Saturday, January 3, 2009

First Cheney-Burress Award Nominee

First Cheney-Burress award nominations! Remember that the Cheney-Burress Award is for "Did you just say that?" or "Did that just happen?" moments. Things which strain not only your own credibility, but the credibility of reality.

Obviously, the winner for my general preposterous stupidity awards simply HAVE to come from the ongoing Blagojevich scandal. I'm limiting myself to one citation, for the moment, from this scandal for 2009. I think it's fair because the gentleman in question is not Blagojevich (who already has an award NAMED after him for crying out loud).

Here it is:

Nominee: Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL). This gentleman appeared on the national radar when he showed up to Blagojevich's press conference naming former Attorney General Burris to the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. While the whole press conference itself probably deserves a Cheney-Burress award (why would Blagojevich do such a phenomenally pointless thing? Why would Burris accept? Why would anyone show up to support it), Bobby Rush takes the cake.

Not only does Rush stand next to a guy who's in the process of an impeachment for corruption, not only does he defend the man who's being appointed to the Senate despite the very clear indications that he will very certainly not be going to the Senate... but take a look at what he said!

"This is a matter of national importance," Rush said. "There are no African-Americans in the Senate, and I don't think that anyone, any U.S. senator who's sitting in the Senate right now wants to go on record to deny one African-American for being seated in the U.S. Senate. ... And so I intend to take that argument to the Congressional Black Caucus... I will ask you to not hang and lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer. Separate, if you will, the appointee from the appointed."

Classy, Rep. Rush. Classy.

Also of note: in the last senate Democratic primary, Rush supported a white man (Hull) against a black man (Obama).

Ah Rush... thank you. Please don't keep up the good work.

UPDATE: Oh Bobby Rush. Must you compare Harry Reid to George Wallace?