Softening on Burris

How is it not hysterical that Reid is saying he’d love to let Burris go on the Senate field trip, but he doesn’t have a permission slip? Do we all have to pretend along with Reid that this is about a form? Can we laugh out loud now?

I stand by my prediction that Reid will cavein by noon on Friday. Burris would have been seated by now if he was a Republican (snark emphasis).

Jesse White (not the Maytag repairman), IL sec’y of state should step up and sign the damn document. This has been a political farce.

I don’t know, Andy, it sounds like he’s already caved.
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When I hear: “He obviously is a very engaging, extremely nice man. He presents himself very well. He’s very proud of his family. He’s got two Ph.D.s and two law degrees, and he talked about how proud he was (inaudible) having those degrees” right after a meeting with the guy, it makes me think they’re all buddy buddy now.
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Burris probably just gave him Purple Nurples until he agreed to whatever Burris wants.

I’ll say it again and again. It’s not about race. It’s not about taint. It’s about the presumption of innocence and the Illinois legislatures failure to deal with Blago when they had the chance. I seem to remember that Harry Reid had a role in their failure to act.
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Seat the appointee and get on with it!

Take a strong stand for good or bad reasons and then crumble under pressure. Leadership we’ve come to expect from Sen. Reid.

queencersei, well said.

Ok Cliff I concede. Reid brings new meaning to the term premature ejaculation.

Softening on Burris…I don’t know JNS, immediately made me think that Reid is now all soft and gooey inside for Burris, hell, he may have climbed onto Burris’ lap.

Crumble under pressure..queencersei…nice way of putting it. Seriously, Reid is doing no one any favors between what he did yesterday and now bending over to ‘take one for the team.’

Reid faces the choice of creating bad precedent (rejecting Burris on dubious legal grounds) or following personal precedent (habitual caving.) My money’s on the latter. Can’t they find anybody else willing to be majority leader? Anybody? (Bueller?)

Don’t wants noz Harry Reid.

@pourme#1: Win! I’ll turn on the microphone…
Reid: “Sorry, Roland, but we still need your signature here…here…here…and initial here…here…here and here.
This last one says you did NOT pay anyone money to get this job.
Great! Now take this back to your Secretary of State and have him sign and initial it at the bottom with the new date, stamp it, and we should be able to let you in. Oh, by the way, you do have your Class 1 medical form and insurance card, right?…

Good ole “Fightin” Harry Reid slunk out of his meeting with Burris this morning looking like a whipped dog! And then tripped all over himself reversing his position without looking like he was reversing his position…absolutely pathetic.

Apparently the only “fightin” Harry engages in is with his own party members…he’s caved in to every Republican stunt in the Senate for years, and only seems to grow some temporary cajones when battling Dems!

Please go away Harry, and give the Senate leadership to someone with the will, spine and fire to fight the Republicans on their own take-no-prisoners terms…

To quote from Pogo: “we have met the enemy and he is us.”

Obviously yesterday’s nasty scene left a bad taste in the mouths of Senate Democratic leaders.
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Jay – this is not obvious at all. Mark Whittaker said this had the mark of Obama’s deciding to get this out of the way, and that’s at least as likely isn’t it?
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This is “obvious” in the same way it was “obvious” that Obama pushed out Richardson, while quite a bit of the more recent reporting has said that resigning was Richardson’s idea.
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I’ve got no way of knowing without someone doing some reporting. I don’t mind speculation at all, but please let us know when that’s what it is.

Andy – egad, did we have the same childhood – or is this your only pogoism, as it is for many?
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Have you ever read any of the Phoebe Atwood Taylor mysteries btw (or did I ask you already?) The protagonist is a Cape Cod “sleuth,” books set in the late thirties into the early fifties. They’re sort of lighthearted with lots of good Cape color. I especially like the books set in the war years.

Andy – you win this round, by virtue of having made me throw up in my mouth a little.

Jane Hamsher says: I want to play poker with Harry Reid. Really I do.
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She nails it.
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Hint, don’t try drinking when you read her post.

For the last week Senate parlimentarians, chiefs of staff and all other sorts of Senate staffers have been searching for a variety of vertebrae, intervertebral discs, neural foraminae, nerve roots, paraspinal muscles and yes a spinal cord. At the end of one week it was determined Harry Reid did not possess enough parts to form a spine and they left him puddled up in a mass in his Senate offices to receive Mr. Burris. Mr. Burris sensing he was in the presence of a lower life form remained calm and engaging, sought to obtain a small tissue sample for future studies and went about his way with a sense of relief that God had given seen fit to ordain him with a spine while forsaking Mr. Reid.

How will this affect the government’s advancement to the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals, which aim to cut world hunger in half by 2015 and eliminating it completely by 2025? An estimated $19 billion would eliminate malnutrition and starvation around the world. Our current defense budget is $522 billion, in comparison.

The Borgen Project (borgenproject.org) provides lots of information about this issue.

Kathy, I was a reader of Pogo in the NY Sunday News along with Dondi. Everyone under the age of 45 has now rushed to Wikipedia to search Dondi. I have not read the Atwood Taylor series. It sounds interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.
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BTW my office just moved to W34th Street between 7th and 8th Aves with an entrance on W 35th streets. Sadly there are no brownstones on W35th between 9th and 10th aves.

Andy -
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Ha! I’d forgotten about dondi – those soulful eyes.
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What a pity there aren’t any brownstones. Do you suppose that was always true, or have they been torn down and replaced? I’ve always had a picture of that stoop in my mind. I lived in Albany about 20 years ago, and lived in a brownstone with a stoop and outside stairs down to the basement with an alcove (in which a vagrant set a fire a couple of times. Funny how complacent I was at the time. City living does that to you)

You all know Harry Reid has his own blog don’t you? It’s called ‘Give Em Hell Harry’….a f@cking misnomer if there ever was one. You’ll notice the dearth of comments, I guess they scrub all the negative ones, but feel free to give Harry some hell there if you want:
http://giveemhellharry.com/page/community/group/vips

I called it for today and should win just on principle.
You think Reid would learn from his ill-advised blurts but no…Today he said Coleman will never serve in the Senate again.

JNS – Huffpo is now reporting as Whittaker did that it was Obama’s idea: The apparent decision to seat Roland Burris came after aides to President-elect Barack Obama contacted senior Senate Democrats and suggested that they reverse course and accept Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s controversial appointment, according to a senior Dem congressional aide.”
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So please, avoid saying things are obvious that you don’t know are facts. thanks.

Reid can’t hold his own caucus in line. Blames Rahm. Gives interview saying “I don’t work for Barack Obama.”
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If I were Obama, I’d be saying to myself, “Oh yes you do, motherf–ker.”
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Anyway, in an odd coincidence, I just got an email from Harry Reid saying how great everything is and how I should give money to the DSCC. If I can’t find an option that allows me to write back and tell him to curl up and die, I may have to delete my email account and burn the computer.

Kathy,
Amazingly enough I do actually have sources on the Hill who inform my reporting. I think I’ve written some — most recently on the bailouts — to have informed you, no? JNS

Please dial down the hyperventilated descriptions. Yesterday was hardly a “nasty scene.”

He came, he was turned away. That’s about it.

Jose: You win!
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Kathy; The entrance to the Holland Tunnel is located there. Stout must have known this when he started the series.

newfloridan: Is Bob Dole the only (former) Senator who knows about Viagra?

JNS – how were we supposed to have known about your sources? Re-reading your post, it sounds like this information was handed down from on high by the Politics Gods.

JNS – yes of course you do, and you did great reporting on the bailout. It’s because I’ve come to respect your reporting more and more that I don’t want to see you claiming something is fact when maybe it isn’t.
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So was your “obviously” a result of reporting or informed speculation? Did a source on the Hill let you know this? (I sometimes question whether the sources are speculating themselves, though. It sounds like that happened in the Richardson resignation, e.g.)

Also – it’s not necessarily mutually exclusive to say that Obama prompted this and that the senate leaders weren’t happy with yesterday’s scene.

Andy – I suppose he was saving some poor soul the trouble of opening the door to wolfe hunters all the time.

Something to focus on: in a submission by th attorney for the Ill State Secretary before the Ill Supremes the argument is made that the Sec of State’s signature/verification is only confirmation that the Gov has made an appointment. It is not designed to satisfy Senate rules. Looks like the SoS is passing the blame to Rulesbound Reid. A couple of pikers, no?

Apropos of nothing to do with Burris, Devilstower found this exceptionally cool map: Watching the Growth of Walmart Across America
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As for Burris, I’m with publius:
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It’s one thing to accept an appointment and fight for it — Senate seats ain’t easy to come by. But it’s quite another to actually show up on Day 1 and intentionally create a media frenzy and sideshow on a day that needs to be devoted to gathering momentum for a potentially historic legislative agenda. Instead of allowing the media to report on that, Burris’s antics ensured that he’ll be the story of the day.
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Publius also has a useful suggestion for Obama on How To Approach Delicate Snowflakes in the Senate.

wvng: what did you expect Burris to do other than show up? Did he create the circus or is the Village ready to go into circus mode? They could have easily ignored Burris and focused on the loftier aspirations of Obama.

Bitter, what a bunch of incompetents. I’d have some modicum of respect for these clowns if they’d own up at their miscues and say something like, “While the allegations against the governor are serious, it is great regret that I must honor his appointment to the US Senate. I was outraged by the Governor’s alleged behavior and spoke out of turn when I said the Senate would refuse to seat his appointee. Legally we are bound to do so.” or words to that affect.
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What we have instead in a Majority Leader who couldn’t lead a group of old ladies through a posie patch without suffering serious consequences.

Publius also has a useful suggestion for Obama on How To Approach Delicate Snowflakes in the Senate.
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Heard someone on NPR speculate that the reason DiFi got her knickers in a twist about Panetta and then came out against Reid on Burris is that she is thinking about a run for CA gov. Anyone hear that some place else?

wvng: The map was like watching a cancer spread. I will not shop there ever!

Andy: I have found it very easy to apologise for a mistake and making good. Is there something the the water in our Senate which addles the brain. You are so right. Seems like Specter is on course to make a spectacle of himself.

Enough of Harry Reid’s backbone! Enough of Harry Reid’s ego, too!
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He needs to pull that knobby string of vertabrae out of that pile of sh!t he found it buried in, put the decrepit thing on, and use it for it’s intended purposes, like staring Republicans in the eye and not blinking.
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In the meantime, seat the man!

ivb, I heard that in several places, but don’t know if they are all reporting from the same original founded or baseless speculation. Herd behavior and all that.
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bitter, I expect someone with respect for the institution to behave in a manner that does not do it harm. He knew what was going to happen because he was told it would happen, so he did, in fact, help create the circus. Then he went and gave a pitiful “oh woe is me” press conference. But there is plenty of pathetic to go around here. The only one who played this well politically was Vlad Blago and, of course, the repugs who sat on the sidelines laughing and jeering.

Andy: What we have instead in a Majority Leader who couldn’t lead a group of old ladies through a posie patch without suffering serious consequences. Sounds like a testable hypothesis. That is the way I think.

Expect act two to be the fiasco of the seating of Al Franken and the big finale will be the seating of the next Senator from Camelot, I mean NY.

ivb-DiFi has been talking about it for over a year. California has about 8 different folks waiting for her to decide one way or another. Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsome, and many more all want the job but none of them want to run against DiFi.

HA I found a new link to send to my friends. Thanks, wvng.

wvng: appreciate your point. Noted with thanks.

ivb – yeah, I heard that too, about DiDi. This was news around the convention: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/28/MN6Q12K52Q.DTL&tsp=1

Ok I am putting my money on Monday for the cave in. The reason I say Monday is becauae its pretty apparent to me now that Burris has been brought in to the fold. But they don’t want to show that they caved too quick so they tell him go back to Chicago and get the thing signed by White and give the impeachment panel an affidavit that says you didn’t pay to play with Blago to get the appointment while we do a little saber rattling but you have to promise to stop the race baiting. Plus the extra days and the weekend will make it look like Reid and Durbin exhausted all avenues but darn it all they just don’t have a good legal standing. Then he rolls up monday with the signed thingamajig in hand and its all she wrote. I got 10 internet bucks on that scenario.
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BTW Burris got an assist from Obama today when he gave another “Lieberman” blessing.

Kathy:
No one liked yesterday’s scene on the Hill — it was described to me as “ugly,” a “circus” and a “fumble.” Yes, an aide tells me that, “President-elect Obama and Senator Reid did speak, and they agreed there needed to be an amicable resolution to this situation, in order to give the people of Illinois full representation,” but this isn’t just Obama waving his magic wand and Burris is accepted — it was a consensus feeling amongst Senate Democrats as well. JNS

sgw, would those be internet $$ be Lindens?

it was a consensus feeling amongst Senate Democrats as well..

Could the fact that they don’t have a legal leg to stand on be a factor?

wvng
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LOL I wish. I keep saying I am going to get into SL but then I find myself here. Go figure.

Let’s not embarrass Reid and Durbin (close to Obama) so let’s walk this back slowly. The choreography is obvious and Tweety is all for it: another minor thrill up his waxies. It’s all process; forget integrity.

[...] important. We believe that court decision is very important before we can move to the next step. Source __________________ When Obama be President – he gonna bring [...]

ivb (#39):
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Around the time of the election, I was hearing a lot of talk that DiFi was interested in running for Gov in ’10. After the general committee-shuffling precipitated by Byrd stepping down, during which Dianne got a shiny new gavel, it’s pretty well died down.
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As another commenter noted, most other Dems would not have run in the primary if she had expressed major interest.
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(Personally, I think her running for gov would be a Big Mistake on a number of levels. But that, as they say, is another story.)
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I don’t think making a fuss over Panetta would have helped her any in California, especially since Panetta’s from here, too. I think she was feeling turfed out – the CIA falls under her committee’s purview.

Paul Dirks (#3):

Word.

It is possible that the Illinois Leg might get off its butt and do something for future events, but this one is done. (Think of it this way; Blago could have appointed himself. Or called up Alan Keyes and told him to move back to Illinois REAL FAST.)

alenka87 Says:
” .. to cut world hunger in half by 2015 and eliminating it completely by 2025? An estimated $19 billion would eliminate malnutrition and starvation around the world. …

Ahh.

Sins of Misplaced Priorities:
- “Our current defense budget is $522 billion, in comparison. ..”
- A $25 Billion Lifeline for GM, Ford, and Chrysler – totally uncalled for. We have more capable and efficient USA-based auto producers in the market.

- how about the staggering bailout for the Wall Street/ banking industry – to reward them for their sins!

Sins of Greed:
- how about the economic sanctions applied on some poor countries – just to show the imperial flag and to enrich our own at their expense?

- how about the USA companies that get away with plundering the resources of poor countries and shipping away their wealth to USA while pay next to nothing to the poor countries? Excuses galore.
[For instance, in ONE DAY like today, the USA will ship almost a $100 million dollars worth of crude from Nigeria. US$100,000,000.

If they had shipped the crude from Texas, Alaska or northern European countries, then how much would the US oil companies pay in taxes to those states/countries?

Nigeria is among the poorest countries in the world. And by the way, Nigeria is also one of the top producers of rubber and timber IN THE WORLD ... And by the way, the USA oil companies pay the African worker in Nigeria less than $1 A DAY to feed his familiy - for the same work that their worker in Texas draws over $30 AN HOUR ...(It is curious to watch those US congressmen in Washington - with great fanfare - quiz the oil executives about windfall profits while carefully skirting the issue of the US companies' record of human rights, plunder and the use of slave labor around the world. ]

Sins of Commission:
- how about the huge embassies and the large military bases we keep in the poorest of countries, and in most of the 50 countries of Africa. What else could THAT expenditure be used for?

Sins of Depravity:
- and by the way, those civil wars in some of the poorest countries of the world? We know about it. The wars destabilize the countries and make it unsafe for the farmers to work the lands. Often, the combatants are supplied with arms by us and our allies – so it would not be difficult to reduce the level of hostilities. At times we supply both sides. And then at times, we move forcefully to shield and protect our citizens who massacre natives in the poor countries – for profit.

AND SO ON ..

JNS – thanks for responding. I take your point.