Blagojevich Impeached, Responds In Bizarre Press Conference

Governor Rod Blagojevich called a news conference in Illinois today after he was impeached by the State House of Representatives.

He gave an off the cuff monologue that seemed detached from the reality and the facts of his impeachment and federal corruption charges.

“I am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing,” he said.

See a video:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/09/
blagojevich.impeachment/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

But it took him four or five pages full of words and five full minutes to say this…..
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“The House action today was not a surprise. It was a foregone conclusion,” Blagojevich said at a news conference in Chicago. “From the very moment of my re-election, I’ve been engaged in a struggle with the House to try to get things done for people.

“The House’s action today, and the causes of the impeachment, are because I’ve done things to fight for families who are with me here today,” he added.
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The Illinois House voted 114-1 to impeach Mr Blagojevich, although only 60 votes were needed for the motion to pass.

“It’s our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that’s become Illinois government,” said Jack D Franks, a Democratic representative.

Illinois’s State Senate will now try Mr Blagojevich. If found guilty, the governor will be forced out of office.

I’m no psychiatrist but Blagojevich looked and acted like a crazy man today — which shouldn’t help his friend Roland Burris who he appointed to the U.S. Senate….

Blago ended the news conference by quoting a poem from “Ulysses” by Lord Alfred Tennyson, ending with: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

Ilinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says his impeachment was politically driven.

Related:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/09
/blagojevich.impeachment/index.html

Related:
Illinois: Thanks for “Nutjob New Year” (Blagoyevich, Rush, Burris)

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Illinois’ highest court on Friday validated the appointment of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat, ruling that the Illinois secretary of state does not have to sign off on it.

Read the CNN Report:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/0
1/09/burris.senate/index.html

Roland Burris’s appointment to the U.S. Senate is valid, the Illinois Supreme Court says.

Related:
http://garychapelhill.wordpress.com/2009/
01/07/obama-leaves-harry-in-the-lurch/

Burris Turned Away at Door of U.S. Senate

The man appointed to fill Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat, Roland Burris, was turned away from the door of the U.S. Senate this morning.

In a brief news confernce outside the U.S. Capitol building in the rain, Burris spoke briefly before turing the event over to his lawyers.

Burris looked scared and dismayed amid a throng of reporters on a dark, cold, rainy and wet Washington DC.

CNN called the event a “circus” and reported “Burris was surrounded by a swarm of reporters as he tried to join the other senators on the first day of the new Congress.”

Above: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has offered Senate Appointee Roland Burris office space not far from the Capitol.

The Associated Press reported that:

A Democratic official says the secretary of the Senate has turned former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris away from taking the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Burris left the Capitol offices of the secretary, Nancy Erickson, after a meeting of about 20 minutes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090106/a
p_on_go_co/senate_burris

Roland Burris

Burris Says He’s a Senator; But Without The Oath, He Won’t Be One Even Tuesday

Senate Democrats struggled to avert a showdown steeped in race and corruption Monday as a defiant Roland Burris declared, “I’m a United States senator” despite boiling controversy over his appointment to President-elect Barack Obama‘s seat in Congress.

Several officials said it was out of the question that Burris would be sworn into office on Tuesday when other new lawmakers take the oath of office. The officials cited incomplete paperwork, but the dispute was far deeper than that. Burris was named last week by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who faces charges of having attempted to sell the seat.

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

 
Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris holds a news conference at Chicago’s Midway airport Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, before leaving for Washington for a high-stakes showdown on Capitol Hill about whether he’ll succeed President-elect Barack Obama in Congress. Burris was appointed last week by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Burris has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but Senate Democrats expressed the hope that the veteran Illinois Democrat would not violate protocol by attempting to walk uninvited into the chamber. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to address the matter publicly.

At the same time, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appeared to leave open the possibility of a compromise after having failed to persuade Blagojevich to leave the seat vacant. Burris is scheduled to meet privately on Wednesday with the majority leader in his office a few paces off the Senate floor.

Burris, who is black, downplayed the issue of race at a news conference before boarding a flight from Chicago to Washington — even though supporters have given it prominence.

“I cannot control my supporters. I have never in my life, in all my years of being elected to office, thought anything about race,” he said.

As for Senate Democratic leaders, thus far unwilling to allow him to be seated, he said, “I am a United States senator. They can’t stop me from doing my senatorial duties.”

In fact, he is not, and cannot be unless he is administered the oath of office.

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090105/ap_on_go_co/senate_burris_22

Obama: Election Day to Inauguration Day Has Been Exciting; And It Isn’t Over Yet

His U.S. Senate seat may have been for sale by his home state Governor.  His “replacement” is under siege and may not be seated.

His Commerce Secretary pick is exiting amid a grand jury investigation.

Related:
Obama: Nation’s Hopes Never Higher, Times Seldom Tougher, Give Us Your Highest Vision

And his plans for a new Middle East policy may  have to be changed yet again a few times before the inauguration.

His domestic team has to be in some turmoil too: the auto company bailout isn’t comlete, there is some growing dismay at all the money thrown around by the Treasury while trying to get the economy jump started and his own “stimulus” may top $1 Trillion.

Even his choice of  Rick Warren to pray the invocation was not heard with gaiety….

For Barack Obama, just getting from Election Day to Inauguration Day has been exciting.

Hopes for a new American President have never been higher at home and internationally.

But there have never been so many roadblocks in the way of a smooth ride either.

Blago U.S. Senate Appointee Burris On TV Sunday, Busy Schedule

Senate appointee Roland Burris has plans to speak before ministers and supporters before he departs for Washington.

Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to Barack Obama‘s vacant U.S. Senate seat last week, but Senate Democratic leaders say they’ll reject any appointee named by Blagojevich.

Burris says he will attend a Sunday evening prayer vigil at a church on Chicago’s South Side before addressing his supporters. The group is coordinated by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush.

Burris also is scheduled to appear Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

Late Saturday, Burris issued a statement saying he still plans to leave for Washington on Monday to claim the U.S. Senate seat.

–Associated Press

Related:
Illinois: Thanks for “Nutjob New Year” (Blagoyevich, Rush, Burris)

 
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich stands by as his choice to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, former Ill. Attorney General Roland Burris addresses the media Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008, in Chicago. Through numerous TV interviews and behind-the-scenes lobbying, Burris is campaigning hard for the Senate. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Blagojevich Caper: What Next?

Corruption, chutzpah, race and adventure: it is hard to figure what might be next in the Rod Blagojevich caper.

Roland Burris has to face his U.S. Senate colleagues, or be turned away, or just not show next week.  Rumor has it that Blago may show to appear on the Senate floor himself: where sitting U.S. Governors are allowed but unseated appointees without a signed permission slip from their state are barred.

Burris says he is legal but so is a lot of seafood.

Burris and Bobby Rush are making plans to attend Barck Obama’s inauguration but Blago’s appearance is not yet on the agenda.  He has proven he can dance but would he be welcomed?

Blagojevich has seved up a racial teaching moment like never before seen in America, as Ruben Navarrette points out on CNN….

Related:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/01
/navarrette.senate/index.html?section=
cnn_latest

 Illinois: Thanks for “Nutjob New Year” (Blagoyevich, Rush, Burris)

Will Burris Be Barred from Senate With Guns?
http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/01
/01/democrats-burris-to-be-barred-by-men-
with-guns-if-necessary/

From The Wall Street Journal

The man appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama suggested he would challenge any effort to block the move, but said he is confident Senate Democrats will relent and let him take the job.

“We think they will come around and recognize that the appointment is legal and valid and I am the junior senator from Illinois,” Roland Burris said during an interview at his office.

Mr. Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, spoke Wednesday as it became clear that Mr. Blagojevich had offered the post to at least one other African-American politician, and as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald sought more time to seek an indictment against the governor — and perhaps widen a five-year-old case that already has resulted in felony convictions.

Read the rest:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123074
189029545793.html

NY May Go For Gravitas of Bill Clinton or Mario Cuomo, Not Caroline, You Know?

Caroline, you know, has a really good heart, you know, and would make a great Senator from New York, you know.

Except in newspaper interviews, TV shots and talks with others she sounded like a lightweight or, you know, an inarticulate jerk who has no experience or reason to be a U.S. Senator.

So the Democrat Party Leadership of the State of New York has decided not to model itself after Illinois and the Nutjob Blagoyevich-Rush-Burris trio.

New York is “floating” the idea of a “caretaker” senator with the gravitas of, say, Bill Clinton or Mario Cuomo.

And, you know, that sound like a good idea for both New York and Illinois, you know?

We here at Peace and Freedom favor a special election in most of these cases of vacant seats; but in Illinois just now the legislature rejected the idea of a special election and chose to impeach the Governor and go from there.

But they ran out the clock and the Governor got the last shot off before the buzzer.

The Illinois Governor named his one-time rival Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.

And, as David Broder of the Washington Post says, “Everyone, including Obama, has been exceedingly polite in their public comments about Burris. I have known him for years, and I like him. But I have never been confused about the level of his talent.”

Why do we allow such shenanigans?

Related:
Rethink Practice of Governors Filling Vacant U.S. Senate Seats

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Sen. Bill Clinton? Sen. Mario Cuomo? Don’t completely rule it out. The former president and the former New York governor are among several boldface names being touted as possible “caretakers” for New York’s Senate seat — people who would serve until the 2010 elections but wouldn’t be interested in running to keep the job.

As the process of picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s replacement gets messier, the option may become increasingly attractive to Gov. David Paterson, who has sole authority to name a successor.

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer

A spokesman for Bill Clinton, Matt McKenna, said Wednesday that the former chief executive isn’t interested in the job and plans to continue the work of his foundation. Cuomo declined through a spokesman to discuss the Senate seat.

A big name could have an immediate impact for New York in the Senate while letting the large field of hopefuls duke it out in 2010, according to three Democratic Party advisers in New York and Washington who are close to the discussion with Paterson’s inner circle on this issue.

Two others in the party confirmed that Paterson is still considering the caretaker option. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment.

“You could find a very senior person who could serve New York well” on an interim basis, said Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist and dean at the State University of New York at New Paltz. “Then you can say to Caroline Kennedy, `You know, you’d make a good senator. Run for it.’ And you can tell everyone else that it’s a level playing field.”

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231
/ap_on_re_us/ny_senate_seat

Blagojevich: Giving the Finger to Obama, The Senate, Illinois and Everyone Else

In appointing veteran African-American officeholder Roland Burris to the Senate, embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich has done more than just flout the will of the Illinois establishment, the Senate and President-elect Barack Obama. With one stunning and politically exquisite act of defiance, he audaciously reasserted his authority and designed a trap that his opponents cannot easily sidestep.

“If he was going to appoint somebody, this is as clever as he could have been — in the sense it gets him back in the limelight and it puts him on the offensive,” said Kent Redfield, a professor at the University of Illinois-Springfield and the author of several books on Illinois politics. “Burris would have been an OK caretaker appointment a month ago. And he’s an African-American from Chicago who has a clean record.”

By Josh Kraushaar
Politico

Just days ago, as a result of criminal charges lodged against him in connection with the alleged attempted sale of the Obama Senate seat, it appeared that Blagojevich was boxed in, destined to leave office in disgrace with only the timing of his departure in question.

The state’s attorney general sought to have him declared too incapacitated to serve. The Legislature was moving inexorably toward impeachment. Blagojevich’s attorney said the governor would relinquish the responsibility of making the appointment if a special election was held instead.

But in a gambit as unexpected as it was politically shrewd, the seemingly powerless two-term Democratic governor suddenly turned the tables by picking a candidate whose stature and background….

Read the rest from Politico:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081231/pl_politico/16954

Blagojevich Caper Won’t End: His Appointee Calls Him “Reprehensible”

Lincoln may be turning over in his grave.

In the Land of Lincoln, there must have been a conversation today that ended, “Let’s get distance from the guy that appointed me to the U.S. Senate yesterday.”

Former Illinois Attorney Gen. Roland Burris was appointed to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat yesterday.

Today Burris said the appointment was “legal” and that he “has done nothing wrong” and that the behavior of the man that appointed him “is reprehensible.”

When you say things that are bizarre and have never been said by sane men before: watch out.

A cast of players in this sad comedy doesn’t know that….

A former Dean of the Harvard School of Law told us: ” innocent until proven guilty rarely applies to stupidity, a crime without a statute of limitations”….

Roland Burris said Gov. Rod Blagojevich is innocent until proven guilty

Related essays:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS
/12/31/illinois.senate/index.html
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Related:
End Crazy, Archaic Practice of Governors Filling Vacant U.S. Senate Seats
.
Obama’s Peace of Mind: Rick Warren and a Holy Host of Others Still Compete to Ruin It
.
 Barack Obama’s Senate Seat Not Post-Racial?

In Illinois, The Governor is Lynching The Post-Racial President-Elect

A famous politician we once knew said: “You can’t trust anyone.  Least of all your friends.”

Barack Obama must be thinking that as he lines up his putt today in Hawaii.

Because Barack Obama is suffering just from knowing the Governor of Illinois and Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois today.

These are the kind of wingnuts that makes one wonder….

Related:
End Crazy, Archaic Practice of Governors Filling Vacant U.S. Senate Seats
.
Obama’s Peace of Mind: Rick Warren and a Holy Host of Others Still Compete to Ruin It
.
 Barack Obama’s Senate Seat Not Post-Racial?
.
Blagojevich Caper Won’t End: His Appointee Calls Him “Reprehensible”

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Barack Obama doesn’t need this, not right now.

Already, Obama’s Hawaiian vacation has been interrupted by news of an Israeli incursion into Gaza. He faces a mounting economic crisis even before he takes office.

By Carrie Budoff Brown, Jonathan Martin
Politico

And now, just as Obama was starting to distance himself from the machinations over filling his Senate seat, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s surprise pick is dragging him back in to the home-state mess – along with the kind of hard-edged racial politics Obama tries to avoid.

Blagojevich, who has been charged with attempting to sell the Senate seat, announced Tuesday he was tapping Roland Burris, the first African-American to win statewide election in Illinois and the closest thing in the state to a black elder statesman.

But Obama is backing efforts led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to block Burris, saying Blagojevich is too tainted by corruption charges to make the pick.

 
In this Aug. 17, 2005, file photo Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, left, laughs with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich during Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair  in Springfield, Ill.

It’s not clear Reid can block Burris. But Obama’s bigger headache could come from a longtime South Side congressman and one-time rival – Rep. Bobby Rush – who is unmistakably daring officials not to block the ascension of an African-American to replace Obama.

 
U. S Rep. Bobby Rush speaks after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich announces his choice of former Ill. Attorney General Roland Burris, right, to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 in Chicago.(AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

“I would ask you to not hang or lynch the appointee while you castigate the appointer,” Rush said at Blagojevich’s news conference. “Let me just remind you that there presently is no African-American in the U.S. Senate.”

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/
20081231/pl_politico/16952