early and often

Somewhere, Rod Blagojevich Is Laughing Maniacally

When Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to the Senate last week, Senate Democrats made it clear that they wouldn’t allow him into the club. Nothing personal against Burris, who, considering Chicago politics, is pretty much as clean as you can get, but they considered any Blagojevich appointee to be tainted. What they underestimated is how little stomach they had for the spectacle that Blago and Burris were willing to orchestrate. Never mind the press conference announcing the move. After yesterday’s scene outside the Senate building — in which a kindly, old, and, as Bobby Rush unsubtly pointed out, African-American man was barred from the Senate building in the rain — Senate Democrats have given in. The AP is reporting that Burris will soon be allowed to take office as the junior senator from Illinois. Even if it doesn’t end up helping his legal case, Blagojevich must be proud today that even as the least popular pol in America, with no political capital whatsoever, he has made the Senate blink.

Report: Burris Will Get Obama Senate Seat [CBS News]

Somewhere, Rod Blagojevich Is Laughing Maniacally