Breaking: Burris will be seated

[malaise]

Harry Reid I hope you're done.

[Kittycat]

1. Meh - it's all a big clusterfuck now anyway.

IL is going to have a hard time holding on to that seat now when elections come up. Great.

[NightWatcher]

4. the Dems in Congress are the only people who could fuck up an overwhelming win

we should be celebrating but instead we are gnashing our teeth and speaking about bipartisanship.

Clusterfuck- defined

[malaise]

6. The absolute truth

Love him or hate him,Blagojevich just handed Harry Reid his ass. Reid should step down from the leadership position.

[deutsey]

17. Yes, a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

:evilfrown:

[cali]

7. yep. odds are good that Burris will run

there will be a bruising primary producing a damaged nominee, and a repuke will win.

[hamsterjill]

15. Exactly!

n/t

[pampango]

31. Heard on NPR that he had lost his last 4 races - all primary runs - 3 for governor

and 1 for mayor of Chicago. Maybe he'll decide not to run for reelection, but he doesn't seem like the type that shies away from primary battles. He doesn't seem like a very good vote getter, but hopefully he doesn't cost us the senate seat next year with the specter of Blago hanging over him.

[malaise]

24. Deal or no deal

Looks like the AP report was premature - WTF!!!

[amoreena]

2. Great News!!!

Best of luck to Sen. Burris.

[ColesCountyDem]

3. It's about time!

Good move on Sen. Reid's part-- concede before you have your legal a** handed to you by some federal court!

[bigtree]

5. what a outrageous smear this was by Reid

. . . to hold him up in disgrace, only to later have the body invite him in. Tacky. This should have been done before the swearing-in - before Burris' name was dragged through the mud by the Senate leader.

[malaise]

9. The last straw in the PR battle was having Burris and his

grandkids holding a press conference in the rain. Fugg Harry Reid. The law is the law.

[bigtree]

16. that was a sad scene

shameful.

[cali]

10. yes, Reid behaved like an ass

too bad burris is no fucking better. He accepted a seat from someone under a terrible cloud. doesn't say much for roland. say bye bye to that senate seat in two years.

[bigtree]

13. Burris has actually conducted himself with dignity

I expect he'll serve with the same dignified manner he's displayed in this period and throughout his public life.

No one knows what will happen in that election, or even if Burris will be a candidate. But, Illinois is still a Democrat-dominated state. I expect it will still be so two years from now.

[cali]

21. accepting the seat from blago was hardly an act of dignity

[bigtree]

22. only in the critics' eyes

I accept his own characterization of his motives for accepting the position, though. He has conducted himself throughout this process with dignity.

[Dr. Strange]

18. But...

[erpowers]

8. I Agree With Reid

I think all appointments to replace a vacancy should be done by special elections. However, in this case since the governor had the right to appoint someone and it could not be proven that the person he wanted to appoint had done anything wrong that person should be seated. It will be very easy to take away any cloud that could exist over Burris's head. If it can be proven that Burris was not one of the people who were contacted about buying the Senate seat then there is no cloud over his head. Therefore, he (Burris) should be seated.

[amoreena]

12. Burris has an excellent chance of winning re-election...

it is very hard to oust an incumbent senator.

[Kittycat]

20. Oh please... There's no way.

We'll put a real candidate next time around, and they'll probably either not make it through or get butchered past the goal line to ensure that we lose the seat all together.

[AngryAmish]

11. I want to get this out of the way early - I Told You So

Harry Reid, you are racist garbage.

[originalpckelly]

14. No duh, the whole thing was a bunch of bullshit.

They didn't change the laws of Illinois before Blago appointed him, so there's legally nothing that can be done to stop him from being seated. This was all a bunch of bullshit, and I too hope this loser is done. He's weak voiced, weak willed, and not the kind of Democrat we want in power the next few years.

[Fire1]

19. Good! Enough with theatrics!

[WeDidIt]

23. Reid's office is denying this report

So Burris may already be seated for all we know.

[bigtree]

25. this is ridiculous

If there is going to be an eventual deal, there shouldn't have been this public delay. This is unnecessarily humiliating.

[WeDidIt]

26. For once

You and I agree on something about this issue.

burris had better never expect me to vote for him, though.

Nor should he expect me to vote for anybody he ever endorses.

[malaise]

29. Harry has found a way to wiggle out of this one

It's about the signature. When the Illinois court rules that the signature is ceremonial, Burris will be seated.

[WeDidIt]

30. They won't rule the signature is ceremonial

If they do that, White still doesn't have to sign and it has no effect upon the United States Senate as the Illinois Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the US Senate.

They'll rule White MUST sign, then White will sign and Burris will be seated.

Unless White decides to just go ahead and sign the damned thing before the courts finish with it.

[malaise]

33. Yep you're right

Harry will save some face.

[WeDidIt]

34. Not if White does the end run.

It would serve Reid right if White flew to DC today and signed the damned thing.

[WI_DEM]

27. Did Burris agree not to run in '10?

[MiniMe]

28. Press conference right now on cspan

with Reid, Burris, and Durbin

http://www.cspan.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx

[LibertyLover]

32. Did the Illinois Secretary of State sign off on Burris then?

If he didn't, how is the Senate getting around the problem of Burris' paperwork not being correct? I thought that detail was one of the major sticking points with seating Burris. Burris seems like a decent choice for taking over Obama's Senate seat and I have no objections to his being sworn it and seated. The sooner this is resolved, the better. I just hope that all is done correctly, so as not to give the GOP fodder for a lawsuit or other proceedural challenge to Burris down the road that will cause the Democratic party to loose the seat.