CNN

@Matt January 7th, 2009 2:35 pm ET
I'll lose a little respect for the Senate Democrats if they cave in and seat Burris****By law they can't refuse to seat him ....Blagojevich. is still Gov and by law he has the right to make an appointment ......he should have been impeached by the state of ill......Where is Fitzgerald
Reid made a statement on meet the press Burris would not be seated...... by law they had no choice

This really is not complicated. Blago is the sitting governor and has full legal authority to act on his responsibilities as governor. The dems had only two choices – call for a special election or impeach. They did neither. Their mistake.

Darn right he called their bluff...and they fell for it hook line and sinker. This whole episode is a joke!

I'm beginning to like Blagojevich. He has a spine, something that the Democrats lack.

'taint no fool like Reid and the rest of the bums.

But in the end, all the residents of Illinois are the real fools (I count myself in this mess), we keep electing the scum.

THE APPOINTMENT OF BURRIS IS LEGAL...PERIOD!!!!!!!!. The Democratic Senators should cease in their efforts to inpede Blagos appointment. However they can't because they risk losing credibility.

They essentially tried to make an argument against Blago's appointment on legal grounds when this was really a ethical issue. From a legal prospective, Blago did nothing wrong, however some may argue that his actions were certainly unethical.

The problem with this whole thing is that Patrick Fitzgerald acted prematurely. Why was he in a rush to arrest Blago? If he would have waited, he probably would have attained enough legally substantive evidence to charge Blago. But since he did'nt, and the Dems reacted, we have to watch them "save face".

Here's the real problem here – Blagojevich is still the governor of Illinois, and as such his position is to appoint the Senator's replacement. Is Blagojevich guilty? We don't know yet, though I'm sure of it, so until he is impeached, tried and found guilty, he has the duty to carry out this appointment.

Further complicating this is the fact that Burris is a good man and a great politician. He has a clean record of accomplishment with no controversey, either!!!

Anything that can screw up those democrat leaders' plans is okay with me. Congratulations, Gov Blago, ya done good!

The Democratic leadership needs to show some intestinal fortitude. I hope they have it in them...I have my doubts.

Seat the guy and let the people decide in 2010 if they want to keep him. So far the people of IL have always said no to Burris when ever he runs for a national office. Clearly he is more concerned with his ego then what is best for the state and the country. If any evidence comes out that Burris had any "pay to play" then burn Burris big time.

I won. Hee hee...

I say again Blagojevich is a stupid man for trying to sell The President Elects old seat but I have to give him credit for the Burris move. He got balls.

so you were just bluffing, wasting more of taxpayers money.

No, Blago's the one that's bluffing, so the senate dems need to call HIS bluff... how is it possible that they can't see that?

Senator Burris looks like he could do a better job than silly old Reid!

SENATOR BURRIS SHOULD BE SEATED!

He called the bluff and raised you one!

Harry please don't seat him.

This is very bad. Blag basically proved that the Senate is totally powerless to do anything at all to block corruption. Basically, that the Senate is worthless to police its own ranks.

This needs to change.

You cant be serious. How in the world to you play this kinds of games. Does the Senate really see this as a joke of some sort?!!!!

Brent... guess what... decisions like that are made on election day. You dummies in Illinois voted for Blago to begin with and now you are stuck with him and whatever decisions he makes until he resigns, is convicted, or someone else is elected governor. Same with Burris now....he's your Senator. You get to keep him until election day in 2010. The rest of us can only hope you make more prudent decisions about who your statewide elected officials are than you have made in recent years.

Yes, Blago correctly guessed that Senate Democrats would be spineless jellyfish easily cowed by ridiculous claims of racist motivations.

I also would have taken that bet. I could probably make millions playing poker with Reid and Durbin.

Yeah, he called your bluff and now you all look the like bigger fools than you did before. Score one for Obama's former candidate of choice ( the gov) and zero for the Obama camp. I hope this isn't a sign of what is to come.

Unfortunately, Blago is still the governor...and the governor appoints the senate seat. Rules are rules kids...whether we like it or not

To brent scott: You are acitizen of the united states and live in chicago

Duh

Hey, wait a minute. They can't let him have that seat like that. I paid a good five million dollars to make sure my kid got it. I want my money back! That was my kid's seat! I bought it fair and square!

@ mike

The only people who look like fools here are the ones who believe the media's hyped-up nonsense that this is a big deal. White had no authority to refuse signing and the Sec. of the senate had no authority to seat Burris without the signature. Burris will go get a court order forcing White to sign and it'll be over. It literally is a non-story, but the media has to sell its advertising by getting you to come here to click on stories.

Well even if he is seated, that doesn't mean that they have to "acknowledge" him or anything on the floor...he will be ineffective as a senator and is just an opportunist...any REAL decent person would not have wanted a nomination given to them by someone under FEDERAL CORRUPTION investigation...

Clearly Gov. Blagojevich is within his authority as Governor of Illinois to appoint Mr. Burris to the Senate, but considering the circumstances of his indictment on federal corruption charges, Mr. Burris goes into a Senate which will view him within this light, and he will have little to no influence over his colleagues – I do not think the people of Illinios will be well served in this situation. Also, the manner of Mr. Burris' arrogant approach to claiming the seat will not make him any friends, further negatively impacting his effectiveness – what a mess.

Thank you American media for making a mountain out of a molehill. This is a NON-ISSUE. Nobody has acted inappropriately except for Secretary of State White.

CNN, why does the appointment of Mr. Burris and the related questions surrounding whether he is seated, a circus.? I wonder why you chose to use such demeaning langauge in this situation. I think you should be more demeaning towards isreal, the people who stole a country. That is what is outrageous. Since the USA like them so much, bring them here and relocate them to Montana, utah or one of the other low populated states.

I find this situation inhumane, 3 jews are killed after hundreds of bombs are hurled at them, and they react by killing hundreds of the palts, including women and childrens.

What a world. The bible that the todays jews stole from fork lore and what they could make up is not about them. The middle east and africa peoples didnot and donot look like these jews.

Talk about a made up bag of lies. They want to be in the middle east to get at all the history and riches it offers.

Burris is an opportunist. I don't trust him no matter what his record is.

We have enough full of themselef types in the Senate, perhaps someone with a bit of humility would be better.

Hypocrits! Harry Ried is a lying two-faced dog! He contacted the Illinois Secretary of State and asked that the certificate not be signed and now he is acting like his hands are CLEAN!

Further the Rules of the Senate indicate that the certificate does not have to be signed - it is only a matter of recordkeeping.

They can seat Burris now and sign that stupid piece of paper later.

Besides, everyone is America knows Burris because he has been on television and that stupid piece of paper is irrelevant!

Liars, thieves, the lot of them in the SENATE. They embraced a sex predicator, a six time convicted felon, etc., but refuse this man?! We need to vote them all out of office and start with a new batch of crooks.

I'll lose a little respect for the Senate Democrats if they cave in and seat Burris.

Maybe they have to seat him, but why can’t they then just impeach him. Senators do have the power to do that. They could impeach him for the cloud of impropriety that surrounded the IL appointment process and Burris’ obstinate and reckless attitude in exploiting the situation.

Burris has for some reason been able to make a completely technical argument (the governor appointed him and he meets the minimum requirements to serve), with seemingly no regard for the actual events surrounding the appointment.

By Burris’ simplistic logic, the governor could’ve appointed ANY 30 year old, IL resident, who’s a U.S. citizen – from a drunken ex-con to someone who actually benefitted from Blagojevich’s crooked pay-to-play system…

The Senate shouldn’t stand for this and I hope they don’t cower to this distracting power play made by an ego-maniac with nothing to lose (and carried out by another ego-maniac who should, but doesn’t seem to, know better).

Unfortunately for Burris, the Senators refuse to seat him.

He needs to go back to Blagojevich and get his money back for the Senate seat!

seat the man, we cannot change the rules of law. there are a lot of people I dont like and a lot of rules that arent fair, the governer is still the governer and he made the appointment and in two years the people of Illinios can fix the problem. the consititution is clear let follow it .

Reid and Durbin are blundering buffoons!

Blago is no worse than PEBO who bought his election and is now attempting to perfume the cesspool stench of his Chicago roots!

Mr. Flint's industry's only positive is that it shows the United States is serious about free speech. At the same time his industry speaks to the lowest element of our society therefore, why would any moral person want to give this request any attention.

1. White had no authority to refuse signing.

2. The Secretary of the Senate had no authority to certify Burris' credentials and seat him without the signature.

3. Burris will obtain a writ of mandamus from a court ordering White to sign the credentials.

4. The Secretary of the Senate will then certify Burris' seat once White signs the credentials.

It's not a big deal, not a big conspiracy and, in reality, nobody has defied the law or the rules and regulations except White. Even Blago acted within his authority, despite the corruption charges. This is all the media making a mountain out of a molehill.

"went out of their way, unsolicited, to note this matter was not about race"

Well in politics-speak that means it is ALL about race. Emboldened by Obama's use of the race card to avoid hard critisism, other politicians will follow his lead.

The rules are now clear – the race card trumps the DNC power broker card.

Wouldn't it honor the AA heritiage in this country to have AA politicians who have actual strength and character, instead of whining and posturing and threatening?

Perhaps he called Reid's bluff, but it was hardly reckless. Blagojevich, a man of little honor, honored his constitutional responsibility to name a successor to the President-elect. Had he failed to do so, he would have been in violation of his constitutional duties. I'd imagine that such a violation would be an impeachable offense. It's Reid who was reckless by making a blanket statement when there was no reason to do so.

Hurry up and send Blago packing already, geesh!

Blago has made the Senate Dems look like fools.

Why is Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader????

If Illinois politicians had not played their usual game of under-the-tablepolitics, this would not have happened. Thought needed to be given to possible Blagojevich moves and quick action was required. But, Illinois politicians spent too much time hemming and hawing and giving interviews to the media to take any positive action. Thanks to them Illinois looks like a state of fools!

Dems should be very careful or the next time Repubs are in the majority, if ever, you might find them refusing to seat dully elected Dems. This could set a very bad precedent.

Now that the Dems are incharge, I hope this will not be their style. The style of jumping to the wrong decisions before even analyzing the subject. Hope they follow the simple phrase of "LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP". We cannot take another set of the Bush style. America is expecting good Mr Dems.

The obvious stupidity of our Congressional leaders has been well demonstrated by their attempt to deny a Senate seat to Burris, of Illinois. If our leaders are so dumb that they can't understand the law or the Constitution it is no wonder our country is facing economic disaster. And these are the guys who, with their Wall Street buddies, got the country into this mess and they are going to develop solutions to correct our economic problems? God save the state!

well, "Blag" is still the Governor and until he is proven guilty, then he is still able to function as a Governor. At least he put a decent man into that position.

PELOSI,,,,,,,,,,,,,,REID,,,,,,,,,,,,,ARE,,,,,,,,,,,,RACISTS

Even though this article has nothing to do with Republicans, ignorant anti-Republican remark from "Proud American" in 3... 2... 1...

The Dems will push to have Burris seated. They don't want a special election that a Rep. could win.

You gotta give Blago some kudos. He outwitted these guys. They tried to knock him out, but he jabbed right back.

Sorry Brent but it does not appear that the dems can do much about Burris that arrogant Blagojevich tied their hands and consitutionally they have to seat Burris. I say seat him already and let the circus show end already.

Looks like the entire Democratic Party has been outsmarted by a wackjob of a governor. Gotta love it

Harry Reid just got punked by the worst govenor in the country. He should do himself and Senate Democrats and step down immediately as majority leader. While I think that Bush is the worst president we ever had, Reid surely must be in the running for the worst Senate Majority ever!

Countries have citizens while states and cities have residents. Love those Chicago public schools..., change you can believe in.

I live in Illinois. I am Independent but lean left, and I want Blago impeached. He was elected and re-elected by Cook county – not the rest of us. He has lied to us on many issues. He recently closed many of our state parks and historical sites. He has been completely self-serving since he took office. Impeach Blago and let the Lt. governor take over and appoint Obama's replacement.

Funny how Harry Reid, the worse Senate leader in American history, is so unselfishly instance about Bush being worst ever..

Ya, he did! Now, just bite it and seat the guy!

"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich “called our bluff” in appointing someone over their objections"

The State Governor has never had to please Congress; the representative of a State is a State matter. All this shows is that teh Senate itself is corrupt if it tried to influence the selection of a State representative. Basically that would make them as bad as what they accused Blagojevich of doing...

Reid seems to be showing a shot from the hip mentality and seems to be on one big ego trip. He has a lot of responsibilty and I think before he stated a Blagojevich appointment would not be seated it would have been wise to check the law. As long as the state law has not been violated Reid would have no grounds not to seat Burris or any other appointee by Blagojevich. It was not a Federal issue in debate and therefore a Federal Senators objection was moot. I hope he has a better understanding of his proper place and authority in the future. Don't get me wrong, I think if Burris were a man of honor then he would never have accepted an appointment from a governor under investigation for that very position he would be appointed to. The fact remains Reids comment step outside and beyond his ability to lawfully do what he suggested he would do and that is not seat a Blagojevich appointment.

Burris is so "hungry" for a political post he could have promised anything to Gov. Blago.

Looks like we may eat this one.

This is truly becoming more ridiculous as the days go by. While all the attention is on Burris, Blagojevich is laughing this tail off and getting away all sorts of mess and all of this because Fitzgerald did not do a good enough job in trapping the mouse. Because of this, I hope Burris is seated and maybe just maybe next time they will do a better job in handling things. I can think of bigger fish that need to be fried yet Reid is solely concentrating on something that will ultimately be out of his hands. Personally, I would have liked to see him deal with Joe Lieberman with some balls!

My prediction, Jesse White signs the certificate of appointment late on Friday, after the news cycle.

What happened to holding an election and what happened to Obama saying no one appointed by Blago should be seated?

Change we can all laugh very hysterically at.

What a joke, and the joke is on the citizens of this country.

I think what happen to Burris yesterday was a disgrace by Reid. They made up that lie that Burris paperwork was not in order, what a darn shame that we have people like Reid in the positon he is in. I saw Reid on meet the press last week and he has got to big for his pant, his head is bigger than it should be.

Why do we bother? The criminals are running our country. Somewhere along the way, the courts and politicians became the criminals and legalized their activities. What happened to the good ole days when the people actually had a say in what transpired within their representation? Maybe it's time for the "people" to take this country back from the corrupt who are using our tax dollars for their own personal gain.

N.S.S. You can't BS a BS'er.

Here is the whole story. The democrats where all up in arms prior to Blago appointing Burris, and got even more up in arms once Blago did appoint Buriss. They said that any appointment made by Blago would be tainted. Once Burris showed up, the democrates couldn't smell the taint because it smells just like the rest of them. I wonder if Obama will smell the taint. These politicians really stink.

If the moderator has any cahonas, he'd post my comment because it is true.

If Burris gets to add 'senator' to his tomb through this political ploy, hopefully someone will also add some appropriate grafitti to it on a regular basis.

BURRIS IS SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS BECAUSE BLAGO MADE HIM THE BAIT.

As a citizen of Chicago, I DO NOT WANT BURRIS TO BE SEATED! PERIOD!

So, the Dems are going to not keep their word to the American people about not seating a crook's appointee. Why am I *so* not shocked? Perhaps because the crooks in Washington like other crooks, and want the American people to be the shills.

Ahh, the smell of Liberal hypocracy in the afternoon.

I would say that the recklessness came from the democratic leadership, not Blagojevich.