Buried down below, here's Deva on the reaction in Chicago. I'd like to hear more from my Illinois people on this if I can:

I live in Chicago. In fact, my Congressman is Bobby Rush, and while I am not in the "Cracker Ass Cracker" demographic, my family is full of people who are. I've not heard from any who are impressed with Mr. Rush's argument. They don't necessarily feel the "anguish" as you put it, of this ham-handed nonsensical move (I think that we should ban the word "lynch" from politics unless we're you know, referring to a literal instance. It's like everyone being a "Nazi" of some kind. Give me a f*cking break), but everybody knows Obama is on the other side of this equation and that not seating Burris does not, by any stretch of the imagination mean, that a black senator from illinois, appointed by someone who's not as messed up as Blago, will not eventually be seated.

I think the "now or never" race card has simply lost it's bite. Illinois has sent black senators to the capital twice and we're the only state since reconstruction that has. There's no political race panic here and I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that these men will not be able to create one.