Another brilliant move by Rockin' Rod
December 31, 2008
BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist
Back off, bleepin' Blagojevich bashers. Rockin' Rod just showed us where to stick our outrage.
On Tuesday, Illinois' Elvis exhibited the testicular virility he brags about with the decision to barrel ahead -- despite certain indictment and impeachment -- and appoint Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat of Barack Obama. He sent a screamingly loud message that the King isn't dead and quite happy to inflict pain on those who currently afflict him.
Admit it. It was a brilliant move.
Here we have cable television's Goat-of-the-Moment putting everyone else on notice.
Let's begin with Blagojevich's fellow Democrats. By appointing Burris, he chose one of their own. Burris is a "regular" in the classic Chicago tradition, supported in elections past by pols named Daley, Stroger and Madigan.
Burris is an African American who made history by becoming Illinois' first black elected comptroller and attorney general.
Who dares, asked Rep. Bobby Rush, former Black Panther and onetime congressional victor over Barack Obama, to deny a qualified (and, important to note in Illinois, never indicted) appointee as the lone black to replace the lone black in the nearly lily-white U.S. Senate?
Illinois politicians, few of them profiles in courage, better tread carefully with their African-American constituency.
That might include President-elect Obama, who has endorsed his fair share of regular Chicago Democrats. In the beginning, Obama said this appointment belonged solely to the governor. But later we learned his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, had been arguing for the selection of Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Obama, though, quickly weighed in Tuesday, praising Burris but urging once again that the governor resign and leave an appointment to someone else.
Obama knows that as long as Rod Blagojevich continues to star in his own version of the "Sopranos," this soap opera trumps discussion of the economy and foreign policy at his upcoming news conferences. It's like having a Blagojevich ball and chain around his leg.
Blagojevich, meanwhile, puts the special house investigative impeachment inquiry in its own special trick bag. Republicans on the committee will want to call Burris as a witness to ask what kind of conversations he might have had with the governor before his appointment. After all, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has already said the governor was auctioning off the Senate job to the highest bidder. Why, they might inquire, has Burris continued to give Blagojevich campaign contributions as late as June of this year when everyone knew the governor has been the subject of a five-year federal probe?
At Tuesday's news conference, Burris wasn't particularly knowledgeable when asked how much he had given to the governor. When a reporter suggested it was as much as $14,000 in the last six years, Burris acted surprised. The actual amount, by the way, if you count Burris' personal contributions and that of his lobbying and law firm, is more than $20,000. The most recent contribution was a grand in June. Contributions to Blagojevich by Burris' lobbying clients will provide another area of questioning.
Will Democrats, who control all witness subpoenas, permit Burris to be called for questioning?
Either way, Republicans win. What sweet revenge since the Democrats refused to support a special election to fill Obama's seat for fear a Republican might get elected.
Democrats should be asking themselves who's the goat now.
Let's face it, the nation is mesmerized by us. We are like one of those television specials on National Geographic featuring a newly discovered, strange and self-destructive tribe that somehow still endures through the wacky cult of personality exhibited by its leaders.
Watching the governor and the aspiring senator smile smugly and jockey for what Blagojevich lightly referred to as the "limelight," cable commentators looked genuinely amazed.
We're not.
That's because we know who the real goats are.
Us.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/1355795,CST-EDT-carol31.article
December 31, 2008
BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist
Back off, bleepin' Blagojevich bashers. Rockin' Rod just showed us where to stick our outrage.
On Tuesday, Illinois' Elvis exhibited the testicular virility he brags about with the decision to barrel ahead -- despite certain indictment and impeachment -- and appoint Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat of Barack Obama. He sent a screamingly loud message that the King isn't dead and quite happy to inflict pain on those who currently afflict him.
Admit it. It was a brilliant move.
Here we have cable television's Goat-of-the-Moment putting everyone else on notice.
Let's begin with Blagojevich's fellow Democrats. By appointing Burris, he chose one of their own. Burris is a "regular" in the classic Chicago tradition, supported in elections past by pols named Daley, Stroger and Madigan.
Burris is an African American who made history by becoming Illinois' first black elected comptroller and attorney general.
Who dares, asked Rep. Bobby Rush, former Black Panther and onetime congressional victor over Barack Obama, to deny a qualified (and, important to note in Illinois, never indicted) appointee as the lone black to replace the lone black in the nearly lily-white U.S. Senate?
Illinois politicians, few of them profiles in courage, better tread carefully with their African-American constituency.
That might include President-elect Obama, who has endorsed his fair share of regular Chicago Democrats. In the beginning, Obama said this appointment belonged solely to the governor. But later we learned his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, had been arguing for the selection of Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Obama, though, quickly weighed in Tuesday, praising Burris but urging once again that the governor resign and leave an appointment to someone else.
Obama knows that as long as Rod Blagojevich continues to star in his own version of the "Sopranos," this soap opera trumps discussion of the economy and foreign policy at his upcoming news conferences. It's like having a Blagojevich ball and chain around his leg.
Blagojevich, meanwhile, puts the special house investigative impeachment inquiry in its own special trick bag. Republicans on the committee will want to call Burris as a witness to ask what kind of conversations he might have had with the governor before his appointment. After all, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has already said the governor was auctioning off the Senate job to the highest bidder. Why, they might inquire, has Burris continued to give Blagojevich campaign contributions as late as June of this year when everyone knew the governor has been the subject of a five-year federal probe?
At Tuesday's news conference, Burris wasn't particularly knowledgeable when asked how much he had given to the governor. When a reporter suggested it was as much as $14,000 in the last six years, Burris acted surprised. The actual amount, by the way, if you count Burris' personal contributions and that of his lobbying and law firm, is more than $20,000. The most recent contribution was a grand in June. Contributions to Blagojevich by Burris' lobbying clients will provide another area of questioning.
Will Democrats, who control all witness subpoenas, permit Burris to be called for questioning?
Either way, Republicans win. What sweet revenge since the Democrats refused to support a special election to fill Obama's seat for fear a Republican might get elected.
Democrats should be asking themselves who's the goat now.
Let's face it, the nation is mesmerized by us. We are like one of those television specials on National Geographic featuring a newly discovered, strange and self-destructive tribe that somehow still endures through the wacky cult of personality exhibited by its leaders.
Watching the governor and the aspiring senator smile smugly and jockey for what Blagojevich lightly referred to as the "limelight," cable commentators looked genuinely amazed.
We're not.
That's because we know who the real goats are.
Us.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/1355795,CST-EDT-carol31.article
