Burris will likely get seat, after all

heck of a political job by Blago. for many of us watching Illinois politics from the periphery and wondering how Blago ever got elected, we just saw a pretty shrewd politician at work. He'll eventually be impeached as Governor and possibly jailed and obviously the Dems needed another vote in the Senate that will support Obama's agenda but still, Blago played this pretty brilliiantly.

How many more scandals can The One squeeze in before Jan 20? Is he going for a record or something? I told everyone he was as corrupt as they come. No one listened. Sheep doing as instructed on election day. And don't tell me this has nothing to do with Obama. He's up to his neck in this garbage, as is his chief of staff. After this, it'll be Rezko, or his corrupt earmarks for his friends and business partners, or something else altogether, like the fact that he's tangled up in Bill Richardson's mess as well, taking yet more money from a pay-to-player. Yeah - hope and change my rear!

So now he gets to be seen as a token or as an afirmative action appointee........ good luck to him on that one. Did he really want to be a Senator soooooooo badly? Then again, I guess I'd like the excellent benny package too, if nothing else. The best health care and pension plan in the land.

He should get the seat because the Senate does not have any African Americans? How many whites will there be in the White House come January 20th?

It's interesting that Grandpa Reid and his merry band presumed that they even had the authority to refuse to seat Burris, given the explicit restrictions on Congress' oversight of "qualifications" expressed by the Supreme Court in Powell v. McCormack. Was it just a dog and pony , a pretense to having an authority that Congress utterly lacks, or did they actually believe they could have successfully kept Burris from being seated?

this is ridiculous. there are no asian americans in the Senate either. do you see any of us running around demanding that someone should be let in on the basis of their RACE?

race card, never leave home without it

a fairly quick end to massive stupidity -- move on!

Roland Burris is qualified.
Caroline Kennedy and Al Franken are not.
Enough of this silliness - seat him.

They don't have a choice in the matter. Even Democrats have to obey the Constitution.

Wow, the Democrats have really given themselves a black eye with this.

How shameful!

I didn't know we had a quota system for the US Senate. So, where are the required Asian Americans? Or Croatians? Or Polish? How about Buddhists? Do we have a quota on those? And since the country is approximately 33% Catholic, shouldn't the Senate also be the same? And 10% Jewish?

This whole thing is a crock. I live in Illinois: Burris is an empty suit and he is a stooge for Blago.

I think Burris should be investigated thoroughly to determine whether any corrupting relationships might have existed between him and Bloggy. That might take a few weeks, if people are doing their jobs. In the absence of such proven complications, he should be seated. Despite Bloggy's distasteful style, he is still gov, and he's innocent until proven guilty. That's the AMERICAN standard, Bush policies notwithstanding. If Illinois didn't want him appointing someone, they should have either booted him quickly or passed a law restricting the power of a governor under indictment for corruption. They didn't.

Fitzgerald should speed up the release of relevant tapes, too, for all to hear. That might speed up the exit of this self-serving, tragically petty man.

It seems to me the only time it's OK to say that black people are black, is when it suits their agenda, i.e. "the black caucus". Is it OK if I start to use the term "white caucus?" This is a classic case of being bullied into doing something based on playing the race card, something only blacks are allowed to do. This is a joke.

the counrty club in washington is at it again. what of it. the replacement senator appointed by a crooked politician is nothing more than business as usual in D.C. why not let the man that appointed him off the hook while your at it.

typical democrats, flip flopping......backing down under pressure

"The opposition to him started collapsing this week after pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus and others, who pointed out that the Senate does not have any African Americans."

I don't think it is a positive reflection of our society to have no African Americans in the Senate - but that sounds suspiciously like Affirmative Action to me..

"The opposition to him started collapsing this week after pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus and others, who pointed out that the Senate does not have any African Americans."

Does anyone see a problem here besides me? He is questionably nominated but because there are no African Americans in the senate so its okay.

Hmmmm this goes in front of Senate Dem leaders from where? You guessed it, Illinois, where all this chit originated. The plot thickens...None of them can be trusted.

I'm so sick of this useless gov't that simply doesn't work (for the people anyways). Works great for the politicians. Makes me want to puke!

Chuck Turner should have gotten the seat.

As a loyal democrat, this really infuriates me. I don't care how good the man is or how black his skin may be; he should not be seated, period.

JimRice4HOF - So, what are the Qualifications to be a Senator?

Can you list 3 major qualifications that Burris meets that Al Franken does not?
Al Franken is an elected Senator, he gets to be a Senator whether or not he meets the 'qualifications;.
Burris seems to be a fine man, but since he was nominated by a Governor accused of selling the Senate seat, I think he merits closer scrutiny to ensure he meets the 'qualifications'.

Just a correction about asian senators. Daniel Inouye D-Hawaii is one of the most senior senators, a veteran and Japanese-American.

Blogojevich is so arrogant it is actually shocking. Hard to do these days.

The Democrats in the Illinois legislature made this bed when they refused to let the people have an election to fill the seat. Now they and we are going to have to lie in it. Being from Illinois may I say that I have just as much confidence in Burris as I would in any other hack appointed by Pat Quinn.

Is there a quota for Italian/Irish decent? Indian? Chinese? Only elected people should be in the house of senate! It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Burris was white. What's the annual percentage rate on a 'race card'?

Only Harry Reid would point out this is not a racial issue before he was even asked the question. clowns.

my money is on rezko. sing rez, sing.

Sickens me that not one single senator has an ounce of courage to just say no to a political hack appointed by a graft-ridden soon to be ex-governor. The whole thing is such a joke. And citizens stand by becoming even more disconnected with these people who supposedly are the best we have, making decisions on our behalf. We are sunk.

Jensan, Blago origianlly got elected for several reasons, one of them being that he's politically well-connected. He's married to the daughter of a very powerful Chicago alderman.
When he first ran, he was following George Ryan, who was under investigation for dirty deeds done while he was Secretary of State. (Ryan eventually was chrged and convicted and is now in federal custody.) In the general election Blago ran against Jim Ryan, former DuPage County State's Attorney. Jim and George Ryan are not related, but the same last name was enough for most voters. And voters had had enough of the GOP.
Also, Blago seized on the anti-corruption theme in his campaign. He was very believeable, very sincere. I voted for him.
When he ran for re-election in 2006, the GOP had a weak primary field, so he had a weak and poor opponent in the general. I didn't vote for him the second time.
Truth is, while his sliminess started to come out after he'd been governor for 2 years, none of us saw this. No one in his right mind would ever suspect that an elected official could be this slimey. These allegations blew us all away.
His approval rating is 13 percent. His political hero is Nixon. He loves Elvis. And like Nixon (and Roger Clemens) he's a sociopath. He doesn't return phone calls to other statewide elected officials. He's isolated himself from other state leaders. He refuses to live in Springfield near the capitol. He and his wife live at their house in Chicago. And soon he'll be gone.
Sometime we voters get suckered. You in Mass elected Mitt Romney, another guy who is more interested in what government can do for him than in what he can do for the people.

What is sad is the real racism. Blago nominated him to get pressure of of himself. Now Burris race was brought up.

If a white guy was nominated no one would see anything wrong with it being blocked.

What politicans have yet to learn is the "look of improperity". What they should do in Il. is a special election and buy Burris in it. If he is that good he would get elected

I am a Gay White Male, I want to be apppointed to the seat !!!!

When will black people stop playing the race card?? It is tired and boring. Especially since the new minority (and somehow biggest tax bracket) is the middle class white guy. Can I start playing the race card now? Can I start White Entertainment Network?

Can I even speak in this country anymore?

I'm a Jewish Eskimo Lesbian and there is no representation for me in the Senate so put me in there. Wait a minute, there is already Lesbian representation, her name is Hillary.

"after a private meeting..."
surprise surprise, another hand greased, another senator seated.

Another example of the demise of America. How much did the seat cost him?

How much money had Burris contributed to that nut governor's war chest? As usual, the Senates token actions were just that...a full sham to wait out the public and then seat him.....just like Rome in it's late stages 2000 years ago.

For all of the posters above playing the race and ethnic cards, one question.
Did you get to choose your parents?