The Illinois Senator Checklist
By GAIL COLLINS
NYT
“My state, the state of Illinois, has gone through quite a beating since our governor was arrested,” said Senator Dick Durbin on Wednesday. Given the long roll call of gubernatorial incarcerations there, this could well be the unofficial state motto.
The topic was the endlessly developing story of who is going to sit in Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. Was the selection of Roland Burris by the Rogue Governor Rod Blagojevich “tainted,” in the words of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, or “what the Lord has ordained,” in the words of Burris?
Reid was heavy of heart. A new Democratic president — from Illinois! — was about to be sworn in. But instead of celebrations, the days were devoted to Burris developments. It was ruining everything. Durbin could not even hold a party without worrying about what he would do if Burris crashed it.
On Tuesday, when Obama was warning about “trillion-dollar deficits,” it was Burris, standing in a puddle outside the Capitol, who created an absolute media riot, a collision of cameras of Anna-Nicole-Smith-autopsy proportions. He then made his way to the office of the secretary of the Senate, a veritable walking clog of tape recorders.
(More here.)
NYT
“My state, the state of Illinois, has gone through quite a beating since our governor was arrested,” said Senator Dick Durbin on Wednesday. Given the long roll call of gubernatorial incarcerations there, this could well be the unofficial state motto.
The topic was the endlessly developing story of who is going to sit in Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. Was the selection of Roland Burris by the Rogue Governor Rod Blagojevich “tainted,” in the words of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, or “what the Lord has ordained,” in the words of Burris?
Reid was heavy of heart. A new Democratic president — from Illinois! — was about to be sworn in. But instead of celebrations, the days were devoted to Burris developments. It was ruining everything. Durbin could not even hold a party without worrying about what he would do if Burris crashed it.
On Tuesday, when Obama was warning about “trillion-dollar deficits,” it was Burris, standing in a puddle outside the Capitol, who created an absolute media riot, a collision of cameras of Anna-Nicole-Smith-autopsy proportions. He then made his way to the office of the secretary of the Senate, a veritable walking clog of tape recorders.
(More here.)
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