"This has — being a constitutional and political science student, I mean, this is Political Science 101 or Political Science, maybe, 1000. The panel's just been terrific.

"And I have so many thoughts just rolling through my head, I don't even know where to start.

"I mean, this is — this is the meat that caused us political scientists to even exist, because you're dealing with these major issues of the separation of powers and the creation of this country and whether or not you want your president to really have the powers that you granted it, and whether or not the Congress, which is on similar or equal footing, can then control or muscle in on those powers of the president."

Can't argue with that. (Go ahead, try. It's impossible.)

And, you know what? That's gonna look frickin' sweet engraved onto his monument to himself.

But have you heard this interesting thing?

[T]he Senate yesterday voted overwhelmingly to prohibit Housing and Urban Development grants from going to [ACORN], which bills itself as "the nation's largest community organization of low and moderate income families."

That's not really the interesting part. Of course the Senate would "overwhelmingly" vote to stop American tax dollars from going toward the illegal trafficking of sex workers and the fostering of whorehouses. I mean, really, you'd just have to be pretty dumb and politically suicidal to not vote against a thing like that.

Here's the interesting part…

Eighty-three senators voted for an amendment from Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., to ban the funds, with seven senators voting against the amendment and nine not voting.

Seven United States senators voted against the bill! And they're all fucking Democrats (except for one who's an independent socialist, which is pretty much like a super Democrat)…

So, you were wondering how the Democrats were planning their spectacular implosion in the 2010 midterms? Does this give you any ideas?

A new poll of Nevadans shows Reid losing to either of two potential Republican challengers. He trails Danny Tarkanian 49-38, and is behind Sue Lowden 45-40. That follows a survey conducted in May that offered similarly dispiriting results for the senator. At that time, a plurality of the state — 45 percent — said they'd "definitely" vote to replace Reid.

This hardly seems fair. Nevadarians sure are fickle, aren't they?

I mean, he's obviously been working his ass off to stay just as ineffective as he's always been. Is it his fault that now he's the leader of the super-majority in the Senate? Of course, under those kinds of circumstances, his effectiveness will increase ever-so-slightly. It'd be impossible to make it otherwise.

But look at the job he's been doing? He's already caved to pressure from the President to not reprimand Joe Lieberman at all. He's backed down after fifteen minutes of bluster over letting a disgraced governor seat a U.S. Senator for money. And now — his a coup de grace — he's allowing his own party to bitterly divide itself and be led around by completely fabricated Republican talking points.

The guy is pretty much supernaturally ineffective! What more do you want from him, Nevada?

Illinois Sen. Roland Burris announced last month that he would not run to retain his Senate seat next year, but in his first television interview since making that decision, Burris told ABC News he could change his mind.

"You never say never," Burris told ABC News… "What I'm still hearing," Burris said, is "people from all over the country and they are saying, 'Don't give up that seat.'"

Wow! That's some kind of Superman-quality hearing that guy has. It's especially amazing that he can hear all those people from all over the country saying that over top of the roaring din of embarrassed laughter.

What Did He Pay And When Did He Pay It: Tarnished Senator Roland Burris doth protest too much. Did the maligned politician pay disgraced former Governor Blagojevich for his appointment as the junior senator from Illinois? Mark Brown basically says "Maybe." He definitely tried, or maybe he's just one of those sketchy guys who comes off as permanently corrupt. Like the Hamburgler. [suntimes.com]

Self-Awareness Takes The Fun Out Of Debate: David Harsanyi tackles the abortion debate with candor and honesty, casting intellectual doubt on his own beliefs as a devout secularist. Which is, you know, totally not any fun. Hey, David — you either love abortion to pieces or you listen to angels who tell you to hate the womb. There is no middle ground. Anti-life or Pro-fanatic! No middle ground! Fight, fight, fight! [denverpost.com]

I know! I'm blown away, too! I never, ever, never, ever, ever, never, nevever would have guessed it!

I mean, who could have foreseen that the guy who was quickly appointed by the guy who was unanimously impeached by the Illinois senate might not be the cleanest knife in the drawer?

But here's some good news for Sen. Burris…

The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 — about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.

See? Apparently, the senior Roland Burris' contributions had nothing to do with his getting the job as a U.S. senator.

Rod Blagojevich simply had a penchant for giving jobs to people named Roland Burris.

"I told him that under the circumstances I would consider resigning," Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois' senior senator and the Senate's No. 2 Democrat said after a nearly hour-long meeting with Burris.

Oh, really? Well, I suppose that means Burris will be leaving the Senate now. I bet he's packing up his stuff right now as you read this…

"He's told me clearly that he will not resign."

Or not. Yeah, I guess not. That kinda makes more sense.

In an unorthodox move certain to generate controversy, the United States today nationalized the Senate seat held by Roland Burris.

The White House quickly defended the measure, arguing that Burris' seat had become a "zombie seat" that was a drain on the rest of the Senate.

Minutes after the U.S. assumed control of Burris' seat, speculation centered on what it would do with what is widely regarded as a toxic asset.

Here is where I would write something clever if I thought that there was anything worthwhile to add.

Illinois corruption + stupid politicians = Chicago newspapers are the best

I ran it through the abacus a few times, and it holds up…

Forgive us for sounding self-congratulatory, but we have a suspicion as to one reason Chicago and Illinois are reputed to be among the most corrupt cities and states in the nation — a vigorously competitive press in this town likes to dig up the bodies.

Other cities and states are plenty corrupt, no doubt, although we perversely like to flatter ourselves that we stand apart. But few other towns enjoy such an aggressive get-the-story-first culture of newspaper reporting. Nobody in those supposed bastions of integrity seems to do much digging.

Oh, don't worry. You don't sound "self-congratulatory." Not at all.

You sound delusional and desperate.