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| Home Front: Politix |
| Tombstone, the race card, and Illinois tentacles reaching DC |
| 2009-01-14 |
| John Kass discusses the Blagojevic-Burris circus, Bobby Rush's race card tricks, and crooks sneaking into Washington unnoticed while everybody's watching the Center Ring. Read the whole thing. Before I tell you how an indicted Illinois Combine Republican boss/Asphalt King and his loyal pork-barrel ally, the incoming U.S. secretary of transportation, are the big winners in the ridiculous Tombstone Burris affair, first let's analyze what went wrong. President-elect Barack Obama and the Senate Democrats could have saved themselves, and the rest of America, the pain of suffering through the political soap opera around the new junior senator from Illinois, Roland "Tombstone" Burris. All Obama had to do was ask his big-bucks Hollywood donors to build a fake U.S. Senate set--exactly like those used by the secret operatives in the "Mission Impossible" movies when they trick gullible Russians named Dimitri--and hire actors with great silver heads of senatorial hair to heap honors and praise upon our Sen. Tombstone. All he ever wanted, really, was to be called a U.S. senator. Tombstone's ego would have been so overwhelmed by the stage sets and actors with leonine haircuts calling him "Senator," that he wouldn't have noticed the 2-by-4s holding up the walls of the chambers, or the rubber-faced senatorial masks of Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin, or that Sen. John Kerry fright wig in the trash can. It would have been easier than what happened when Gov. Rod Blagojevich, facing federal criminal charges of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, decided to play the race card in appointing Burris, just after Obama announced he'd support Senate leaders who said they'd never seat Tombstone. Obama felt compelled to privately slap Reid and Durbin upside the head the Chicago Way, forcing them to publicly scarf down some humble pie after they had loudly promised to never, ever seat any senator appointed by the tainted Blagojevich. Loyal readers know this was the subject of one of my columns last week predicting, quite accurately I'm forced to humbly admit, how all this would end. Now, onto the political winners: One of the minor winners is U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, the former Black Panther and Illinois Democrat who was enlisted by Burris/Blagojevich to play the race card and offer a pretext for the seating of Tombstone. Though a career hack, Tombstone's skin happens to be black, and without African-Americans in thrall, there would be no Democratic Party. Yet the big winners in the Tombstone Burris affair are William Cellini, the federally indicted Illinois Republican boss of Springfield and the head of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, and Cellini's pal, former U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Combine), who didn't have to worry about opposition as long as Cellini backed him. LaHood, who like Burris has not been charged with any crime, is scheduled to appear Wednesday for his Senate confirmation hearing as Obama's transportation secretary. He'll be responsible for spending $700 billion or more on road and infrastructure development. Tombstone can make speeches. Cellini can make one phone call and reach the Obama administration where it counts. |
| Posted by:mom |
| #5 "Tombstone Burris" > is it just me, or is anyone else hearing a CLINT EASTWOOD = SPAGHETTI WESTERN theme in the background??? GUNSMOKE? GRIZZLY ADAMS? since it clearly can't be LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE wid a name like TOMBSTONE [Sue]??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-01-14 23:09 |
| #4 WaPo's David Broder (aka the dean of the Democrat Party): When and if Roland Burris claims the Senate seat formerly occupied by Barak Obama, it will represent the greatest climb-down by an incoming president since Sam Nunn turned Bill Clinton around on the issue of gays in the military. Obama justifiably figured that Burris was not worth a knockdown fight when he has so many bigger battles ahead of him. But the lesson that other politicians have drawn is that Obama may not always be able to count on his congressional allies and they may not be able to count on him. That is not the way he wanted to begin. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-01-14 22:01 |
| #3 Oh, and a e-joke circulating, except it isn't: How they do it in Illinois: Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in D.C.; One from Illinois one from Tennessee and a third from Kentucky. They all go with a White House official to examine the fence. The Tennessee contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. 'Well', he says, 'I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.' The Kentucky contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, 'I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.' The Illinois contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, '$2,700.' The official, incredulous, whispers back, 'You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?' The Illinois contractor whispers back, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.' |
| Posted by: Capsu 78 2009-01-14 18:24 |
| #2 For every two bit reporter out there whose leg tingled at the coming of "the one found in a reed basket on the banks of the Chicago River", I am most pleased for Mr Kass. I have been reading his work for a good number of years and know him to be an equal opportunity PIA to Illinios pols. I have recently heard him interviewed on Dennis Miller as well as CNN? fox etc. I am glad others are finding his body of work. Fir what its worth, he also is a greek who can offer excellent advise on brining your Thanks giving turkey and a recipe for beer can chicken I have used for over a decade. Can't think of a journalist who provides value with cooking tips as well as getting the Mayors neck veins to pop simply by showing up for a presser. I have sometimes thought I would not be suprised to read Kass was found dead in a dumpster some morning... thats how good he is. Bookmark him if you want a great sideline reporter to explain the inside baseball on how Illinois works. |
| Posted by: Capsu 78 2009-01-14 18:15 |
| #1 Road and Tollway infrastructure repair contracts, it's the Chicago way. Use a 3 bag concrete mix. We don't want Tony's garbage trucks to tear it up too soon. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-14 12:38 |