Leave Burris alone. Who cares what he said to whom and when? He's a great senator!

The strangest aspect of the entire Blago affair is turning out to be how bad the governor was at being corrupt. Of all the reported incidents of his office soliciting funds or favors, I haven't heard of one person who actually gave him anything. I suppose by Illinois politician standards it doesn't count as soliciting if you never collect, but it has to be especially humiliating to be drummed from public office with nothing to show for it. He's not going to get a good seat in the prison cafeteria with that sort of reputation.

I don't want to PO any Illinois Libs, but I'm going to write my senators and ask them to boot the guy in the name of good honest government. Single party power can easily lead to corruption. The opposing party is both bereft of ideas and corrupt. Burris needs to go.

Of all the reported incidents of his office soliciting funds or favors, I haven't heard of one person who actually gave him anything.

Try this one.

This was the primary reason I felt and argued that he shouldn't have been seated until a thorough investigation.

I don't want to PO any Illinois Libs, but I'm going to write my senators and ask them to boot the guy... -Danp

As an Illinois liberal, please, write away.

What was Burris thinking? The whole point of his being given the slot was because he was immune to any Blago taint. It was assumed that he hadn't done anything wrong because that was the whole reason he was picked for the job. For as much as I wished he hadn't been seated, it never occurred to me he would have done this. And from Blago's side, it's stupid that he even TRIED to get Burris to raise funds. Again, the whole point was that Burris was a brilliant pick because there was no taint. But they even screwed that up.

I didn't like Burris' antics to begin with, but now I'm really hoping they toss that turd overboard. Blago should never have selected anyone and Burris should never have accepted. The fact that both did should have been a huge warning sign to us that these guys aren't normal.

Thanks to Danp for the link -- there have been so many twists in this story I forgot about that. And I'm sure there will be more once Fitzgerald moves ahead with the trial.

"Of all the reported incidents of his office soliciting funds or favors, I haven't heard of one person who actually gave him anything."

If I recall correctly, the total sum of campaign money raised by Blagojevich and crew during his runs for governor is about $50 million. If that ain't anything, your comment would be right. But, even by Illinois standards, $50 million is a significant amount of giving by many significant persons and companies who ended up with a significant amount of state contracts, jobs or positions of power.

I'm with doubtful. I never wanted this dude representing me in the Senate. I never thought any Blago-appointee would actually make it in, and now that he's in, he's showing himself to be as big a joke as you'd expect a Blago-appointee to be.

Let's hit the reset button and get Schakowsky in there.

He's was an embarrassment, then he wasn't, but now he is definitely an embarrassment again. Burris appears to have a major problem with the truth and he makes Democrats look bad, especially those from Illinois.

Of course Burris won't resign. The dude has already built himself a monument. He's just as mediocre, detached from reality, and dumb as Blago, and Blago thought he was presidential material. Burris is going to have to be forced out, whether by the Senate or by a primary. I'll tell you this, I'll be sending $20 to whoever looks most likely to primary the guy.

Ha, ha. Steve, you silly. Messes like this can always get more ridiculous.

Couldn't Obama just make Burris Commerce Secretary?

Hum....

I wondered at the time that any man who would deliberately jump into that pile of shit that was the Blago appointment scandal needed to be watched.

After this, the vetting process for Burris's replacement is going to go absolutely off the deep end, as in:

"Hello...NASA? This is the President. I need a really good microscope to vet the next Senate appointee from Illinois. Could you aim the Hubble at Chicago?

Blago's blustering Burriss blathers blatantly banal blurbs.

I knew this guy was another flake when he called himself "the Magic Man".

Just heard about this.

I have just called Burris' office and urged him to resign. My former opinion was clearly not fully informed. Now that he has disclosed all, it is clear that he is corrupt, and must go.

If you too are from IL, here is Burris' office number:

202-224-2854

Please call and urge Mr. Burris to save whatever is left of his reputation by doing the right thing.

He's a fucking weasel, I KNEW that he was a friggin' opportunist when he first appeared wearing that shit eating grin.

Anyone with integrity would have blown Blago off, but NOOOO, Burris was begging for that appointment.

BOOT THAT CLOWN.

And for those who are saying to themselves "Boy, POed Lib must SURE be feeling a little sheepish today", I admit a feeling of being snookered. I thought that the guy was an opportunist, and there are many pols who are opportunists. So, I was wrong, you were right.

I will say, in a modest attempt at self-justification, that Burris is not good at disclosure, which is pretty much what most of you were saying, albeit with more colorful phraseology.

So, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

If it gets bad enough, I imagine the Senate could expel him. But of course not until we go through another lovely round of Goopers being outraged ("OUTRAGED, I TELL YOU") about a Dem lying under oath.

FWIW, Margaret Carlson said last night on Countdown, "He's finished!" (meaning Burris, of course). I was a bit surprised that she was so emphatic and categorical about it, but she repeated it several times. "He's a goner, he's gone!"

Thanks God. At least Barack Obama is one of the very few squeakey clean politicians coming from the state of Illinois.

Any chance some of the shit will splash onto Burris' cheerleaders like Dianne Feinstein or Bobby Rush?

"I don't want to PO any Illinois Libs, but I'm going to write my senators and ask them to boot the guy in the name of good honest government."

There's no Illinois Lib I know of who doesn't want Burris out. It's disgraceful. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon.

Y'all know where this is going, right? Burris has three or four more disclosures coming, each with a little more incriminating info in it, until we finally get to: "Yes, I wrote the governor a large personal check five minutes before the press conference at which he announced he'd appointed me U.S. senator, but I deeply, deeply resent any implication that these two events are related."

And POedLib, good job acknowledging you were wrong. Not everyone can do that.

(I continue to think Haik Bedrosian is a weird parody of some sort.)

There's no Illinois Lib I know of who doesn't want Burris out. It's disgraceful. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon.

I would hope that the Senate now has or soon will have cause to boot his sorry ass out, but I have no idea whether that's the case. Who knows more about this and can speak to it?

mr. shortstop corrects my insufficiently ambitious scenario of 5:31. He thinks the final disclosure will be that Burris actually chaired the "How Much is a Senate Seat Worth?" steering committee.

Perhaps when Burris says he didn't "help raise a single dollar," what he means is he actually raised a bunch of dollars?

This sort of semantic parsing has become almost transparent with these chronic liars.

Like I said before, this problem developed from the ethnic spoils legacy pressure to take Burris despite his suspicious provenance and lack of strong recommendation anyway.

"Perhaps when Burris says he didn't "help raise a single dollar," what he means is he actually raised a bunch of dollars?"

Or maybe he didn't raise anything but simply passed it on.

The rest of the Senate Dems don't care and they have the vote. He fits right in.

The Senate CAN expel him, but they won't.

So many people spoke highly of Burris.

It's a bit like Mukasey redux.

How is the vetting of these important people done so poorly?

Is our bench so shallow?
Do only weasels climb high in politics? I could have believed the portion was large, but is it so nearly the entirety of the profession?

"Leave Burris alone. Who cares what he said to whom and when? He's a great senator!"

How can you tell?

Burris should resign now. There is no question that the one thing the Senate, the Illinois legislature and the public wanted to know from him was whether he had talked deals with Blago or his cronies. He led everyone to believe he had not, but in fact he did. That makes him a liar of the first order even if he was crafty enough to avoid perjury at the Springfield hearing. He's an embarassment, a drag on his party and an affront to the people he supposedly represents.

I've been blogging about the "Blagojemess" all along -- http://thepurplecenter.blogspot.com/

Illinois To make new longer license plate to fit new state motto. See it at, http://stopthepresses2.blogspot.com/