Jan. 7, 2009
PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Democracy is a Messy Business and Democrats are Masters of Messes
Roland Burris: Meet Will Rogers
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net
I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.-- Will Rogers (1879-1935)
There is no credit to being a comedian, when you have the whole Government working for you. All you have to do is report the facts. I don't even have to exaggerate.--Will Rogers
* * *
Watching the failed attempt of former Illinois attorney general Roland W. Burris to be seated as Barack Obama's replacement as the junior Senator from my home state of Illinois on TV Tuesday, Jan. 6, I had to reflect on the famous statement of Will Rogers.
Checking out the wording of the quotation, I came across the second quotation about government being such a rich source of humor. There are dozens of quotations from the fertile mind of the Oklahoma-born humorist at: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Rogers.
Although born in Michigan, I spent my formative years in Illinois, so I fully understand the wacky nature of the Prairie State's politics. Politics as a blood sport and corruption from both major parties is in the DNA of Illinois. The Wiley E. Coyote currently occupying the governor's seat in Springfield, Rod R. Blagojevich, is making the entire Democratic Party -- of which I have been a lifelong, if not always faithful, member -- look ridiculous. Current day emulators of Will Rogers -- like Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart -- just have to report the facts; they don't have to make up anything.
With a professional comic, Al Franken, about to take his seat as the new Senator from Minnesota -- maybe, perhaps, dead certain -- the humor goes full circle. Of course he's a Democrat, what else? But Republicans are a prime source of humor, too. Some would say the past eight years of George W. Bush's tenure as President is one long joke.
I'm not a lawyer, let alone a constitutional one, but Blago is still the governor of Illinois. He's been charged with various offenses, but so far Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald hasn't been able to indict the controversial governor and has asked for and been granted an extension to build his case. The last time I looked, a person is innocent until proven guilty.
As a gun rights advocate, I'm against Blago's anti-gun stance that has drawn fire from the National Rifle Association and others (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich). But the controversial Blago, the second Serbian-American -- after Ohio's George Voinovich -- to be elected a governor, is presumed innocent until he's convicted. He hasn't even been indicted.
Of course, another fly in the ointment in Illinois is the African-American Secretary of State Jesse White, who has refused to certify Blago's appointment of Burris, a 71-year-old African American with a long record of public service in Illinois. He's a native of Centralia, Illinois, making him a Downstate native in a state dominated by greater Chicago. If I were making a decision, I would say that White, also a Downstater born in Alton, Illinois, has no business blocking Blago's appointment of Burris.
Unless and until Blago is indicted and/or impeached and removed from office, I would say his appointments and decisions are valid. Nobody is questioning his move calling for a special election to fill the seat of Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice for chief of staff, so why should his appointment of Burris be questioned?
Burris, a lawyer, dismissed the Senate Democratic leadership's position that he cannot be seated because he was appointed by a governor accused in a criminal complaint of trying to benefit financially from his authority to fill the seat that Obama vacated after winning the presidential election. Nobody has said that Burris was one of the candidates mentioned in the 70-plus-page Criminal Complaint filed in early December by Fitzgerald.
The whole ugly mess will probably end up in court. This exercise in futility could be avoided if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, and President-elect Obama would put pressure on White to certify Blago's appointment of Burris. As I said above, Blago is innocent until proved guilty. If there's one thing Illinois politicos understand, it's pressure.
Burris' appointment shouldn't be blocked by the Senate. The spectacle of a black man being rejected by an all-white Senate is too ugly for a party that is as inclusive as the Democratic Party, even though Reid's defenders are saying it's not about race. In politics, as in many other areas, appearances are important and this train wreck appears to many people to be about race.
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PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Democracy is a Messy Business and Democrats are Masters of Messes
Roland Burris: Meet Will Rogers
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net
I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.-- Will Rogers (1879-1935)
There is no credit to being a comedian, when you have the whole Government working for you. All you have to do is report the facts. I don't even have to exaggerate.--Will Rogers
* * *
Watching the failed attempt of former Illinois attorney general Roland W. Burris to be seated as Barack Obama's replacement as the junior Senator from my home state of Illinois on TV Tuesday, Jan. 6, I had to reflect on the famous statement of Will Rogers.
Checking out the wording of the quotation, I came across the second quotation about government being such a rich source of humor. There are dozens of quotations from the fertile mind of the Oklahoma-born humorist at: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Rogers.
Although born in Michigan, I spent my formative years in Illinois, so I fully understand the wacky nature of the Prairie State's politics. Politics as a blood sport and corruption from both major parties is in the DNA of Illinois. The Wiley E. Coyote currently occupying the governor's seat in Springfield, Rod R. Blagojevich, is making the entire Democratic Party -- of which I have been a lifelong, if not always faithful, member -- look ridiculous. Current day emulators of Will Rogers -- like Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart -- just have to report the facts; they don't have to make up anything.
With a professional comic, Al Franken, about to take his seat as the new Senator from Minnesota -- maybe, perhaps, dead certain -- the humor goes full circle. Of course he's a Democrat, what else? But Republicans are a prime source of humor, too. Some would say the past eight years of George W. Bush's tenure as President is one long joke.
I'm not a lawyer, let alone a constitutional one, but Blago is still the governor of Illinois. He's been charged with various offenses, but so far Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald hasn't been able to indict the controversial governor and has asked for and been granted an extension to build his case. The last time I looked, a person is innocent until proven guilty.
As a gun rights advocate, I'm against Blago's anti-gun stance that has drawn fire from the National Rifle Association and others (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich). But the controversial Blago, the second Serbian-American -- after Ohio's George Voinovich -- to be elected a governor, is presumed innocent until he's convicted. He hasn't even been indicted.
Of course, another fly in the ointment in Illinois is the African-American Secretary of State Jesse White, who has refused to certify Blago's appointment of Burris, a 71-year-old African American with a long record of public service in Illinois. He's a native of Centralia, Illinois, making him a Downstate native in a state dominated by greater Chicago. If I were making a decision, I would say that White, also a Downstater born in Alton, Illinois, has no business blocking Blago's appointment of Burris.
Unless and until Blago is indicted and/or impeached and removed from office, I would say his appointments and decisions are valid. Nobody is questioning his move calling for a special election to fill the seat of Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice for chief of staff, so why should his appointment of Burris be questioned?
Burris, a lawyer, dismissed the Senate Democratic leadership's position that he cannot be seated because he was appointed by a governor accused in a criminal complaint of trying to benefit financially from his authority to fill the seat that Obama vacated after winning the presidential election. Nobody has said that Burris was one of the candidates mentioned in the 70-plus-page Criminal Complaint filed in early December by Fitzgerald.
The whole ugly mess will probably end up in court. This exercise in futility could be avoided if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, and President-elect Obama would put pressure on White to certify Blago's appointment of Burris. As I said above, Blago is innocent until proved guilty. If there's one thing Illinois politicos understand, it's pressure.
Burris' appointment shouldn't be blocked by the Senate. The spectacle of a black man being rejected by an all-white Senate is too ugly for a party that is as inclusive as the Democratic Party, even though Reid's defenders are saying it's not about race. In politics, as in many other areas, appearances are important and this train wreck appears to many people to be about race.
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