Arrangements are under way for a Wednesday meeting between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Roland Burris, the Democrat tapped by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to succeed President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, ABC News has learned.
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Reid blew this one. Burris is not a bad choice at all. This shows how disconnected the party is and will be.
Reid just unequivocally stated his support for I on MTP.
The Greenwald piece indicates that 70 percent of Americans are opposed to the attack on G a z a.
Talk about disconnect.
I hate talking points. We need a deep discussion. Not talking points.
What makes Burris a good choice
We know that he is just as good as any other Senator sitting. A long unblemished career.
Blagojevich is playing a game, a very dangerous game. He only cares about himself, not the concerns of others. He was charged to care about the concerns of others. That's why this appointment is wrong.
Good morning, Happy -- it's me Freedom.
There's something about Burris that creeps me out. His mouth and his eyes are never saying the same thing. He's bad actor. He feels like a really dirty player to me.
It's a big mistake for African Americans to get behind a sleazy man who only wants to incarcerate more Americans, which is a desire that ends up hurting African Americans more than any other group in the country.
I am praying praying praying that this sleazoid does not get into the Senate. Obama wants to stop the overincarceration of African Americans. Burris is not the man for that task. He'll sell anyone for his career.
is it any wonder that Reid and Pelosi have managed to do the impossible
Have lower digit approval rating then George "I spend like an idiot" Bush
See, now I KNOW I'm right and Reid better seat Burris - my girlfriend Katrina vanden Heuvel agrees.
Katrina Vanden Heuvel should just chill; the race card wasn't played against her race;
She should excessive the same restraint she did when Hillary and Palin played the gender call; she didn't allow it to manipulate her because she is a woman and AA won’t allowed to themselves to be manipulated into accepting this inadequate AA Politician.
Are you black?
Kristina Vanden Heuvel has the people's best interests at heart. Do you think you may have taken something she said wrong? Just maybe.
Mr. Ried, you and the Democratic so-called leadership should step down. You and the leadership have shown your true "Republican colors". You only dress as democrats.
Reid says he's just looking for someone who he, Reid thinks will win the election....
What a lame excuse for devouring your own. The real issue is Blago's refusal to step down as commanded by Reid.
why do I feel that Senator Reid will sniffle and weep as he accepts Mr. Burris as the next
Senator, ' for the sake of the party"..I do not know why I feel that way, do you?
Because he will. And he should. Blago just punked him.
Maybe Illinois should have a special election in a few months and allow the citizens of Illinois to elect their choice for senator? But, since the Democrats are afraid they might lose the seat they are against an election.
It's a dem seat. If Rep want a chance at it run in 2010. Until then, follow the law regarding appointments.
If Reid had fought the Republicans over the past 8 years as vigorously as he's fighting Democrats now (Blago & Burris), perhaps we wouldn't be in the toilet as a country now.
Reid would serve his country and Party much better if he spent more time and energy getting Franken seated then trying to block Burris from being seated. We would like a Democratic Senate Majority leader who fights for his fellow Democrats not fight against them.
This inability to support their own and fight for their principles is why Democrats in Congress have a lower approval rating than Bush. It's also why Democrats just look at Reid and Pelosi and shake their heads.
Blago has effectively paid back a number of people with this appointment, but the truth is that the Democratic party showed terrific lack of good judgment in even how it handled the news about the selling of the seat, how it approached the open seat, and how it is handling the Burris appointment.
All Blago did was leverage within the system.
I see no reason why Reid was even having discussions about which Democrat to appoint. Why? This is an Illinois matter. So long as the appointee was a Democrat, Reid had no business being involved. Period. Obviously, an appointment is a political giveaway, setting the person up for re-election, and equally obvious it is exactly what Blago described: worth something.
This type of behavior is precisely why most Americans have no respect for politics.
So when the Democratic Senate Majority leader actively works against the appointment and seating of any African American for the vacant Illinois US Senate seat it's not an issue because Reid says he's just looking for someone who he, Reid thinks will win the election? For a senate seat previously held by an African American Reid claims an African American can't win the special election. Well thankfully he a Democrat because if he were a Republican doing exactly the same thing under exactly the same circumstances a Republican would be vilified along with the party.
I think the reasoning goes -- you put someone appointed by Blago (no matter who they are) they're tainted and will lose in 2010.
Faulty reasoning, in my opinion. While some Illinois voters might be prone to do that -- I think if you have a kick A senator, people are going to sit up and take notice and forget the whole Blago stink. I don't know much about Burris, is he that?
That said, I bet Reid caves and lets him be seated.
Of course Reid will cave in..... thats what he does.
The man has no spine.
Well score one for Blago. This was a gangster move and Reid and crew have no choice but to seat Roland Burris. This sit down is just to save face. They have no legal reason not to seat Burris and to avoid a racially tinged spectacle, Durbin has smartly brokered a face to face between Reid and Burris.
They will exit the meeting shaking hands for a nice photo-op and Burris will be sworn in be seated. End of story. All of this sabre rattling for nothing. I am disappointed with the Democrats and with Obama who also called for Burris not to be seated. Obama should have stayed out of it.
I agree. Blago outplayed every one of them. Now the dems are stuck.
Reid was MTP today. He turns my stomach. He looks afraid of his own shadow. How did dems choose him for SML?
Reid needs to worry about his own electability instead of worrying who from Illinois will be the most electable in 2010.
I'm starting to grow quite fond of our Gov. even if he is a scoundrel. He certainly has more guts than the rest of that wishy-washy bunch.
Gee, I wonder what old "Talk Big and Fold like Origami" Harry will do?
LOL
I wonder who is keeping Maxine Waters, Shelia Jackson-Lee, Elijah Cummings, John Conyers and the other black legislatures quiet? I live in Michigan and I head John conyers saying they are going to seat Roland Burris..
Since none of them are senators how exactly are they going to do that?
Because he knows what a wuss Reid is.
First of all, those people you mentioned are in the House, not the Senate. Secondly, the Governor of Illinois has a legal right to appoint the successor to the Senate seat. You may not like it, but I'm sure I won't like the pardons that Bush makes on January 19, either. Set in Constitutional stone, so to speak.
Jeb Bush had a "tainted" election in Florida, afterwards conservatives on the supreme court intervened and erroneously installed and seated George Bush as president, where were all of these do good democrats like Reid, Pelosi, Obama?
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ABC News | LOUISE SCHIAVONE | January 3, 2009 07:51 PM