What will come out of this whole Blagoevich situation?

[DavidMn]

Ok I want to have an honest open discussion here with intelligent Ledge members about this situation. I will preface my comments saying I voted for Obama, but in the past in elections I have voted for both parties and consider myself somewhat of a centrist. I am concerned that this will somehow come back to hurt our new president in some way. I mean lets look at whats been going on here.



1. Jesse Jackson JR seems to be more than a little dirty here, allegedly offering or someone connected with him offering $500,000 for the Senate seat.


2.Rahm Emanuel is known for being a hard nosed do whatever it takes to get things done type of politician. Does that make him guilty of anything? Certainly not, but he's one of those people, to me at least, that with his attitude and his proximity to this situation, well it makes me wonder a bit.

3.David Axelrod sometime back I think a couple of 3 weeks or so was quoted as saying that Obama and Blagoevich had conversations about the open senate seat. Now he's saying that didnt happen.


My hope is that the president-elect is clean here, but I am concerned that this might be the opening the Republicans have hoped for since their embarrassing defeats in '06 and '08. I think at the least, even if Mr Obama has done nothing wrong, the right wing wack jobs will dig deep to find whatever they can.

[David]

Political corruption isn't found solely in one party or the other. Speaking as an old newspaperman, I'm actually partly glad to see the current meltdown of newspapers because the management has been self-destructive in several very important ways since the 1980s; but I'm also partly unhappy about it because a vibrant, bristling press with skeptical reporters is the only tried & true means of identifying & rooting out corruption in political office.

As for the situation in Chicago, naturally I hope that anyone perpetrating fraud or breaking laws is caught, convicted, & punished. I don't care what that "means" for the Democrats or the Republicans or the Indies, even. I don't see politics as a football game: my team vs. their team. The team I'm on is the team of the citizenry, which expects (& deserves) responsible, law-abiding political representation at all times.

(Shout-out here to Dave -- Hi, Dave!)

[gldstwmn]

Blago needs to resign and let the Lieutenant Governor appoint the successor to Obama's seat. Otherwise Blago's choice will have this hanging over his head until he/she actually wins an election on their own.

As far as Jesse Jackson Jr., who the hell knows what happened there? The only way we may find out is if Blago goes to trial. If I'm not mistaken, he hasn't even been indicted yet. That leaves room for him to cut a deal by possibly rolling over on others who he had dirty dealings with. From the sound of it, there was plenty of that going on. With the Feds, they are always trying to get the biggest fish in the pond. I don't know if Blago is that fish or not. Legal scholars correct me if I'm wrong.

[David]

I just saw the Blago interview with Glenn Beck on Fox. Twenty riveting minutes, with no break.

My instincts tell me this guy is utterly corrupt. He doesn't answer any question in the terms in which the question is couched, which is of course the surest sign of a liar. Beck was flummoxed numerous times at the snake-oily arrogance on display.

[gldstwmn]

I just saw the Blago interview with Glenn Beck on Fox. Twenty riveting minutes, with no break.

My instincts tell me this guy is utterly corrupt. He doesn't answer any question in the terms in which the question is couched, which is of course the surest sign of a liar. Beck was flummoxed numerous times at the snake-oily arrogance on display.

His narcissism would be a great case study for psychiatry, not to mention the rest of his personality disorders. He seems to think he's some kind of hybrid of Julius Caeser and Hamlet, pithy poetics included.

[Erin]

Everyone here is glad he's gone, but frankly he can take the rest of the House and Senate with him. We need to clean house here in Illinois, but it's never going to happen!

[JWS]

I just saw the Blago interview with Glenn Beck on Fox. Twenty riveting minutes, with no break.

My instincts tell me this guy is utterly corrupt. He doesn't answer any question in the terms in which the question is couched, which is of course the surest sign of a liar. Beck was flummoxed numerous times at the snake-oily arrogance on display.

Kinda reminds me of Nixon. Anybody see Frost/Nixon movie.