Thanks, Roland, for giving me an earwig… Heart’s song Magic Man…

When asked in a presser today how he can be on Capitol Hill and at impeachment hearings in Springfield on Wednesday, Burris said:

Well I am, I am the magic man.

When asked about his supporters pulling the race card he said:

I have never in my life and all of my years I’ve been elected to office thought anything about race. I’ve been elected four times in the state of Illinois and the great people of Illinois have seen the qualifications and the commitment Roland Burris has and race has never been a concern of mine.

When one looks at his Tomb in Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery, we see an entire section as follows:

Trail Blazer

First African-American in Illinois to become:

Illinois Attorney General 1991-95

Illinois State Comptroller 1979-91

Vice-President of Continental Illinois
National Bank 1964-73

National Bank Examiner U.S. Treasury Dept
(First Black in the Nation) 1963-64

President of the National Association of
State Comptrollers 1981-82

President of the National Association of
State Auditors, Comptrollers and
Treasurers 1985-86

S.I.U. Exchange Student to University of
Hamburg, Germany 1959-60

Photo Credit Politico.com Click for original

He’s never thought anything about race in all his life?

That’s the Seal of the State of Illinois above the Trail Blazer on the tomb by the way.

Update: Eric Zorn reprints his March, 2 1998 column regarding Burris’ “white boy” comment made about his Democratic Gubenatorial Primary rivals…

Burris: I look forward to serving our 13 million people with all of the crises that we have in this state and in this nation. And Illinois is need to have a full complement of representation and that’s what I’m seeking to do.

Q: What do you expect to happen upon your arrival in DC?

Burris: Well, I’m hoping and praying that I will be seated.

Q: Have you had any contact with the Obama Administration?

Burris: No I’ve not. None whatsoever. My people tried to reach out to reach out for them and, uh, {unintelligible. – Burris was turning around and looking at people behind him at the airport}

Q: How do you feel about your supporters bringing race into this issue here?

Burris: You know, I cannot control my supporters. I have never in my life and all of my years I’ve been elected to office thought anything about race. I’ve been elected four times in the state of Illinois and the great people of Illinois have seen the qualifications and the commitment Roland Burris has and race has never been a concern of mine. Certainly as a matter of fact, {interrupted to get closer to the microphones: Q: Sir? B: Oh, is there a problem? I have, um. I’m trying to talk to the young lady.} As a matter of fact I have looked upon the state of Illinois as the only state in the nation, think about this, that has elected four blacks statewide. Two United States Senators and two constitutional officers and now they have an appointed individual who is also black as United States Senator.

Q: Mr. Burris. Who do you plan to meet with and to do what you call these negotiations in Washington?

Burris: Well, I will be in touch with our senior senator, Dick Durbin, and hopefully he will have things outlined for me and set up there and we will proceed from there. I understand that he has a schedule for me from Harry Reid the majority leader and we will see what takes place there.

Q: Are you scheduled for Wednesday?

Burris: Wednesday, that’s correct.

Q: You’ve been subpoenaed to appear before the House Impeachment committee.

Burris: We’re handling that as well.

Q: How are you going to do that?

Burris: Well, I am, I am the Magic Man.

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Is it just me or are there a whole lot of those infomercials on at all times of the day and night? Not the full 30 or 60 minute ones that are generally on in the middle of the night, but 2 or 3 or 4 minute commercials on the cable channels.

There’s Billy (Mom, why does that man yell all the time?) Mays hawking a few “Mighty” products Mighty Mendit with Mighty Gemit, Mighty Putty, Hercules Hooks, the Awesome Auger and it’s accessories, OxyClean in all it’s versions and even health insurance. Now there’s the Big City Slider Station. If you believe the commercial as it stands, you just put 5 balls of ground meat on the pan, put the lid on, take it off and there’s 5 mini burgers steaming and ready to eat. That’s the problem with the mini-infomercial format I guess. In a half hour format Billy would be able to actually take the 5 or 10 minutes that the burgers need to cook on the stove to show how it works.

There’s Debbie Meyer and all her bags. First there were Green Bags, then Bread Bags, and now cheese bags and cold cuts bags.

Cathy Mitchell pitches all sorts of handy kitchen gadgets: folding colanders, the Pasta N More, GT Express, Gemagic (not kitchen, this one), and more.

Vince Offer uses his headset microphone to help him show us his ShamWows (you following me camera guy?) and now the new Slapshot and Graty (You’re gonna love my nuts!).

Anthony Sullivan does the swivel sweeper and the one sweep and stick up bulbs. Now he’s doing the point n paint. But I noticed on the commercial that it says, in writing, that it’s got a “built in poll [sic] adapter” at the end of the commercial.

Then, of course, there are the many mini-infomercials for all sorts of products like the Clever Clasp, the Listen-up, the My Lil Reminder, the Snuggy, and their clones. The same woman in the Aqua Globes commercial is in the Handy Hangers commercial. The little girl who is fascinated by the Lord’s Prayer in the necklace is also nice and cozy in her Snuggy. The old lady with the bluetooth like hearing enhancer (Bingo!) is also cozy knitting in the Snuggy, while the old lady who couldn’t remember where she parked in the My Lil Reminder commercial also can’t get her necklace on without a Clever Clasp.

I think all those commercials have the same female narrator too.