RUSH: I can just hear the chants out there now, ladies and gentlemen, ‘Free at last, Lord Almighty, we are free at last.’ Today, Illinois Senate designate Roland Burris was allowed in the front door of the United States Senate and into the inner sanctums of Dingy Harry where he was told in no uncertain terms what his side of the deal is for getting him seated into the United States Senate. Greetings, my friends, welcome, it’s Rush Limbaugh. This is the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. Dingy Harry has totally caved. Dick Durbin has totally caved. Yesterday and the day before Harry Reid was saying the Senate and only the Senate will determine this and we are not seating him, and then something strange happened yesterday.
People, ahem, began to, ahem, focus on the racial aspects of this, the photographs and the pictures of a poor, bedraggled black guy surrounded by his black attorneys being barred from the United States Senate, an all-white men’s club, and they forced him out in the rain, ladies and gentlemen, to boot with umbrellas and everything else, and the secretary of state in Illinois, a man named White, Jesse White, who said, (paraphrasing) ‘I’m not signing this, I’m not signing the paper necessary to make this happen.’ Today, Dingy Harry said, (paraphrasing) ‘We have nothing to do with this. This is all about the secretary of state of Illinois. The secretary of state of Illinois has to sign the certification form here.’ So Dingy Harry is pretending that he never, ever said anything about letting Burris into the building and the secretary of state of Illinois said, (paraphrasing) ‘What the hell is this? This is just a mere formality. My signature doesn’t really mean anything. I’m not going to take the heat for this.’ Ladies and gentlemen, it is getting closer for Burris, not yet, but getting closer.
(continued playing of song)
Not yet, but almost.
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No, no, no, no, no, ‘almost’ got a piece of that pie, getting closer for Roland Burris. This is incredible. I think Dianne Feinstein’s running the Senate, and she may end up running the CIA. She says she’ll finally accept Panetta if the Bamster names a number two over there who actually knows something about intelligence. Joe Biden running off at the mouth saying they made a mistake not telling Di Fi about this. This is just tremendous. Folks, do you realize what’s happening here? They are trying to sweep all of this drama out of the way because they need the Immaculate Inauguration to proceed as it was designed. This is just great, folks, this is just, just great. The Democrats can’t blame Bush, they can’t blame Republicans, they might try to blame me for this because we and we alone here — I know Bobby Rush had some things to say, but it’s either Rush or Rush they are going to say focused on the racial aspect of this.
Like I said yesterday, I’m telling you, my friends, if Dingy Harry were a Republican and all of this were happening we would have seen documentaries produced by now on the life of Roland Burris. He would have come from the poorest sharecropper shack you could imagine. His entire family would be eating mud. Some days they’d mix it with warm water and pretend it was chocolate cake. He would be entitled to this simply because of the ravages of discrimination, and look at what’s happening to a man duly appointed by a sitting governor and these evil Republicans won’t even let him in the front door and use the water fountain. That would never have been said about Dingy Harry, except we said it yesterday, and today, Dingy Harry and Durbin both went out there and in their opening comments wait ’til you hear how Dingy Harry described Burris. He’s going for the Joe Biden award in discussing Burris. But he said, (paraphrasing) ‘Burris told us that he knows that race is certainly not a factor here.’ Durbin went out, (paraphrasing) ‘Hey, everybody knows that race is not a factor.’ (laughing) They saw the pictures.
Let’s go to the audio sound bites. Here is Obama, who, by the way, is also a big loser in this because Obama was the one that tried to lay down the law and said I don’t want this guy in there. Obama always wanted one of his people in this seat. It’s when Blago started trying to collect money for it that they had to back away, but he wanted Valerie Jarrett in there, one of his close friends. This is the last thing they wanted to happen, but it has happened against Obama’s wishes. Unidentified reporter this morning at a press conference that Obama held.
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RUSH: He was asked about Burris.
OBAMA: That is a Senate matter, but I know Roland Burris. Obviously he’s from my home state. I think he’s a fine public servant. If he gets seated, then I’m going to work with Roland Burris just like I work with all the other senators to make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of the country are served. All right? Thank you guys.
RUSH: That’s when he leaves the stage, when Burris came up. He also answered no questions about the Gaza-Israeli situation, even though he did get into the Mumbai massacre, he did talk about that when it happened, but he’s taken a powder here on Israel and Gaza. Last night on Democrat National Committee TV with Chris Matthews, Roland Burris attorney Timothy Wright was asked this question. ‘Do you believe that the only thing stopping the Senate Democrat leader Dingy Harry from seating your client is this lack of a signature or is there something else? Is the smell of Blagojevich, the whole corruption pay-to-play scandal out in Illinois behind all this?’
WRIGHT: I think Senator Reid’s said just the very same things. I mean, from our position, is that still a signature isn’t even required. That’s nowhere in the 17th amendment. It doesn’t exist. And so Senator Reid has the power and the ability to accept Senator Roland Burris today.
RUSH: And as has been the case throughout, Burris is right, his lawyers are right, they are on the side of the law. Reid is the guy who first tried to assert that the Senate is the law by saying he needed that signature, he didn’t have the signature, the rules committee, so on and so forth, it’s up to us. Today he punted because Wright here, the lawyer for Burris, is absolutely correct, and we now will hear from the secretary of state on Chicago radio this morning. This is Secretary of State Jesse White. He’s on the phone here talking about Roland Burris.
WHITE: Roland Burris is going to be seated, there are going to be some negotiations taking place this morning and I believe that Roland Burris is going to be able to sit with his colleagues.
RUSH: He’s further said on this signature business, ‘My signature on this is a mere formality.’ I’ll guarantee you, when you play identity politics, what happened yesterday with the cameras and the pictures and the attention laser-like focused by us here at the EIB Network turned this around. Some people have told me that some conservative bloggers are upset that this has been resolved so quickly. They were hoping for more drama to go on, and, of course, I probably will take the heat for this. (laughing) But that’s not the point. The point is they are on defense now. They’re totally on defense with Panetta, they’re on defense with the whole Blagojevich — how about the perspective that Blago wins? Rod Blagojevich poked his finger in two eyes and won. The most corrupt Democrat governor in the country, that we know of, beats the United States Senate and the president-select. This has to have been worth it for old Blago. Anyway, they’re trying to sweep all this stuff under the rug as quickly as they can for the Immaculate Inauguration. Here is Dingy Harry this morning, a portion of his remarks.
REID: Just completed about a 45-minute meeting with Roland Burris.
RUSH: Listen.
REID: For me, who had never met the man —
RUSH: Listen to this.
REID: — it was very enlightening.
RUSH: Listen.
REID: He obviously is very engaging, extremely nice man. He presents himself very well.
RUSH: Stop the tape. He’s clean; he’s articulate; he’s a really nice guy. I’ve never met him. It was very enlightening; very engaging; presents himself very well, as though Reid’s surprised. He presented himself very well, which probably means he didn’t say very much and instead listened to instructions.
REID: We have a situation here that we’ve had a rule in effect since 1884 here in the Senate that for a person to be appointed by a governor you have to have the signature of the governor and the secretary of state. We know that there’s been a lot of issues raised as to why we held this up. Well, it’s obvious. We have a man who was arrested for trying to sell the office. Roland Burris, one of the first things he said to us, ‘Hey, this is nothing that’s racial, I understand that.’ So a lot of people tried to make this a racial issue. But Roland Burris has not and will not.
RUSH: And he’s been told not to. That’s I’m sure why Harry Reid found him to be enlightened, nice, and presented himself very well. Reid said, okay, this is going to happen, but here, you are going to lead the parade in saying that race had nothing to do with this. He’s got a press conference, Burris does, at 1:30. You want to roll the dice on how long it takes him to get into, ‘Hey, this had nothing to do with race here.’ And it may not have. But the point is they can’t stand the appearance of it anyway. Who knows if it did or did not. Nobody asked him about this. He made this comment, Reid did, with no question about whether there’s any racial component here, he wanted to get that out of the way first. Here is Dick Turban, who says there was nothing racial about this at all.
DURBIN: At the outset he said, ‘I want to make it clear, I understand this controversy has nothing to do with my race, and I understand that both of you have excellent records when it comes to racial relations.’ So I want to make sure that every–
RUSH: Stop the tape. So we are to believe here that in this meeting that Dingy Harry and Turban had with Roland Burris, that Roland Burris, first thing said, look, I know there’s no race here, you guys have exemplary records on race. And of course the Drive-Bys are in there feverishly, eagerly writing it all down, just lapping it up. It’s exactly what they wanted to hear. Get this out of the way. The Immaculate Inauguration is just around the corner.
DURBIN: — understands we are trying to deal with this in terms of the rules of the Senate, the laws of our land, the laws of the state of Illinois, and our constitutions. Now, there is a serious question that has to be asked and answered, and that is whether the secretary of state, Jesse White, an African-American in Illinois, needs to certify the signature of Rod Blagojevich for the appointment of Roland Burris. That decision will be before the Illinois Supreme Court today or tomorrow.
RUSH: Okay, they’ve totally punted. Yesterday it was totally the Senate’s prerogative. Today, it’s up to the African-American secretary of state, had to point that out. It’s up to the Illinois Supreme Court. So it ain’t done yet. What if the court bottles this up? What if the court doesn’t go along here? I know it’s Illinois and that probably has been greased, but what if it hasn’t? And then Dingy Harry came back and, in my mind, threw a little bit more steam or a cloud on all if this.
REID: First of all, understand we don’t have a problem with him as an individual. At this stage, the process is working out. As we’ve outlined for you, there’s a court case pending now, he’s going to testify tomorrow afternoon, and that’s such an important hearing tomorrow afternoon, because he will be testifying under oath, as he did with his affidavit that he filed. It’s important the Senate get the full benefit of that. When you have a governor that is obviously charged with some bad things, we have to be totally open and aboveboard on this, so we’re going to move forward as quickly as we can, as we’ve outlined.
RUSH: So he has not moved on up. He gotta go testify, and he could possibly be set up to commit perjury. Who knows. I’m not fully convinced here that this deal is done, that Dingy Harry wants this guy in there. I still don’t think they want him in there at all ’cause the secretary of state Illinois, he could be seated today. But Dingy Harry is going back and forth. ‘Well, Senate rules here, but we don’t have any power; it’s all up to the secretary of state. So, you know, we’re not going to count the chickens here until the eggs hatch, and this is an ongoing process.’ But, getting closer obviously here on the surface things. But remember now, we’re talking liberal Democrats. And if they don’t want the guy in there — see, this gives them a perfect excuse. They have relented, they have welcomed, he’s clean and articulate, he represents himself well, a really nice guy, he admitted none of this is about race. But then he’s gotta testify, damn it, what if something goes wrong there, hey, hey, hey, you know, we did everything we could to get him in here, but looky what happened when he testified.
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RUSH: A quick question, ladies and gentlemen. I wonder if Team Obama has talked to the unelected governor of New York, David Paterson, about the whole Princess Caroline thing for the United States Senate there. I mean, inquiring minds want to know. People are not asking too much about this. We’re keeping a sharp eye on it.
People asked me during the break, ‘How come Roland Burris didn’t speak at Dingy Harry and Dick Durbin’s press conference, since he ‘presents’ himself so well?’ They got him out of there, folks, before Dingy Harry went to the microphones. Burris is going to have his own press conference at 1:30 this afternoon (about an hour from now) exactly as happened yesterday. If I were Burris, I’d go out and I would rent a rain machine, like they use to make it rain in movies, to replicate (laughing) the scene from yesterday outside. It’s not raining in Washington today, but I’d go get a rain machine (laughing) and I would replicate the whole thing.
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RUSH: Okay, folks, here is Roland Burris at his press conference. Let’s see how long it takes him to mention that race had nothing to do with any of this. We’re joining it now.
BURRIS: And therefore, when we get these two matters — as you heard in his press conference, uh, out of the way — the, um, signature of my good friend — and I say my good friend — Secretary Jesse White —
RUSH: You guys love each other, now.
BURRIS: — because we are friends, and of course my testimony —
RUSH: Yeah?
BURRIS: — before, uh, the impeachment committee tomorrow to Springfield —
RUSH: You gotta be careful about that, buddy.
BURRIS: — and we will proceed then to submit our documentation to the Senate, and, uh, as you heard —
RUSH: Yeah?
BURRIS: — uh, chairman, President Reid say, this will go to the rules committee, uh, and they will then assess it and let me know what the outcome is. So I’m very pleased this afternoon. I’m happy. My whole interest in this experience has been to be prepared to represent my great state.
RUSH: Yeah, baby!
BURRIS: And that is my love.
RUSH: Yeah.
BURRIS: That is my desire, and very shortly I will have the opportunity to do that as the junior senator from the fifth largest state in this great country of ours.
RUSH: Aw, I’m going to cry. Isn’t it great?
BURRIS: Thank you so very much.
REPORTERS: (screaming questions)
BURRIS: Couple — couple questions.
RUSH: I have a question! I have a question! Mr. Burris, when you are seated, will you be an ‘authentic’ Senator?
REPORTER: — totally opposing you to apparently supporting the idea of your filling the seat?
BURRIS: And, Jack, that you’d have to ask them, because all I know is when I sat down in that room with them, it was if I… I have known Durbin for 30 years, but it was as if I’ve known Senator Reid for 30 years. I mean, they were very warm. They were very charming, and so you have to ask them that question. I don’t know what pressure they were under, but they are august. They have to keep the integrity of the Senate.
RUSH: This guy can follow orders! Burris can follow orders.
BURRIS: They did not want to rush into anything for reasons that would —
RUSH: I mean, that was great. That was fabulous.
BURRIS: — even be worse than what this situation presented before it. Yes, Lynn. Yes, Lynn Sweet?
SWEET: Thank you so much.
BURRIS: Yes.
SWEET: Thank you so much. I know one of the things they were interested in is the testimony tomorrow before the House Judiciary Committee.
BURRIS: Yes.
RUSH: Yes, yes.
SWEET: We’ll want to know what kind of contacts, if any, you had (garbled).
RUSH: Mmm-hmm.
SWEET: I was under the impression that when —
RUSH: Well…
SWEET: Did want to put yourself in play —
RUSH: Can you hear the question? I can’t hear what the question. Can you hear what the question is?
SWEET: — had no contact with the governor? How are you putting yourself…? Who are you talking to, specifically?
BURRIS: Oh, I was —
RUSH: Well, okay, that’s it. That’s Roland Burris, who’s looking forward to everything now, being the junior Senator from Illinois. He’s going to get the signature of his ‘good friend’ Jesse White. He’s known Harry Reid after being in there for ten minutes, for thirty years now. He’s known Durbin for a long time. Isn’t this great? This is just… I’m smiling. I think it’s great. It is. It’s just great. It is just great. Just great. All he’s gotta do is testify, and then he’s gotta go to the Rules Committee, and then the whole Senate has to vote on it. I love America. I just do.
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RUSH: Andrea Mitchell had to be listening to this program today. This is Andrea Mitchell analyzing Dingy Harry.
MITCHELL: Clarence, it was quite a scene still today. ‘An extremely nice man.’ Uh, excuse me Clarence. He all but said he was clean and articulate. I mean it sounded a little patronizing
RUSH: She’s talking about Harry Reid’s comments on Roland Burris. Almost word-for-word what I said.
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RUSH: Well, Dianne Feinstein is now totally on board Leon Panetta, totally on board Roland Burris. But I just watched a little bit of a press conference with Dingy Harry, and I think I was analyzing Dingy Harry’s press conference this morning exactly right. This is not a done deal. He can get the cosigners, he can get Jesse White, the secretary of state, he can get the cordon out there, but if the Senate rules are not followed… this is not a done deal for Roland Burris.