The Trib Goes Off On The Dem Culture Of Lies & Corruption

So maybe they'll lead the charge and do the job they've all abdicated up until now that's allowed this culture of corruption in Illinois to now spread to Washington in the form of Obama, Burris, Emmanuel and Turbin Durbin. All are Illinois bred and trained lowlife democratic politicians that are a disgrace to not only Illinois but now the entire country thanks to the poor vetting of Obama by the media in the first place.

So if the media belatedly gets to work on Blagojevich and Burris they will in turn bring down Obama and we can then proceed to remove the mistake and really begin to talk about change and hope as he's obviously the king of liars on this list even though they still lay off him for the most part, the others will take him down.

The silence of the Dems --

chicagotribune.com: "By what he said and what he chose not to say, Roland Burris lied his way into the United States Senate. Our questions, then, for leaders of Burris' Democratic Party:

Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Harry Reid, Mayor Richard Daley, Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias—what's your moral calculus here?

• Do you think it's acceptable for someone to take a Senate seat by lies of commission and of omission? That is, by saying what isn't true—and by declining to say what is?

• Are you comfortable having Burris represent the people of this state—people who wouldn't trust him if he said in a sworn affidavit that the Earth is round?"

• At the time of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's downfall, we heard many of you comment publicly on the need for more ethical government and politics in Illinois. Have you re-read your words lately? Did you mean them?

• Burris, who says he has "absolutely nothing to hide," in fact is hiding behind the excuse of "an ongoing investigation." But a perjury investigation in Springfield, and some Ethics Committee interest from a U.S. Senate that last expelled members for sympathizing with Civil War rebels, doesn't entitle the rest of you to avoid telling Burris to quit. Or do you think it does?

• Your bottom line question here isn't whether you think Burris should be prosecuted or expelled. Your bottom line question is this: Should Roland Burris resign from the Senate seat?

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No, you don't need more time to study the evidence, all of which is in writing or has been transcribed; millions of us in Illinois have taken time to study the evidence. Nor do you need to hear more of what Sen. Burris has to say about all of this; he has said plenty. Nor does anyone care whether you have a long friendship with him; that's irrelevant. Don't even try to creep out of those three basement windows.

A handful of your fellow Democrats already have stepped forward—at some risk to their political ambitions—to state the obvious: Burris has to go. Now.

U.S. Reps. Phil Hare of Rock Island and Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, we salute you. State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg and state Rep. Lou Lang, assistant majority leaders in the Illinois legislature, good for you. Reps. Susana Mendoza of Chicago and Linda Chapa LaVia of Aurora, this is the sort of courage-of-the-moment—when so many leading voices of your party remain timid and silent—that voters will remember.

On Thursday, state Comptroller Dan Hynes joined the call for resignation: "As a government leader and civil rights trailblazer, Sen. Burris has served the state of Illinois and the nation honorably for many decades. He should do so again."

Schakowsky offers a novel approach. She says the 17th Amendment to the Constitution gives the governor the power to rescind a Senate appointment. She wants Quinn to call a special election now.

How about the rest of the Illinois members of the U.S. House? Do you want Burris to remain in the Illinois congressional delegation? If you've said he should go, we've missed it. Should he?

And the members of the Illinois House and Senate, particularly state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, chair of the Illinois House impeachment panel. Given that Burris deceived the committee, should he resign?

No, we haven't forgotten the leading Democrat from Illinois, President Barack Obama. We understand why a president doesn't want to get immersed in back-home politics. But during his Senate days, Obama was his party's designated spokesman on ethics matters. He campaigned on a vow to bring a higher level of ethics to Washington. Here is a critical ethics case, Mr. President.

Folks, the people of Illinois, the people of this country, are watching and waiting. They saw each of you on national television during the Blagojevich fiasco. Now you're ringside at the Burris fiasco. The longer you tolerate this, the more you own it.

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