This one’s a special for Attorney General Eric Holder . . .
Now that everyone except the president has called on Sen. Roland Burris to resign, Sen. Dick Durbin feels comfortable admitting the obvious:
Sen. Dick Durbin, who advised Sen. Roland Burris last week to step down from the Senate, acknowledged today that racial considerations were at play in the decision by majority Democrats to seat Burris.
Durbin, a fellow Democrat and Illinois’ senior senator, noted that Rep. Bobby Rush, a Chicago Democrat, appeared at Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s announcement of his appointment of Burris and used racially charged language to defend the appointment.
“My colleague from Illinois, Congressman Bobby Rush, made strong statements along those (racial) lines,” Durbin said on WGN-AM (720). “They were painful and hurtful, and it became part of this calculation.”
And note where this has left us: Democrats, initially made (correct) blanket statements that a governor on the verge of impeachment, indictment, and perhaps conviction was in no position to appoint a U.S. senator. Bobby Rush played the race card, and they folded; and now there is a man who lied under oath about his dealings with Blagojevich representing Illinois in the Senate. And Democrats, even though they’ve got every right, will not take any step to remove him from office.
I don’t know, would the Attorney General call that behavior . . . cowardly, perhaps?