DISQUS

wearing out my F key · 11 months ago

"There's more to an individual than the color of their skin or their sexual orientation."

you mean like having a long and honorable record of public service?

Rob Mule · 11 months ago

Are you sure the subject of this post doesn’t reflect your veiled pro-Greek agenda, John? ;-)

OT-What awful questions in the just concluded 2nd briefing with Press Secretary Gibbs..."Is the President aware...?"; "What's the President's mindset?" and, perhaps most stupid of all, "Is the President concerned about the automobile industry?"
Here's one I just thought up...When do reporters engage their ears?
Or, maybe more seriously, when will reporters grow up and ask relevant questions that might help illuminate issues and not merely further GOP spin and the faux confrontation ratings-starved nooz executives salivate for?

Older_Wiser · 11 months ago

Good grief, the racism in that post--as if white politicians of both parties haven't been involved in corruption for the last couple of centuries, much of it having to do with keeping black folks out of politics.

If you have proof that Burris is "corrupt" you should post that. Does Jefferson really have anything to do with Burris?

sherifffruitfly · 11 months ago

An excellent post to build bridges with, between gay folks and black folks.

I especially love how it follows hard on the heels of white gay folks just flat-out lying, and blaming the California Bigot Amendment on black folks.

And then today their own gay white leadership acknowledged fucking shit up with the CBA:

http://wockner.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-on-8-we-...

This quote is quite choice:

"Communities of color made gestures to the No on 8 campaign to help and they were not well-received -- Latino groups and some black groups," he said. "I don't think we took full advantage of the blogosphere or the ethnic press and those are very, very powerful today."

Fucking liars.

But yah, John - you keep on bitching about black folks. Maybe you'll get to run the next iteration of the campaign.

ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith) · 11 months ago

I hear what you're saying John, and you are 100% right, but Burris is a big old problem. The problem is, on paper he's actually a really good choice and aside from the guy who chose him, I can't think of a reason why the CBC WOULDN'T support him. I am with you on the Jefferson thing, as a black man I was especially offended by the level of stupidity displayed in that little escapade, seeing as how few black Senators and Reps there are they need to be "representing" with a bit more integrity than that.

I'm interested to see if Burris is a nice cooperative Senator or if he ends up being a big old pain in the buttocks.

mona31 · 11 months ago

not sure why this same topic couldn't be discussed in a post without using it as an opportunity to bash the CBC. like pretty much every organization out there, the CBC is deserving of some criticism for something or other, but what does their support of burris have to do with the potential of Giannoulias running? and what does your assumption about their response to somebody challenging burris have to do with the merits of Giannoulias as a candidate? as far as i can tell, the answer is: nothing.

Older_Wiser · 11 months ago

It should be noted that the young (32) Alexi's banking family financed $2.6 million of his 2006 campaign. In Dec. 2008, he announced his desire to run for governor, saying he would largely self-fund a run for that office. So which office is he intending to buy, the Senate or Governor?

This young man's resume is also as thin as a layer of phyllo.

larz69 · 11 months ago

As a Chicagoan that voted for Giannoulias there has been a lot of rumblings that he runs his office a lot like Blago and has his own ethics investigation going. Burris - other than the blunder of accepting the appointment - has lead a perfectly respectable political career. Illinois is lucky to have this guy working for us.

I sort of remember a time during the primaries when you were so far up Hillarys butt that you couldn't say a positive thing about Obama. Are we seeing a pattern here?

lucky hussein · 11 months ago

dig into burris stuff - I read something about a prosecution he insisted on going forward with for political reasons. I'll bet if you start turning over rocks, you will come up with some nasty stuff.. we know dem leaders are too damn lazy..

ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith) · 11 months ago

Maybe there is dirt on Burris...I wouldn't be surprised...but given the available information we have he appears to be a "clean" politician. That being said, you can't fault a guy for unsubstantiated suspicion of "something" in his record that no one has discovered (and may not even exist)..

SCLiberal · 11 months ago

Wow, John, you make it sound like the content of a person's character is more important than the color of their skin! What a dreamer. :)

okojo · 11 months ago

Burris took the seat because he wasn't going to contest it in an election. Burris would be pummeled in a Dem primary, he wouldn't have any money to fight for the Dem nomination. Alexi Giannoulias shouldn't worry about Burris, he needs to worry about others like Madigan, and especially if the Republicans put a Jack Ryan candidate without the sex and swinger clubs baggage, who can pay for his or her campaign

aquarius2 · 11 months ago

So is Burris tainted? If so the why not state how and why he is tainted. Just because that psycho governor appointed him does not make him tainted. What little I know about Burris is that he is a respectable politician, if you feel otherwise then quit making wide insinuations and spit out the facts.

maryfromabluest8 · 11 months ago

Yeah the CBC slam was a cheap shot, John sorry. And Burris isn't "tainted" in my eyes - he is simply a political hack, and not someone I am proud to call my senator.

Having said that, Alexi is a great guy. 2010 is going to be interesting with both governor and senator seats in play and the same names touted for both.

mimi · 11 months ago

"What little I know about Burris is that he is a respectable politician, if you feel otherwise then quit making wide insinuations and spit out the facts."

Burris kept that guy in prison even after someone else confessed to the crime, and DNA evidence proved he wasn't guilty. He did it for political reasons. The prosecutor quit rather than continue the sham. Is that enough?

Other than that, the man's an egomaniac.

eclecticbrotha · 11 months ago

Let Burris keep the senate seat. Giannoulas should run for governor instead. Pat Quinn isn't the answer by any means.

Or, is being "Obama's friend" the only thing that matters?

elizabethcostello · 11 months ago

Hear hear, electicbrotha. I hadn't read your post when I sounded off above, but I agree completely. If it isn't Burris, let's have someone like Schakowsky, who's quite progressive. Or Jesse Jackson Jr., though I wonder if he could win the seat at this point. Quinn, blech!

ProdigalBanker · 11 months ago

Wow, what a ugly little piece this post is. Burris, for all of his myriad faults, was legitimately named to Obama's old seat. It is not his fault, nor is it the CBC's fault that Blago is ethically challenged.

Moreover, considering the number of members of the CBC who spoke out against so many wrongs in the past eight years, from the theft of the 2000 election, to invading Iraq, to SCHIP, it is laugablly moronic to focus on one unsavory episode as a cause to lose respect for an entire organization. From where I sit, it sounds like there are some deeper issues there than Jefferson.

ndn · 11 months ago

jOHHHNNNY....... your slip is showwwingg. BTW, the CBC can never whine louder than you have over the last few weeks. I have a prediction that you will become less relevant as the years progress because you can not hide your "problem". with black people.

johnosa · 11 months ago

so says the man who thinks barney frank is the greatest thing since oprah. was barney frank not the man caught with an under-aged prostitute? so why don't you refer to him as "congress" barney frank? but burris is "senator" because he decided to take a seat offered to him by blogo but a crip-stealer is NOT?

tropicgirl · 11 months ago

It is amazing to me that with the so-called intelligence of the people on blogs and in America, that people so easily piled on the governor from Illinois without cause. Does it bother you that what they are impeaching him on are things that have nothing to do with the criminal case? (Things like getting low cost drugs for people in need from Canada?, which made the greedy pharmaceutical companies mad).

To date there IS NO legal case and legal minds insist that there never will be a viable legal case. So what you have here is a governor who is popular with the people he serves but not with the crooked (we all know they are) Illinois politicians. If you read the trumped-up charges, there is really nothing there.

And if there WERE a legal case, where is it? And why pick on Burris? He's about the only one in Illinois that ISNT TAINTED.

No wonder the people in this country fell for Bush and the neocons, and you all will do it again. Why? Willful ignorance. You should all be ashamed. You should have seen Jeraldo Rivera scream at the Illinois legislator on Fox today about 4pm. It was really great. The guy had no excuse for himself.

Just a suggestion... read things for yourself, put yourself in that position and ask yourself if it is really fair. Then make up your own mind. I am so sick of seeing that hag from the Detroit paper dragged on Chris Matthews day after day giving us advice on what to believe. Just listen to her, she's a real reporter? What a totally screwed up state. I hope Blago takes down everyone with him including Rahm and the other liars. The state needs more than an enema, it needs a 2 hour colonic.

RIPWAMU · 11 months ago

Piled on him without cause? Are you kidding? His approval rating here in Illinois is 7%. Hardly popular. Yes, he once was popular when he fought on the platform of reform. Another of his award provoking performances. There is quite a legal case - more pay to play than Obama's seat including contracts for horse racing in exchange for contributions and all the other items that came up in the 75 page document revolving around the tapes. He is crazy and grandiose.

lpeggy · 11 months ago

How is Burris tainted?

RevDrBillyBob · 11 months ago

Jefferson got a freezer with $ 90,000 in it ? YIKES, where do you get a freezer like THAT ? Sears ? Target ?

wearing out my F key · 11 months ago

did someone fall into the memory hole?

wearing out my F key · 11 months ago

something about loosing the support of the black community...

wearing out my F key · 11 months ago

something about being a big ol' racist.....

elizabethcostello · 11 months ago

Giannoulias would have been a decent selection by Blago had the governor not been so corrupt, but Burris is arguably as good an option now and for the next election cycle, because he is EXTREMELY PROGRESSIVE. Since you are heavily focused on LGBTQ issues, you might want to rethink Giannoulis over Burris, since the latter has been ardently pro-gay for decades, and on almost every issue except same-sex marriage, Burris is probably to the left of nearly everyone in the Senate except Kennedy, Sanders, Boxer, and a few others.

Giannoulis is also quite liberal, but I would rather have Jan Schakowsky, who's ideologically a mirror of Burris as Senator first, then Giannoulis could try his hand. He should run for governor, since he's capable of statewide governance. That's more than can be said for a lot of the other clowns who'll want to replace Blago, who is probably going to be sent packing by mid-week.

scottinsf · 11 months ago

This post makes me cringe.

agentX · 11 months ago

Burris is merely a placeholder- someone sent in to fill the time till 2010 kicks in and the next man/woman/etc is in place.
So don't get worked up over his presence. There's bigger fish to fry.