It's pretty much what we were all expecting - the transcript of Roland Burris' conversation with Robert Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich's brother, makes absolutely clear that Roland Burris was willing to do anything to get the "fucking golden" Senate seat.
Burris opens the conversation with:
"I know you're calling telling me that you're gonna make me king of the world."
Of course, Roland Burris would love to add that title to this:
From the AP article:
Sen. Roland Burris promised to "personally do something" for Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund while pressing for the then-Illinois governor to appoint him to President Barack Obama's former Senate seat, according to a wiretap transcript released Tuesday.
"Tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya?" Burris tells Robert Blagojevich, who headed his brother's campaign fund, in a Nov. 13 phone conversation secretly taped by the FBI.
The remark came after Robert Blagojevich urged Burris to "keep me in mind and you know if you guys can just write checks that'd be fine, if we can't find a way for you to tie in."
"Okay, okay, well we, we, I, I will personally do something, okay," Burris says.
Earlier in the conversation, Burris and Robert Blagojevich explored the possibility that Burris might raise campaign money on a larger scale.
"I know I could give him a check," Burris said. "Myself."
Of course, it was public knowledge then that Rod Blagojevich was under investigation for corruption. Burris prided himself on being a "clean" politician, and here he is trying to bribe his way to a Senate appointment.
Burris talks about taking part in a fundraising event that the Blagojevich campaign fund already has planned and says he is "wrestling with" what to do.
"I understand your concerns, ah, Roland," Robert Blagojevich says.
"And God knows number one, I, I wanna help Rod," Burris says. "Number two, I also wanna, you know hope I get a consideration to get that appointment."
I agree with Joe Biden.
I don't care who it is, whether Alexi Giannoulias, Jan Schakowsky, Chris Kennedy, Lisa Madigan, or whomever emerges. Roland Burris is a disgrace and I can't wait until he gets sent back to Illinois.