Political Comment

I thought I might weigh in on the controversy surrounding the seating of the newly appointed junior Senator from Illinois, Roland Burris. You may be aware that the Democratic leadership has decided to deny him his seat as the replacement for Barack Obama named by the scandalized governor Rod Blagojevich. Harry Reid, Senate majority leader called Burris "tainted." I think Reid has botched this whole process, and I think it's unfortunate that Burris is the one who is being implicated by such charges. I understand why there is concern about Blogojevich, but this pick seems to have been made in an effort to restore something of his reputation-- in other words, there are no evident, valid concerns about Burris' suitability for the position, merely another example of strained guilt-by-association that has become all too familiar currency in our political process. I don't blame Burris for being upset as his reputation is being unnecessarily sullied by what can only be described as the inept political gamesmanship of Reid.

By the way, in a related matter, Al Franken has been certified the winner in Minnesota's Senate race recount, and has also been denied his seat just yet (there are legal challenges afoot). I heard that Mitch McConnell (R, KY) has threatened to filibuster Franken's seating, saying (paraphrase) that the "people in Minnesota need to resolve this dispute." Seems to me they already did that by recounting the ballots in an incredibly open fashion over the past few weeks. I wonder if McConnell remembers something that Franken wrote some years back, when he first floated the idea of running for the Senate. Franken said that should he win, since the new Senate takes office a few weeks ahead of the new president, it was his intention to bring articles of impeachment against G. W. Bush before he leaves office. Maybe the Republicans are afraid he'd carry through on that threat?