Originally Posted By vbdad55 Ohman, if this is true, as it appears to be ( may be recorded from what I understand on the local news here today ) - we may have someone else who get's his in this deal. Remember I said theGov here will take anyone and everyone with him as he goes down. Reid picking out 3 black males and putting them on the No list ( btw- I do agree with him on two of them- Davis & Jones) - then recommending others -- trouble. On TV this morning he tried to dance around it and then tried to discredit Bobby Rush ( alderman here supporting Burris ) by saying he didn;t support Obama 2 elections ago. Keep diggin Harry, the hole is getting deeper. Chicago politics is a be ach ain't it ? (now if we can get Pelosi tooI'd feel much better for bi partisan chances the next 4 years) <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1360191,harry-reid-blagojevich-jesse-jackson-010209.article" target="_blank">http://www.suntimes.com/news/m....article</a> SENATE PICK | Reid reportedly made it clear he didn't want Jackson, Davis or Jones to be appointed, fearing they'd lose to a GOP opponent in a future election Recommend (117) Comments January 2, 2009 BY NATASHA KORECKI, CHRIS FUSCO AND LYNN SWEET Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones. Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times. » Click to enlarge image Sources say Senate majority leader Harry Reid (left) pushed against Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (center), and suggested Gov. Rod Blagojevich appoint state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth (right) to President-elect Obama's vacant Senate seat. (AP) CAST YOUR VOTE Would you support Roland Burris as Obama's Senate replacement if Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn appointed him? Yes No Complete coverage: Blagobusted.com RELATED STORIES Blago loses Homeland Security clearance As Burris sees it: 'We are the senator' Gov. could be impeached next week More from Lynn Sweet's blog Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones — the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama — because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election. Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero confirmed that Reid (D-Nev.) and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) — the new chief of the Senate Democratic political operation — each called Blagojevich’s campaign office separately Dec. 3. Sources believe that at least portions of the phone conversations are on tape. Before their contacts, Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel called Blagojevich to tell him to expect to hear from Senate leadership because they were pushing against Jackson and others, according to statements the governor made to others. The Reid-Menendez calls came a day before a Dec. 4 conversation overheard on government wiretaps where Blagojevich says he “was getting ‘a lot of pressure’ not to appoint Candidate 5.” Candidate 5 is Jackson. The calls reveal the varying forces directed at Blagojevich as he weighed the appointment. Duckworth is the wounded Iraq war veteran who was tapped by Blagojevich for the state post after she lost a House race in 2006. Duckworth’s entry in the House contest was championed by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) with her campaign assisted by Emanuel, who was running the House political operation at the time, and Obama. David Axelrod, Obama’s chief presidential campaign strategist, was Duckworth’s media consultant for her House race. Madigan is supported by her powerful father Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan. A Jackson spokesman said the congressman believes he could attain statewide support. “Congressman Jackson was encouraged that two independent statewide polls confirmed that he was the most popular Democrat to succeed Barack,” Jackson spokesman Rick Bryant said. “The polls also showed he was in a strong position to win reelection in 2010, drawing strong support from virtually every demographic group.” Jim Manley, spokesman for Reid, acknowledged Friday that Reid called Blagojevich as well as other governors who had Senate vacancies in their respective states. “Of course Sen. Reid spoke to the governor of Illinois -- just as he spoke to the governors of New York and Colorado when senators from those states accepted jobs in the new administration,’’ Manley said. “It is part of his job as majority leader to share his thoughts about candidates who have the qualities needed to succeed in the Senate.” Reid declined to reveal the specific names discussed, saying he didn’t want to embarrass anyone. Though Menendez did talk with Blagojevich about the appointment, he “did not suggest any names and he did not discourage the appointment of anyone,’’ said Matt Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee which Menendez chairs. Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on charges he tried to sell Obama’s vacant seat in exchange for campaign funds, a job or ambassadorship. On Tuesday, he appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the post. Reid, as well as other Senators, have vowed to block the move. At a news conference naming Burris, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) told reporters he backed Burris because it was important that an African American hold a post in the U.S. Senate. An Obama transition team spokeswoman would not comment, referring reporters to a report released by Obama’s transition team before Christmas. The report did not specify the contact between Emanuel and the governor. A spokesman for Jones could not be reached for comment. A Davis spokesman declined comment.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 FWIW, on Meet the Press today, Reid flat out said that Blago "made up" the idea that Reid specifically said "no" to those three guys. David G. said that this conversation might be on tape and Reid said he was fine if it was (presumably because it would show Blago was lying and Reid was not).
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder FWIW, if Reid went down I'd be fine with it. He and Pelosi are nothing but partisan detriments to anything good going forward.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I'm not crazy about Reid either, but if he goes down, I believe in line to be the new #1 would be Dick Durbin from...wait for it... Illinois. I think even vbdad has said Durbin's okay (though I could be remembering that wrong), but if Blago's troubles end up promoting an Illinoisian to Sen. majority leader... I can hear the conspiracy theorists now.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 yep - Durbin is OK. I am not crazy about him as I think he is kind of a photo op type person, but he is not part of the low-life group here either. I could live with it - but yes, it will look a little fishy. andI saw the meet the press interview also- call me crazy but he did a lot of posturing and when the comment on maybe it was all on tape (likely it is ) - he looked a lot less comfortable. Reid gave very very specific answers as to examples he is not a rascist-- that always concerns me when someone says, but look at this one incident - look at the good I did -- I believe he would have not wanted any of the 3 he mentioned to get the seat as none have cross party ( or even 100% support in their own party ) - and in the interview he only backed off on Jackson - avoiding talking about the other 2 .
Originally Posted By vbdad55 and fwiw - he doesn't have to be a rascist to have tried to sway who was going to be picked , yes it happened to be 3 black males, but one of the people he wanted is a black female ( war hero ). He just tried to influence the nominee for the next election cycle -- that being said, what in the heck is he doing talking to Blago at all if the senators are all so united they aren't going to accept any nominee. I think the top Dems know they are on very shaky legal ground to turn down the nominee -- they cantry and delay this and hope to tie it to an impeached Gov - but I don't expect they'll get that done in the timeframe they like either.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 My guess is that they find some face-saving way to seat Burris anyway. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him, the A.C. Powell precedent means not seating him is fairly difficult constitutionally (after all, a duly elected governor not yet convicted of anything appointed a qualified person...), and they've all made so much noise about not WANTING to accept Blago's pick that that should give them enough cover to say that legally their hands were tied and they had to do it. Just a guess.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I would agree - this gets uglier by the day and thereis no squawk about the nominee... also watched that Harry Reid clip again this AM - playing here every news segment - the quote was " I did talk to the Governor......I don't remember exactly what I said......." ding ding ding.... sure,you call a governor who is under federal investigation and you don't remember what you said...okay, right
Originally Posted By Mr X I was under the impression that he spoke to him BEFORE the investigation came to light, no? Anyway, watch out for those Mormons. Can't be trusted! EXTREMELY prejudiced, as well! Dangerous folks to be sure.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Hesaid he spoke to him about a month ago..( he was vague on every questionasked ).. the Blago investigation by Fitzgerald goes back a minimum of 6 months - and was well documented. The wire tapping investigation is much older than that and party leadership was well aware of it. He was arrsted Dec 9 -( interestingly also 'about' amonth ago. But the investigation and charges were known before summer ended
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Anyway, watch out for those Mormons. Can't be trusted! EXTREMELY prejudiced, as well! > X, you know I like you, but... I'm just hoping that was intentional irony.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Anyway, watch out for those Mormons. Can't be trusted! EXTREMELY prejudiced, as well! Dangerous folks to be sure." Unless you have some information that Reid being Mormon is somehow relevant here, this was not necessary.
