Jan 30 2009
Blago is out. The Chicago political machine has one less cog
In an amazing feat, the Illinois legislature ousted Gov Blagojevich for abuse of power, then barred him from holding any public office in the state.
I call this amazing with my tongue firmly in cheek, in that in recent years, Democrats, even those caught red handed like Blago was, typical get away with it by claiming they need to go to rehab or something.
Indeed, Blago sang a great tune at the end of his impeachment hearing professing his innocence, despite the FBI audio to the contrary.
In fact, I will have to say that Blago actually impressed me at one point with his honesty, in a touch of sweet irony. He said in his defense of his comments about getting more for the senate seat1 :
Brown: Are you saying you didn’t say that?
Blagojevich: I’m simply saying we haven’t heard the tapes, so I can’t confirm or deny whether that is precisely what was said, but having said that, let me just saying this.
The first one you alluded to. The governor can make himself a senator.
If I was all about myself and this was about a selfish thing, I could have made myself a senator the day after Barack Obama was elected president. I’d be in none of this mess. There would be no Sen. Roland Burris and I’d be part of this exciting journey to change America.
Brown: Yes, but it sounds like you were trying to get something better.
Blagojevich: No, no. And the other thing that you’re saying, you can look at that a lot of different ways. This is a political process, the business I am in. And you understand it because you cover it. Sometimes in order to get results for people, there has to be a proper positioning of things.
And so when you have a new administration and they’re in place, you can interpret what I’m saying there as a way to ask them to help us in Illinois pass a public works program and create jobs. Pass a health care plan to provide more health care to people who need it. Pass a law which I was insisting on that we can cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Ignore the fact he is trying to spin his comments positive, the highlighted passage contains the reality of American politics: The Political process is all about wheeling and dealing.
But there are political negotiations and leveraging which is all very much part of the process.
Exactly. The whole point here is that he sees this as not a crime because in a real sense, it is the core of politics, and in Chicago, apparently, it is also common.
The problem is that things are not always altruistic. Consider that his former fund raiser was Tony Rezko, convicted of shaking down businesses seeking state contracts for campaign contributions. Witnesses testified that Blagojevich was aware of some of the strong-arm tactics. So again, this is just business as usual for him.
Now, it is over and done with, but over at Hot Air, they raised a slightly different question which was raised by Blago, and is one that I think is justified to debate:
Exit question: Good idea to set a precedent of impeaching people who haven’t been convicted of any crime? (Exit answer: No.)
I disagree. Politicians need to live under the umbrella of perceptions and trust. His actions are unethical and untrustworthy, so the state has the right to oust him if he even gives the appearance of impropriety.
Whatever happened to having politicians who lived above reproach and lived upstanding lives.
The fact he was indicted should not just have been cause for impeachment, it should have been enough for him to resign in shame.
He didn’t so the state took appropriate action.
One last observation. One of his parting comments was:
“There are tens of thousands of people across America just like me who are losing their jobs, or who have lost their jobs,”
How arrogant and condescending.
You see, most of those people are actually victims, who did their jobs and lost them due to circumstances out of their control. Blago lost his because he decided that playing with the Political Process was more important to him than being a public servant.
Unlike you, they deserved to keep their jobs. You on the other hand make me nostalgic for tarring and feathering….
Period.
Buh Bye.
Trackposted to Sister Toldjah, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Wingless - Alastair Crooke on Gaza & Hamas - living in the twilight zone!, DragonLady’s World, Cao’s Blog, Wingless - Sura 5:32 - When Killing isn’t Murder, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Political Byline, third world county, Allie is Wired, Woman Honor Thyself, Wingless - What Lead to Cast Lead, The World According to Carl, Wingless - Cuba: Beautiful Country, People…Not so Beautiful System…, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, Wingless, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
- If I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself.”…[the Senate seat] “is a bleeping valuable thing. You don’t just give it away for nothing.” [back]
18 Responses to “Blago is out. The Chicago political machine has one less cog”
Thanks for punctuating this with the video. It crushed me to see that Steam was lip-syncing, to the point to where the drummer wasn’t even really trying!
No wonder they were a one-hit wonder!
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