I know I'm a bit late to chime in on this one, but Rep. Bobby Rush's display over the past 24 hours has really been disgraceful.  Watch his comments on CNN's Larry King Live last night (via TPM):

Rush's racial plea is certainly impassioned.  But it's also completely hollow.  Ta-Nehisi Coates hits the nail on the head regarding that dissonance:

He's basically arguing that a pol should fear the black backlash should they oppose Burris's appointment. But there's one problem with that logic -- Barack Obama is on the other side of the table. Rush's logic basically asks politicians to choose between the will of a corrupt governor, and the will of the first black president of the United States.  I don't know, but it would seem that now would be a good time for Obama to flex some muscle and make it clear that folks support this move at their peril. I really, really, really hope the CBC [Congressional Black Caucus] doesn't back this move. But I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Meanwhile, Burris himself seems to be cozying up to the racial argument after seeming to keep his distance yesterday.   At least one member of the CBC, Illinois' own Rep. Danny Davis, has been making more sense.  From Lynn Sweet's column today:

Davis, an African American, disagrees with Rush. It's not all about race.

Said Davis, "I always said that I don't think it is a seat that belongs to anybody. ...The person should be who can best unify the state and bring back a sense of integrity and trust. ... The seat does not belong to any race or any ethnic group or any category of individual. It belongs to the voters."

Let's hope Davis can keep the CBC from following Rush down this path.

UPDATE: Just noticed that Coates wrote a follow-up post directed specifically at Rush's appearance on CNN:

It is amazing to hear Rush make this argument, given that if left to him, there would be no black Senators anyway. Rush backed the very-white Blair Hull against Obama in 2004. Are these people serious?