appointment.
But bring it on! It’s nice to see that the race card that put an incompetent in the White House can be played against him too…
Update
Roland Burris, the man appointed to Barack Obama’s Senate seat by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, will be allowed to take the seat, according to the Associated Press.
Spokespersons for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin are denying the report
They’ll only look more idiotic when t turns out to be true.
Update
As predicted, the Blago mess spills into Franken’s situation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded to Republican threats and agreed on Monday not to immediately seat fellow Democrat Al Franken, whose razor-close victory in Minnesota faces legal challenges.
After all, if they are using a Secretary of State certification for Burris…
Update 2
Illinois Secretary of State jesse White resents being made the fall guy and more importantly thinks
“They could have seated him without my signature,” White said. “My signature’s mainly ceremonial rather than being a point of law.”
Chicago Tribune reports that Harry reid also interfered in the Senate appointment process of the Obama seat
Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.
Reid had no choice but to confirm this because
Sources believe that at least portions of the phone conversations are on tape.
but saying it was nothing wrong with it
“It is part of his job as majority leader to share his thoughts about candidates who have the qualities needed to succeed in the Senate.”
Reid tried to keep a mystery about the names discussed.
Reid declined to reveal the specific names discussed, saying he didn’t want to embarrass anyone.
How, Harry Reid is busy figuring out how to block Burris.
This DNC in Chicago move will provide a lot of entertainment, me thinks.
Alegre’s Corner cover the story with a mix in of Cornyn opposition
It seems he now has 2 senators to challenge
Burris meanwhile, told Lynn Sweet:
“We are the senator.”
Update
“They” may actually become senator according to this
But Reid conceded that “there’s always room to negotiate” when asked if his mind was absolutely closed to seating Burris.
While GOP smells blood in th water
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), speaking on “This Week,” called for a special election to fill the seat and said Democrats are afraid of one.
“The fear is that Republicans might somehow win the seat in Illinois if there’s a special election,” McConnell said. “But the process is so tainted, it’s such a tangled mess, that the only way to clear the air and to have a successor chosen in Illinois that everybody can have confidence in — and a process that they can have confidence in – is to have a special election.”
An ironic tale of two incoming senators and the red tape battles readied for Tuesday
It seems that Al Franken’s road to the senate will be contentious all the way with
A Supreme Court order requested by Norm Coleman could change things, but the counting of wrongly rejected absentee ballots is to start today.
But since Franken is due in the senate on Tuesday, the GOP is preparing a welcome for him
Cornyn promises filibuster on Franken
The newly minted National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman said he had not whipped votes in the GOP caucus, but added that he could not imagine any members defecting and seating Franken without a certificate of election.
Franken will not have that certificate as long as the election is challenged in the courts
And here comes the funny part as noticed by Firedoglake: Cornyn tactics are identical with those of Reid in his planned opposition to Burris:
The first thing the Senate leadership plans to do is to demand, under Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a certificate containing “the name of the person elected or appointed, the date of the certificate, the name of the governor and the secretary of state signing and countersigning the same, and the State from which such Senator is elected or appointed.”
So, they’ll errect a red tape wall against Burris…Unless baybe Blago was smart enough to take care of this one too
It turns out that Blagojevich–like every other Governor, I’m told–has a set of certificates that are pre-signed by the Secretary of State, to be used in the event of an emergency. If Burris shows up with one of those, the Senate leadership intends to reject it.
So now, with both parties prepared to use petty bureaucracy to block a member on the other side, looks like they are in check
Concludes Firedoglake
The Republicans have been planning to block Franken for some time, and Reid should have factored that in when he drew up his Burris game plan. Until Reid announced he’d refuse to seat Burris because he didn’t have a certificate, the Dems had an argument that the Senate Republicans were just playing politics.
Now they’re stuck trying to explain the double standard for Franken and Burris.
Harry Reid — played by Blago, played by Cornyn.
He’s a friggin’ Stradivarius.
Well, it’s a morality tale that to me only illustrated how much the Democratic party left not just its base but its principle. Once you steal an election for your predetermined candidate, what’s to differentiate you from the other guys? Other that, you now operate from Chicago – so the stench of all the goings on there will be imprinted on the party for years to come.
Update
yet another hilarious development
If Roland Burris tries to enter the rarefied airspace of the Senate chambers, he will be stopped by armed guards.
Willie Brown let us know of Blago’s new PR offensive …
It’s fascinating from the start
Igot a call from Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich the other day. The first thing I said to him was, “You know, this call is probably being taped.”
and gives us a fresh angle from Blago
I can’t go into details, but my impression is that the whole mess started because the governor had been considering appointing a political rival, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, to the Senate so she wouldn’t be able to run against him when he went up for re-election in 2010.
Apparently, Obama’s people weren’t happy about the idea of Madigan coming to Washington, and there were some pretty heated conversations between Blagojevich and Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, which I understand will burn your ears off.
Considering everything we already know about the Obama-Blago ties in the pay to play system,
Obama and Blagojevich have undeniable links. Time and again, the same “pay to play” businessmen who gave Blago his pound of flesh also gave smaller donations to Barack Obama
it makes sense.
And Willie Brown’s opinion
I wouldn’t bet on him stepping aside anytime soon. If anything, his hand is getting stronger by the day.
I guess he knows a few things.
Looks like Obama & gang got some lumps of coal from Santa as they were trying to hide their corruption interviews behind the Christmas tree. And how was your Christmas?
An attorney for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has asked the legislative panel considering impeachment of the governor to subpoena more than a dozen witnesses, including President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff.
Looks like Jarett and JJJ are on the wanted list as well.
No wonder Obama team lawyered up as Politico let out …Christmas day.
But last Thursday, President-elect Barack Obama was interviewed for two hours by two FBI agents and two federal prosecutors investigating charges that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich had tried to sell off the Senate seat Obama vacated after winning the presidency.
Obama was not under oath, but he was represented in the FBI interview — as well as throughout the internal review — by Bob Bauer, the shrewdly pugnacious Washington super lawyer who represented Obama’s campaign. Each of the four Obama associates referenced in the internal report also retained attorneys, although only Emanuel and Jarrett sat for interviews with U.S. attorneys and FBI agents
Now that’s hope and change that was in the making for years
What I don’t get is: Obama said they were all clean?
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