Comments on: Illinois Governor Arrested

By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:55:26 +0000

Actually, while some ascribe too much to The Messiah's Coming to Washington, and even ascribe too much to what may happen with the economy, with Obama, despite his being a Baby Boomer (and not appreciably younger at all than the governor), his career and rise does constitute a break from Chicago and “old Blue Nation” politics as usual, and both he and the Clintons represent some measure of change from the 1930s-1970s status quo. And, note that while Obama has stocked his administration with some Chicago people and with Clintonites, he is bringing in some others that include new rising Dems from elsewhere, notably, for example, Janet Napolitano from Arizona. And I doubt that despite some revisitation of things like public works, we are going to see a repetition with bailouts of the state governments (California will scream once more for money any day now, to name one example), or aid to cities that would represent anything like the 1960s effort. Even the bailout of the Detroit automakers and the UAW has been refreshingly begrudging and in large part merely driven by despair about the economy more than assuming that bailouts are The Answer, or that Detroit = the USA or other misguided ways. (Please note that among other things, the nature of the Detroit automakers and the UAW organization is the same 1950s-1960s Bloated Bureaucracy for which the federal government has long been disrespected and made the butt of jokes and the object of contempt. At least in 1980, Washington and its mindless automaton-like worshipers were taught a lesson. Detroit was in the early 1980s as well, but failed to learn.) I like the idea of some old, long-useless things in the economy as well as in politics being left behind, and if it happens, killed cruelly during an economic and political “winter.”

Already, does anyone really associate Obama fundamentally, much less solely, with the Chicago machine or view him as limited in scope and reach to Chicago and Illinois? (Did we assume that Clinton was limited to Arkansas, or at least that Hillary Clinton would satisfy with such a limitation?)

By: kritt11

kritt11 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:42:12 +0000

Jefferson and Blagovich may be from my own party, but I am just as glad to see them forced out of power as I was Sen Stevens. I have no tolerance for corrupt pols. It will give Obama a good opportunity to cut his ties with the governor and his cronies.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:13:56 +0000

Actually, I just posted some less professional thoughts about the potential Kennedy appointment over at a friend's blog today.

http://tryaches.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-gots-cru...

Feel free to check it out. The short version is, color me unimpressed with sticking a Kennedy in there just for the sake of the optics or carrying on a dynasty without regard to qualifications.

By: kritt11

kritt11 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:55:57 +0000

I agree with Jazz- its amazing how brazen and arrogant these idiots are. What ever happened to running for election because you want to serve the public?

By: DLS

DLS — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:41:31 +0000

Jazz Shaw and others in New York, good luck with your own Senate-seat-filling antics.

Hopefully fluff like Kennedy won't get it, and dirtbags like Eliot Spitzer or Andrew Cuomo won't be chosen. (Both these people have behaved like Blagojevich in appealing to the base instincts of losers in New York, as Blagojevich has in Illinois, class warfare, goodies-for-kiddies, et cetera.)

By: Jazz

Jazz — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:40:51 +0000

It's not the corruption that's amazing to me. That's pretty much a given I think. It's the stupidity combined with the arrogance. Knowing that there is already an army of investigators watching your every move, investigating you, and then to offer up the Senate seat appointment for cash and get caught on the phone doing it? There have been all of these rumors about how deeply involved the Gov. may have been with Obama's earlier political career. Does he think he's got something to hold over Obama's head or something? Or is he really just that dumb? He can't possibly think Obama would pardon him, since that would be the end of his presidential term before it even began. This may turn out to be a really strange story…. I mean, even more strange than it is already.

By: DLS

DLS — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:19:14 +0000

Yes, the current story about Blaglojevich involves contemporary news events. It even includes a shakedown politically by the governor with the struggling Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/200...

I hope all these crooked city and state people get removed before we spend assistance money.

By: DLS

DLS — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:58:20 +0000

Don't worry, Obama will shed this Illinois-and-Chicago-Crook-County taint without effort.

Blagojevich is classic Cyanide Nation, Crook County, corrupt-central-city left-Dem dinosaur dung. Even Republicans in places like that get tainted. Decades of corruption, mismanagement, more corruption, billions wasted on "aid to cities," and what's next, industrial bailouts and rebuilding of real estate and public works and such?

And what did Blagojevich do prior to trying to shake down the Tribune and shake down providers of aid and shake down people wanting to compete with Jesse Jackson, Jr., for Obama's Senate seat?

Typical loser-vote-buying exploiting the exploitable, that's what.

* "Free" transit rides for senior citizens

* Health care for children, not limited to S-CHIP abuse

* Third-world-dictator posturing against Bank of America during the Republic Window protest

* Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera

Look at the bright side --

1. At least he's in custody now, and can't do more, while the dirtbags in New York can still do more.

2. At least wacko activists in Chicago and elsewhere never succeeded with metropolitan area unification (unified metropolitan government), effectively having central cities like Chicago annex their suburbs and placing all the tax revenues in reach of the central city vortex, and placing control of all decision making in the suburbs in the hands of the central city (unified) government. Had this been done, places like Chicago and New York City and other Cyanide Nation cancer pockets would be even more rotten. The position of mayor would not only become meaningful in a real sense once more, but would be more corrupt than ever and would then overlap with that of governor as well as Senator in the form of a revolving door arrangement. [cringe]

At least these places like Chicago are much less important and powerful than they used to be.

By: Tom71

Tom71 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:03:47 +0000

Thank God!

That idiot Blagojevich is finally headed to jail! Probably one of the few politicians to have even lower approval ratings than Bush.

Interestingly enough, our previous governor is also in jail right now. Indicted governors seem to be a common occcurence in Illinois.