The First Burris Lie

WASHINGTON -- I think I had an okay zinger on MSNBC's "Hardball" on Wednesday night, so I want to use it a few more times. Sen. Roland Burris' dissembling explanations of the wiretapped conversation he had with Rob Blagojevich -- the brother of ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who ran his political operation -- can be boiled down to this: the tapes had it wrong."Hardball" host Chris Matthews had a remarkable interview with Burris, the Illinois Democrat, and Burris only dug himself into a deeper hole as Matthews grilled him over the taped conversation. The tapes are grist for the latest episode in what is now a long-running saga about what Burris said to whom as he sought the appointment to fill Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Afterward, I joined Matthews and Jim Warren in dissecting the various contradictions and dodges Burris put forth. Basically, Burris told Matthews that the stuff he said on the tape about raising money for Blagojevich at the same time he brought up the Senate job was just B.S.

I'm not sure how much legal trouble Burris is in. He's the subject of a perjury probe in Illinois over whether he gave misleading statements to an Illinois House impeachment panel. A federal judge ordered the tape at issue released after a request was made by the Senate Ethics Committee, conducting its own inquiry.

I do know that Burris has no substantive political allies, campaign funds or political organization. I do know that he wants to run in 2010 and last week went to see Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Bill Daley, the mayor's brother and former Commerce secretary, about his political prospects. Earlier he called on Sen. Bob Menendez, chief of the Senate Democratic political operation, to discuss his future. I do know that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will not support Burris if he runs.

Durbin and Burris however, do have a working relationship. Each Thursday the Senate is in session, Durbin and Burris co-host the long-running Illinois breakfast (actually just donuts and coffee), continuing an Illinois tradition in the Capitol for Illinoisans in town.

And I do know that when Burris was asked about events leading up to his appointment, he thought he could bluff his way through and give cagey answers.

Matthews focused on an interview he had with Burris on Jan. 16, when Burris told him the governor's folks never sought anything from him for the seat.

On Wednesday night, Matthews pressed, "And here we have on the tape here a long conversation with the governor's brother, asking you to raise money, and you talking about it at length. How can you say that they never sought anything from you?''

Replied Burris, "No, Chris, in terms of that situation, that question never did come up in terms of what the governor was looking for from me."

You see, the tapes lied.

Most of the stories about Burris start with his testimony before the Illinois House impeachment committee in Springfield.

I start the clock a day earlier, at a Burris press conference in Washington, where he offered a totally misleading account of events.

Since nothing in Illinois politics just happens, I asked Burris how he was trying to get Rod Blagojevich to even consider him for the vacancy.

(The former governor -- now facing federal criminal corruption charges -- was arrested Dec. 9 for, among other items, trying to sell Obama's seat.)

I asked Burris, "How were you putting yourself in play? Who were you talking to specifically?"

Burris replied, "Oh, I was putting myself in play, Lynn, by friends from Illinois and across the nation saying. . . . 'You want to be senator, or you ought to be senator,' you know, 'What can we do?'

"My statement was, 'Call the governor's office, send an e-mail to the governor's office, send in letters.' And they were doing that from all over the country," Burris said.

Burris went on tell me one of his Centralia, Ill. high school classmates called the governor's office to put in a word for him.

He wasn't funny. Then or now. He's only been kidding himself.