I Hope You're Happy

All of us in Illinois knew Blago was what he turned out to be. There wasn’t any doubt, and no amount of evidence to his innocence (if there is any) would have convinced us otherwise. But his appointee, Roland Burris, that’s another story.

Burris had a distinguished career as a public servant, followed by a career as an election runner-up. He was the incorruptible of Illinois politics, and as such should have been sainted, or maybe bronzed. But now we see how contact with Blago spreads the virus.

Blago was a time bomb waiting to be set off, but now that it has gone off right now, it is clear that the people of Illinois have an itchy trigger finger.

If we transplanted the Burris fiasco to any other state that didn’t have a recent Governor issue (any of the other 48), there would be a presumption of innocence, and likely, we’d hear some discussion and it would all be swept under the rug and forgotten. But in this particular miasma, there is no way to appear clean. He could have hired a political ethics expert who was with him 24 hours a day, and that would have been deemed an indication that his purity was somehow suspect. Roland Burris is the fall guy, and I’m sure it isn’t in a noble way. I don’t think he volunteered for this. Oh, he raised his hand for the seat (and maybe a small contribution funneled through various backchannels), but he didn’t volunteer to be the martyr.

What have we got here, really? Burris said he was clean of pay-to-play, then made some statements that seemed to maybe contradict that claim. I have a hunch that there is a simple reason for this, and it probably isn’t corruption, it is more likely idiocy. Let me clarify this a little bit. I don’t give Burris a lot of credit for his intelligence. He took a tainted post against all good judgment and advice. There was no way he was going to come out of this one unscathed. No matter how good he was, he was always going to be the guy Blago appointed in the middle of his impeachment. It was a stupid idea to volunteer himself. But he doesn’t learn very quickly. All he does is say “I’m not guilty” and the more he says it, especially to us jaded Illinoisans, he looks more guilty, just like Blago.

I haven’t gone into the specifics of the perjury accusations against him. His defense, mainly, “You see what happened was…” isn’t going to work. It just won’t. You should have thought of that when you said the words under oath. We don’t like revisionist history here. The thing is, if you’re going to play at this level, youhave to bring your A game, especially under oath. Burris doesn’t even have an A game.

Now Governor Pat Quinn is calling for his resignation. It’s like he’s saying “Uh, guys, don’t take that pillory down just yet, I think we’ve found another victim.”

Blatant Racism in the Bush DOJ Civil Rights Division.

It is just perfect, isn’t it, to hear these thingsDNS coming out of the woodwork NOW AFTER ALL THOSE EIGHT YEARS WHEN IT MIGHT HAVE MATTERED!!!??!! Okay. I’m over it.

The start of the Rush / Obama war

This was over the stimulus package. Which the Republicans voted party line against, but still passed. Here’s how one person spun it for the Republicans: Rush: 177, Obama: 0 I’ve got something coming on this one. First essay in a new feature on this site: Republicans are Pussies.

Only five states left in the red:

There are only five states left with a solid Republican majority, and Texas isn’t even one of them.

I like articles like this

Hopefully a Republican collapse would result in a party that more reflected sane and rational people.

Coleman fakes a DNS attack for attention

Oh, please let this be true and deliberate, and not just plain stupidity.

Blago 0, Illinois Senate 59

Not the best article, but the first one I got to.

An interesting legal strategy

Hmmm…don’t take the stand, don’t take the oath, don’t allow a cross examination, but try to sweet-talk everyone. Yeah, that’ll work.

Let’s see, According to this, Obama is leading us all to Paganism due to his stance on gay couples rights, his decision to close Guatanamo, and releasing tax dollars for abortions abroad. Because apparently, Pagans all have gay marriages, prisoners in illegal prisons and want people from other countries to have abortions. Really. You’ve got to read the arguments here. They are out of the gourd crazy. The loonies make it so easy. Unfortunately, the author is too much of a coward to enable comments. But you can email him, and I think you should. Maybe school him on exactly what paganism actually is.

NRO: Obama’s first week by Michael Novak

McCain is now standing in the way of Obama’s tax cuts (you know, the cuts he said would raise everybody’s taxes during the elections?). I thought McCain wanted to be all, you know, bipartisan, and cut spending, and the government burden on the tax payer. John McCain, why do you hate us? Maybe that’s why you didn’t get elected.It’s funny how Republicans keep saying spending money to hire people to do infrastructure projects doesn’t create jobs. That must be the new math.

McCain wants a Stimulus ReWrite

The party goes on with Blagojevich. I’d love to have a countdown on his administration, but he could drag this out past the next election.

Impeachment trial to proceed without Illinois Governor

A nice artistic video for all of you.

As far as the site is concerned, I’ll have podcast tomorrow, and an artice or two by the weekend. Have an idea for some larger works, but I have so many larger works, it might take time to get to them, unless of course, you donate to gearsecure.net and help me get rid of the day job.

Democratic Presidential politics

1.    The Audacity of Hope beats the Politics of paranoia and division
2.    Every campaign must one day come to an end in the face of reality. Even Hillary’s.
3.    Politics is more than a name (Clinton, Kennedy).
4.    The expressed desire to castrate somebody reflects rather poorly when that person is the fulfillment of your life’s mission. And you want to get your son into his vacated Senate seat.
5.    Dennis Kucinich is a lucky man.
6.    When in the thick of it, if you’re a woman, showing stress and shedding tears makes you more human, if you’re a man it means you’re weak.
7.    In political poker, gender and race are essentially equal hands, and only serves to divide the pot.

Republican Presidential Politics

8.    Conservatives are as conservatives admonish.
9.    Divide and conquer is not a good strategy for the political battlefield.
10.    Fear leads to the dark side.
11.    Some people believe everything you tell them. Those people voted for Sarah Palin and that lecherous old guy that followed her around.
12.    Lecherous is a word that isn’t used enough anymore.
13.    A pitbull’s bite is a good deterrent to voters.
14.    The only thing that is un-American is believing an opposing viewpoint is un-American.
15.    When using Yahoo for professional off the record email, make sure your password is not public knowledge.
16.    When running on a cleaning up corruption platform, it helps to not be corrupt yourself (this is for Palin, but repeats for Blagojevich).
17.    There really should be a separation between personal and politics.
18.    Being a political sideshow is not good for advertising your business, especially if you’re a plumber.
19.    Sometimes being a plumber is more interesting than being a presidential candidate.
20.    When you’re a presidential candidate, make sure your running mate and mascots are not more entertaining than you are.
21.    When suspending your campaign, go directly to Washington D.C., do not make a stop for an interview, and mosey into town a day late and without a plan, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
22.    Apparently, one of the primary means of gaining foreign policy experience is proximity.
23.    In choosing a vice presidential running mate, choosing an unknown quantity means you’re getting an unknown quantity.
24.    It takes more than a fresh coat of lipstick to make a pitbull or a pig look intelligent.
25.    When choosing a running mate to parrot talking points, sometimes choosing a parrot would be more effective.
26.    Guilt by association is hard to make stick, and not a valid campaign strategy.
27.    You can neither put lipstick on a pig, nor designer labels on an Alaskan governor
28.    The person leading us into our science fiction future should be able to use email
29.    I never want to hear the word “maverick” again
30.    knowing how many houses you have is a pretty important piece of information
31.    You can’t see Russia from Wasilla. Not even with really good binoculars.
32.    Republican women appear to be either hausfraus or Nazi Dominatrixes.

Legislative Branch

33.    No matter what bad things you say about the Democrats, if you smile nicely and plead a little they’ll let you back into the club.
34.    Florida’s 16th District has really bad cooties
35.    According to Michele Bachmann, we don’t have to worry about the environment because Jesus saved us.
36.    The investigation into anti-American politicians should start in Minnesota’s 6th district

Media

37.    You are what you eat applies equally to eaters and FoxNews Viewers.
38.    Ann Coulter is a hate crime
39.    Chuck Norris may have a roundhouse kick that can deflect asteroids, but he’d never win a political debate.
40.    The media sucks at the teat more than bites the hand that feeds. So many opportunities for hard follow-up questions lost.
41.    Watching Fox News on a Democratic victory night is the best show in town.
42.    It is increasingly difficult to get away with lies due to the internet and bloggers. This is the up side of the Schwartz.
43.    The media is going vigilante with blogs. This is the downside of the Schwartz.
44.    Even though the Huffington Post doesn’t pay its contributors, it still plagiarizes.
45.    Thanks to in-depth reporting that holds itself to high standards, we now know exactly what it looks like when you put lipstick on a pig.

General elections

46.    The Bradley effect no longer exists, if it ever did.
47.    It is entirely possible that people just didn’t like Bradley.
48.    Religion is beginning to be a political faultline
49.    When running for political office, don’t piss off David Letterman.

Gubernatorial Politics

50.    The Free market value of a Senate seat in Illinois will likely be measured in time, not dollars.
51.    When running on a cleaning up corruption platform, it helps to not be corrupt yourself, Blago.
52.    When choosing a governor in Illinois, the lesser of two evils is still pretty evil.
53.    It’s good to be the king, not so much to be Elliot Spitzer.
54.    Getting your ex brother in law fired is more trouble than it is worth.
55.    Congrats to the 48 other governors who didn’t make a spectacle of themselves.
56.    Roland Burris is now Rod Blagojevich’s middle finger.

Continuing stories

57.    What happens in an airport bathroom in Minnesota does not stay in an airport bathroom in Minnesota, and the court won’t let you take it back either.

Economy

58.    The Fundamentals of our economy are not strong
59.    When Congress asks you for a plan before they give you bailout money, have a plan ready to go.
60.    Free Market Libertarians are wrong.
61.    The Market doesn’t know what’s best for it.
62.    If the returns on investment are too good to be true, they probably are.
63.    Ponzi is more than a fun word to say.
64.    Madoff is a name “Made Off” is a verb phrase that should be preceded by “almost”

Misc

65.    Chinese democracy is possible, but it will take far too long, cost far too much, and ultimately be disappointing.
66.    When faced with the choice of maybe losing a Senate seat to the Republicans or leaving the choice in the hands of a corrupt governor, Illinois Democrats are just as timid as their Senate Big Brothers.
67.    There is one thing that we can all agree the Bush Administration did right: the Anti-Telemarketer no-call list.
68.    Say good bye to the two worst presidents we’ve ever had, Cheney and What’s his name.

Today Rod Blagojevich used his gubernatorial powers to appoint Roland Burris to the Senate to fill Barack Obama’s vacated seat. I knew something like this would happen, so here’s my analysis of what’s going on. Are you ready?

First, Blago’s point of View: Blago thinks because he is the chief executive of the state of Illinois, he is right, no matter what the rule of law may be. He probably learned this tactic from his hero Richard Nixon, and will probably go down just as hard. The Illinois legislature is moving quickly on impeachment, which gives him an impetus to act. He said he wouldn’t make an appointment, and his attorney did as well, but that wouldn’t stop anybody with as Napoleonic an ego as Blagojevich. The key was to find the right person, and so he dug up Roland Burris. Burris is practically perfect because he has no taint on him from any part of the current scandal, the last governor’s scandal, or anything else that anyone could actually remember. Plus he’s African American. Let’s just say that up front, because if he selected another white guy, there would have been more to fight about.

Blago saw the Democrats in the state legislature too scared of losing a seat for their U.S. Senate brethren to strip him of his seat, and so he called their bluff. This is political poker, and I think everyone is holding a pair of twos, but the stare-down is happening right now.

This maneuver is interesting, and I’m at the same time amazed at the stupidity of it, and the brilliance of it. The Democrats in the State legislature, in their fear of political loss tried to come out on top with an impeachment, but no other action. In that way, Blago’s successor, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn would be able to properly appoint a Democrat to the seat and we could all live happily ever after (except Rod, but well, he gets what he gets). It was stupid to appoint somebody because he knows he’s overstepping the bounds of propriety and good taste, but it was brilliant because now the State Democrats are looking like the fools. He has undermined their strength and credibility by standing up to the challenge.

As for the reaction, the U.S. Senate says they won’t seat Roland Burris, Secretary of State Jesse White says he will not certify it, and in his interpretation of the law, this doesn’t impede it moving on past him, but does show he does not approve of it. The Illinois Democrats are saying they’ll now act, but the move is now reactionary, and not like it could have been, the right thing.

As I said before, the Illinois Democrats could have done the right thing by stripping him of this power, holding the run-off election, and let the due process decide who go the seat and of the Republicans got it, well, the Democrats should have worked harder in the election. Fear of losing a seat caused them to take this waffling excuse of an action where they hoped to impeach him hoping that he’d play fair (yeah, right), not appoint somebody, and let the next Democratic Governor appoint by the backdoor. Well, now that plan is shot. Even worse, they go down as the people who blocked the appointment of America’s only Black Senator, as Rep. Bobby Rush pointed out. Blago has made them all look like the bad guys in all of this.

This appointment is a middle finger to their weakness, and I for one think it is just desserts.

It has all the brilliance of McCain revitalizing his ticket with an unknown Sarah Palin without the fallout of her being a looney, because what does he have to lose? Nothing.

This leaves one last person to consider, Roland Burris. What is he thinking? Is he actually thinking this is a good career move? That he’s actually going to serve in the Senate? I worry that he doesn’t realize that he is a pawn in a game of people who are bigger than him. Roland Burris was a competent politician by all accounts, but he lost four elections, among them for Governor, Senator, and Mayor of Chicago. In Burris, Blago has a white knight. He’s pure, uncorrupt, unassociated with scandal until now, and that’s the best part of it all, as well as the tragedy of it. Without the circus, he’d probably be a decent candidate.

I’m impressed, and I think this is even more of an indication of his nature as a politician. He’s willing to play dirtier than anybody else. He’s still an asshole, but he’s crafty.