Dana Milbank reports for the Washington Post: Senator-designate Roland Burris (D-Blagojevich) was damp and displeased.He had come to Washington to be sworn in as the junior senator from Illinois, but he was cast out by the Senate secretary and instead wound up, his overcoat soaked and his eyeglasses dripping, in a muddy patch of land across Constitution Avenue from the Capitol known as "The Swamp."
"I presented my credentials to the secretary of the Senate," the diminutive figure announced to reporters, and was "advised that my credentials were not in order and I would not be accepted." Still, he added, "I am not seeking to have any type of confrontation."
Of course not. He was seeking to have a circus -- and he succeeded
.
It could not have surprised Burris, the legitimate appointee of an illegitimate governor, that Senate Democrats would refuse to admit him as one of their own, at least for now. Senators have their drivers take them past the security checkpoint to the Senate carriageway; Burris had to disembark on Constitution Avenue and walk in the rain. Senators can take the marble staircase to the senators-only entrance; Burris -- belittled as a mere "regular citizen" by the cop at the door -- had to go through the guardhouse with the metal detector. For Burris, there was no senators' dining room, senators' elevator or senators' restroom yesterday -- and certainly no floor privileges.
It could not have surprised Burris, the legitimate appointee of an illegitimate governor, that Senate Democrats would refuse to admit him as one of their own, at least for now. Senators have their drivers take them past the security checkpoint to the Senate carriageway; Burris had to disembark on Constitution Avenue and walk in the rain. Senators can take the marble staircase to the senators-only entrance; Burris -- belittled as a mere "regular citizen" by the cop at the door -- had to go through the guardhouse with the metal detector. For Burris, there was no senators' dining room, senators' elevator or senators' restroom yesterday -- and certainly no floor privileges.
Instead, he was greeted by more than 100 reporters, who braved the cold rain to stick their cameras and microphones in his face, making it necessary for police to come to his aid: "Make a hole! Leave a path! Let him come through! Let him breathe!" TV cameras banged into heads. Sound men walking backward tripped and fell. Burris himself stumbled. CNN carried some of the mayhem live, with shaky footage resembling a scene from "The Blair Witch Project." Half a dozen Burris aides and lawyers, doubling as bodyguards, made a point of referring to their client by his not-yet-acquired title. "Senator," one of them called out, "this is how Brad Pitt feels."
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