Delaware Politics

Roland Burris is the junior senator from Illinois, period.  He was appointed legally and now you have a bunch of buffoons acting like they don’t understand the law.

1.  The Secretary of State MUST certify the selection (he doesn’t get a vote); that’s the law.  He HAS to sign, seal, deliver and file ALL documents sent to him by the Governor as spelled out in the duties of the Sec of State.

2.  Senator Burris is fully qualified to serve in the chamber.  Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for senators: 1) each senator must be at least 30 years old, 2) must have been a citizen of the United States for at least the past nine years, and 3) must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they seek to represent.

Where it states the Senate (not the judiciary) is the sole judge of a Senator’s qualifications, they are referring to reviewing ONLY the qualifications in my second point. Note that early in our nation’s history they failed to do a proper review and ended up seating three individuals under the age of 30.

The law is clear, now get over it and welcome Senator Burris!

Obama’s pick to head the CIA might have a hard time getting confirmed.

“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director.  I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” said Senator Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111^th Congress.

“My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

Hearings should be interesting.

Note:  His pick for Deputy has local ties having graduated from St Andrews in Middletown - Retired ADM Dennis C. Blair

It seems we can’t play the part of the loyal opposition without being called names on his site.  Here is my gift to Jason and gang, so all he needs now is a uniform and a salute.

New Mexico Governor cites pending investigation of business dealings

Full Story

I guess Carville is on the money - “Math and history suggest Dems will get caught up in more scandals, Carville says”

“With two big Democratic elections in a row, Democrats now hold a larger majority — 340 U.S. representatives, senators and governors. Simple math and history point to the fact that the more elected officials a party has in office, the more likely its politicians will get caught up in some sort of scandal.”

Seems like Senator-designate Roland Burris thinks so. Harry Reid doesn’t think an African American male can hold the seat in 2010, so he wants to pick the candidate himself. FYI, white women only need apply (Asians are ok).

The following excerpts from a a recent call -

“But Reid’s office isn’t backing down on its plan to not seat Burris — and top advisers to Burris are suggesting that Reid doesn’t want an African-American to succeed Obama.

“It’s interesting that all those who are viable are white women and the ones who are unacceptable are black men,” Prince Riley, a senior consultant to Burris, told Politico.

Riley was alluding to a Chicago Sun-Times story Saturday indicating that Reid called Blagojevich on Dec. 3, shortly before the governor was arrested on corruption charges, including the allegation that he’d tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.

In the call — which was presumably taped by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who’d tapped the governor’s phones in the course of the investigation — Reid reportedly argued against appointing Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Danny Davis or state Senate President Emil Jones, all of whom are black, in favor of either state Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, who is Thai-American, or Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who is white.

“If Mr. Reid and others are offended by his presence, I’m left with no answers,” Riley said. “Sen. Burris is a former attorney general, former comptroller, he has impeccable credentials. Why wouldn’t a man of that character be an asset to the Senate?” - Full Story

“The start is not good,” said Khaled Meshaal, leader of the Hamas Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza since June 2007.

“You commented on Mumbai but you say nothing about the crime of the enemy (Israel). This policy of double standards should stop.”

Israel should be okay if they are to believe the incoming President and Secretary of State given their previous comments -

“In a July interview with The New York Times, Obama said he did not think that “any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens.

“If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that,” he said. “And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”

As for talking with Hamas, Obama told the Times that it was “very hard to negotiate with a group that is not representative of a nation state, does not recognize your right to exist, has consistently used terror as a weapon, and is deeply influenced by other countries.”

““The next president must be ready to say to the world: America’s position is unchanging, our resolve unyielding, our stance non-negotiable,” Clinton told the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in June.”

Read the Full Story here - Obama keeps silent…

One thing is for sure, Obama (famous for voting “present” ) is going to have to take a stand in a matter of weeks.  Inauguration Day can’t come soon enough, so we can finally get his position on issues and not the oratory run around….or in this case…silence.

(I’d like to share the following I received from a former Army buddy and suburban Chicago Police Officer)
Body count:
In the last six months:
292 killed (murdered) in Chicago; 221 killed in Iraq.

Chicago…. Who Runs it: Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley), Illinois Gov Rod Blogojevich, Illinois House leader Mike Madigan, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike), Senators Barack Obama & Dick Durbin, Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., …our leadership in Illinois…all Democrats.

Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago. Of course, they’re all blaming each other! Can’t blame Republicans; there aren’t any!

State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in country. Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.
And he’s gonna ‘fix’ Washington politics for us!

Breaking:  Colorado Gov names School Superintendent to US Senate

“Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams said the seat was already being targeted in 2010 by both parties, but he said the choice of Bennet was “perplexing.”

“There are some admirable things Bennet did with Denver Public Schools, but he’ll be judged by what he does in the Senate. There are major issues coming up this year, and he’ll have to vote on tax increases and bailouts. Those votes will define Michael Bennet,” Wadhams said.

Political consultant Floyd Ciruli said Bennet is a risky choice for Democrats, who will have to spend millions of dollars defending that seat in two years.

“He’s the one candidate on the list who has the least political experience. I don’t think anyone knows his views on anything except education. This is surprising,” Ciruli said.” - Full Story

“So after Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their daughters wrap up an extended family vacation at a $9 million rental home in his native Hawaii on Thursday, they will trade their house in Chicago for a suite at the storied Hay-Adams hotel.” Full story link

"Let them eat cake"

The NY Times reports that Blago was turned down last week.

“CHICAGO — A day after Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois appointed Roland W. Burris to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s former Senate seat, new details emerged about how the governor worked behind closed doors to make the appointment, and the United States attorney prosecuting Mr. Blagojevich on corruption charges sought a 90-day extension to bring an indictment against him.”  Full Story link

Also note in this story regarding the Governor’s selection yesterday - “The announcement renewed calls among Republican state lawmakers for a special election to fill Mr. Obama’s seat. State lawmakers had considered that option, but Democrats, who control the House and the Senate, had dropped the idea. An election, which Democrats complained was too expensive, would mean Republicans would have an opportunity to win the seat.”

Too expensive?  You never hear that said here in Delaware that’s for sure.  We have more special elections than regularly scheduled ones.

I believe we can all agree that Blago is probably a bad apple, but can we also agree that we believe in due process?  Why should we allow Patrick Fitzgerald to  bypass a jury and get a conviction in the press?  The bottom line is the Governor made a legal appointment, it would be a severe setback to our political system to have the senate leader hijack the powers bestowed on most Governors.  His meddling is equivalent to making the selection by injecting himself in the process.  Why doesn’t he want a special election which the Gov said he would support and sign?  (Answer:  He doesn’t want to take a chance the citizens of Illinois will elect a Republican).  I hope the other 98 US Senators stand up for a legal appointment and seat Senator-designate Roland Burris. 

If the Illinois legislature wants to impeach the Governor then do it, but acknowledge that impeachment is a political process and not a judicial one.  A process is just that, a process and it takes time.  We shouldn’t support legislative vigilantes.  The man is innocent until proven guilty.  I for one definitely fault Fitzgerald for not waiting for an illegal act to take place.  I find it quite possible that the Governor can get off based on what I’ve heard so far i.e.  “This is a valuable seat”; “I’m not going to give it up for nothing” and “I can always parachute there” - am I alone in not seeing the law breaking?  It would be incredulous for any Governor not to say those things to their confidants.   That’s why had money changed hands, it would make all the difference in the world.  This is quite a bizarre case, and thus a bizarre outcome should be expected. 

Note:  The opinions expressed are mine and should not be construed as those of the remaining contributors as I do not know where everyone stands on this.

Will PM Ehud Olmert blow another opportunity to defend his nation by a half hearted effort?  Only time will tell.

Talk of a cease fire does not make me optimistic.  If Israel wanted a cease fire, then it should have done nothing.  Hamas said they wanted war.  Let them have it.  It is the only way to get to peace.  Hamas must be shown to be the costly path.  

 A Cease fire with Hamas means Israel doesn’t  fire when they do.  Israel must seriously degrade Hamas or else it will embolden it.  This emboldening will cause more loss of life on both sides.

The real issue with this Olmert strategy is that it makes an attack on Iran unlikely.  I believe that was Iran’s plan.

Iran is pushing its terrorist organizations to keep Israel off balance while it prepares the final solution to the Jewish state.

In the meantime Olmert and his party want to give Jerusalem away and allow a terror cell to spawn right in the heart of Israel.

One has to wonder how blind the liberals are?  If the giveback of Gaza went so poorly, why would you allow Jerusalem to be controled by the same crowd?

One has to wonder about the wisdom of ignoring Iran which is calling the shots in Lebanon and Gaza while they build  Nuclear enrichment facilities unmonitered by the IAEA. 

Februray can’t get here soon enough.

It does have a certain ring to it, huh?

The race for RNC chairman has taken an interesting turn.  After the recruitment of former Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell to dilute support for Lt. Gov. Steele, a couple of the other leading candidates ran into problems.  One belongs to a whites only country club, and now another is under fire for sending out Paul Shanklin Parody CD.  The offending song is Obama the Magic Negro which is one song of 41 in the set.  It is a parody of a LA Times OP ED of the same title.  It refers to whites who supported then Senator Obama as a balm to heal centuries of racism.   The problem is the song is viewed as racists by its critics and now Chip Saltsman is being blasted.  It makes you wonder if Chip will be such a great strategist when he couldn’t see that one coming.

Please RNC, vote for Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for our next chairman.  He is the only one of the group to successfully run a state party.  He helped pull Maryland back from the dead.  He was a statewide official.  He suffered in the collaspse of the party and understands what needs to change firsthand. Fortunately its Christmas week and most of the nation won’t know how inept our party organization is, –They never have to know if you vote correctly, Lt. Gov. Steele will have transformed it.