Morning Blago bits

Due to yesterday's shocking news that our crazy governor, Rod Blagojevich, appointed a successor to Barack Obama's Senate seat, I didn't do a Blago evening reader.

But this morning I'm going to utilize a similar format.

Democratic Senate leaders, backed by Barack Obama, vow they will not seat Burris.

As Obama said in a statement, "Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat."

Lynn Sweet, the Chicago Sun-Times' Washington correspondent, interviewed Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Chicago), who says he was offered the job by Blago. He still wants to move up to the Senate, but not under these conditions. He turned Blagojevich down.

This adds more credibility that Blago is using the race card to make some sort of brain-addled statement only he can understand. Davis is an African-American.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago), a former Black Panther who has been experiencing health problems of late, took the race card much further yesterday. He declared, "I would ask you to not hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer."

Now that Blagojevich has made the appointment, it's up to Illinois' secretary of state, Jesse White, to certify it. But White told CBS 2 Chicago that he will not, backing up a promise he made earlier this month. Like Obama, Burris had nice things to say about his fellow Chicago Democrat.

White is also an African-American.

Illinois' next governor, Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, said the appointment was "an insult to the people of Illinois." He's right, but the Oak Park Democrat ran twice as Blagojevich's running mate, something Quinn forgets to mention when taking the high road in denouncing Blago.

In an editorial, the State Journal-Register compares Blagojevich to Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight"

They have one thing in common: A desire to shock people and sow discord.

"You know what I am?" The Joker says in the film. "I'm a dog chasing cars. You know, I just do things. ... Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos."

And this chaos could end up in the US Supreme Court.

For the most part, members of the Illinois General Assembly, Democrats and Republicans, are appalled by the appoinment.

Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) exclaimed, "We hate to be the ones who told you so, but we told you so."

But Rep. Mike Jacobs (D-East Moline) will regret making this statement:

I think it's pretty wise politics. I just think the governor was wise to do something. It shows he can still act.

Please, stop Blago from acting.

Technorati tags: democrats Politics illinois Obama Barack Obama Illinois Politics corruption Blagojevich Republican Senate cronyism