If you were Harry Reid, how would you welcome Roland Burris to the Senate?

I'd replace Harry Reid as Majority Leader IMMEDIATELY!...He's going to be catastrophic as leader of the Dems. The party has made historic gains in the last two elections..Wherether the Dems have 58 or 59 seats, its still much larger than the Rethugs had after the so-called "revolution" of '94..The people have spoken and put the Demas and a progessive agenda in conmtrol, and have absolutely and firmly rejuected Bush and his neo-con policy... BUT STILL..Reid is caving in to an increasingly irrelevant minority, for what reason, god only knows. 1) He's caved into GOP demands that eric holder's nomination hearing s be delayed.. 2) He's caved in to GOP demands that Al Franken, the winner of the Minnesota race, notbe seated. 3) In his one attempt to appear strong and resolute, vis-a-vis the Bago appointment,he had only managed to paint himself and his party into a corner and will come out of this without saving face. MESSAGE TO REID ...Stop prolonging this distraction over Burris...JUST PRETEND FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES THAT BLAGO IS GEORGE BUSH, THEN CAVE INTO HIS WISHES.... The Dems need to get out from under this BS. But instead of taking on a crippled GOP, lead by a Kentucky cracker who could barely hang onto his own seat, Reid decided instead to take a hard line with his own party.. Reid is simply a big fucking pussy(cat) who is under the delusion that a strategy of capitulation and accomodation will somehow get the GOP to "come around"; and play fair... Or if he thinks that a strategy of capitulation and accomodation is going to get more people to vote for a "filibuster-proof" majority in 2010, he is nuts..By any rational calculus, the Dems will probablly never have the numbers or the clout that they have right now..If the fail becasue of Reid's continued timidity towards the Rethugs, then we will be looking on this perid of history as being a world-class tragedy..A never-again opportunity forever lost.

Were I Harry Reid I would certainly take into account the fact that the current Democrat majority in the Senate is not large enough to prevent obstructionist filibustering from certain members of the Conservatives on the Republican side. Pragatism is often replaced by immediate reactions. There is but one question regarding the appointment of Senate-appointee Roland Burris. Is he qualified? His record shows thst he is. That he was appointed by a Governor, charged with a possible crime, has no bearing on the qualifications of the appointee. It is time members of the Democrat party to stop playing petty politics, it is a stupid Conservative game, and one that lost them an election in 2008 - at all levels. Lee Dimin

I wish everyone would stop acting like children who cry foul over perfectly legal proceedings while ignoring the crimes against humanity that are taking place daily. Even Blago at his worst can't hold a candle to Cheney or even Bush, and the Bush family itself is a crime family. The problem is that Blago is honest about his corruption. His corruption apparently has nothing to do with Burris and to assume otherwise is childish.

I'd shake Burris's damned hand. No spite. No question. Blagojevich IS governor. By law, he is the nominator. Even if he (ethically) (morally) (POTENTIALLY legally) fucked up. Just because Blagojevich has slime on his hands, there's no reason to doubt his actions under Illinois rules. Yet. Then I'd ask the Illinois legislature & judicials to confirm that all rules were followed. Then I'd make a very public NewsNow plea for Burris's confirmation being signed. And I've have my own pick vetted & briefed in case Burris's seat proves empty.

Seat him, it sounds like he is qualified and the senate has important work to do.

Harry could sing him a few bars of the tune, "Buress, the Magic Negro..." (sorry 'bout that.) SEAT HIM-it's the Constitutional thing to do.

Legally there is no reason to deny him his job as Senator and it distresses me that people are playing games with this. Just silly games that turn off most voters.

Blago is sitting there just loving this whole fiasco he created purposely ! I would not give him satisfaction. Harry Reid should just graciously sit Burris & use his energy to assure prosecution of Blago and jail time..let him laugh in there ! One gets the sense that Burris is out of his realm anyway , having previously failed @ several applications for other posts , he may be biting more than he can chew , @ may not exactly get a warm welcome from the fellow senators who know full well that he went from condemming Blago to grovelling to him for this appointment against the advise of many. His ego , smugness & self importance prevailed & may come back to bite him ! @ his age one would think Roland would want to be in a nice friendly compound.

As I started to read the article he posted today I thought he'd lost the plot. But then, as I got into it, I realized that he's probably right. It's a pragmatic analysis of the situation rather than one based on what one would wish to happen in a perfect world.

For those who've never heard of the rude pundit before, go here but be warned it's not suitable for viewing at work (unless you have a very liberated workplace) or if you're offended by expletives and obscenity used for comedic purposes.

If you care not to view it, the short summary is stop playing games and seat him. But you need to read the post to understand why it's the pragmatic thing to do.

Dumbfounded in California wants congress to get on with their important business. Mr. Burris is capable of doing an honorable job. We don't need more political infighting!