deep
Blue Crack Addict
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich days in office are numbered.
When do you think the last day will be?
When do you think the last day will be?
"I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong," Blagojevich said in a brief news conference in Chicago. "I'm not going to quit a job that people have hired me to do."
Race enters fight over filling Obama's Senate seat
Dec 30 04:36 PM US/Eastern
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A House Democrat is daring Senate leaders to block a black man from taking President-elect Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.
Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois points out that Roland Burris would be the only black man in a chamber populated overwhelmingly by white senators.
Senate Democratic leaders earlier Tuesday added an explicit note of support for Burris personally, but not for his appointment by the embattled governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. The leaders said the Democratic caucus would refuse to seat Burris if Blagojevich appoints him, and called their stance a reflection of the scandal-tainted governor.
Blagojevich denies charges that he tried to sell Obama's Senate seat for personal gain.
The 71-year-old Burris is a former Illinois attorney general.
How did this guy manage to get elected (and then re-elected) in the first place?
According to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Mr. Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Emanuel, then-state senator Obama, a third Blagojevich aide, and Blagojevich's campaign co-chair, David Wilhelm, were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory.
Emanuel told the New Yorker earlier this year that he and Obama "participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor. We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two."
"Blagojevich made what the hip-hoppers call a gangster move," (Al) Sharpton said. "You got to give it to him. Whatever his motive, he put on a move that put everybody in this situation."
How did this guy manage to get elected (and then re-elected) in the first place?
2 words:
Chicago
Politics
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I think they should seat Burris.
He was Attorney General. He has been in politics forever. I doubt if there is any corruption with him, and it will certainly come out real fast by any detractors, if there is any.
Conservative group sues Senate for barring Burris
1 hr 43 mins ago
WASHINGTON – A conservative watchdog group has sued the Senate for refusing to immediately seat Roland Burris as the new senator from Illinois.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington on behalf of an Illinois resident. The suit was filed by Judicial Watch, whose lawyers say the Senate's refusal to seat Burris is unconstitutional.
Burris was appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vich) to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Senate Democrats and Obama have said anyone appointed by Blagojevich, who is embroiled in a corruption investigation, would be tainted and should not be allowed to represent Illinois.
The Senate on Tuesday refused to swear Burris in with the rest of the new senators. But Burris said Wednesday he should be able to join the Senate soon.
How did this guy manage to get elected (and then re-elected) in the first place? Was the competition that unpalatable, or he just snowed massive numbers of voters through masterful campaign PR, or what? I've heard nothing but relentless harsh condemnation of him coming from Illinois, and it makes me wonder why on earth he even lasted this long.