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Rod Blagojevich: in ur senate, sellin ur seats
widowson
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Unless you've been living under a rock, it's big news that the governor of Illinois was trying to essentially auction off Obama's vacated senate seat.
Fortunatly, there's no debate that this guy is a corrupt, arrogant asshole who's resignation is being called for by both Democrats and Republicans. What is news is how over the top and bold he was about his corruption.
From around the web:
As Blagojevich put it himself, the Senate seat was “a f***ing valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.â€
As late as November 11, Blagojevich felt that Obama’s people were “not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F*** them.â€
For example, Blagojevich was angered by a Chicago Tribune editorial in late September that called for his impeachment. At the urging of his wife, Blagojevich instructed his chief of staff, John Harris (who was also indicted) to solve the problem by threatening the owner of the Tribune Company with the loss of a public financing option in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field (the Tribune owns and is trying to sell the Chicago Cubs). The Tribune Company’s owner, Blagojevich said, could make things right by firing the members of the editorial board who had criticized him.
Blagojevich is also accused in the indictment of threatening to rescind an $8 million state grant for Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago because one of the institution’s executives would not give a political contribution.
He tried to shake down...a...children's...hospital.. o_O
What I want to know, is how does someone get to this point? I.E. to be such an arrogant asshole who think's he's so "juiced-in" and untouchable that he can do whatever the fuck he wants, even things that are blantantly corrupt and so obvious that anyone with 2 brains cells would know that they'd get caught?
What, Obama's replacement wouldn't be news? This guy had to have known the feds were looking at him for years now, and he jumps off of the deep end and talks about this stuff over the phone? Even the lowest levels of the Mob arn't that stupid and arrogant.
Again, how did this guy get so stupid and arrogant?
Fortunatly, there's no debate that this guy is a corrupt, arrogant asshole who's resignation is being called for by both Democrats and Republicans. What is news is how over the top and bold he was about his corruption.
From around the web:
As Blagojevich put it himself, the Senate seat was “a f***ing valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.â€
As late as November 11, Blagojevich felt that Obama’s people were “not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F*** them.â€
For example, Blagojevich was angered by a Chicago Tribune editorial in late September that called for his impeachment. At the urging of his wife, Blagojevich instructed his chief of staff, John Harris (who was also indicted) to solve the problem by threatening the owner of the Tribune Company with the loss of a public financing option in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field (the Tribune owns and is trying to sell the Chicago Cubs). The Tribune Company’s owner, Blagojevich said, could make things right by firing the members of the editorial board who had criticized him.
Blagojevich is also accused in the indictment of threatening to rescind an $8 million state grant for Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago because one of the institution’s executives would not give a political contribution.
He tried to shake down...a...children's...hospital.. o_O
What I want to know, is how does someone get to this point? I.E. to be such an arrogant asshole who think's he's so "juiced-in" and untouchable that he can do whatever the fuck he wants, even things that are blantantly corrupt and so obvious that anyone with 2 brains cells would know that they'd get caught?
What, Obama's replacement wouldn't be news? This guy had to have known the feds were looking at him for years now, and he jumps off of the deep end and talks about this stuff over the phone? Even the lowest levels of the Mob arn't that stupid and arrogant.
Again, how did this guy get so stupid and arrogant?
-I owe nothing to Women's Lib.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
widowson on
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LOVE IT.
Yes because Obama in definitely linked to this and he is definitely a sleazebag because he was a politician in the same state as Bagojevich. Never mind that Blago said fuck Obama's people and called Obama a motherfucker.
I wouldn't have voted for Obama if I thought he was corrupt. What I'm saying is that shit like this twisted the right way will hinder his ability to be effective in office.
Also I was being sarcastic.
Ah my bad
And his malfeasance resulted in the death of a family.
I still don't get how he won the second term. Topinka wasn't great, but she was a hell of a lot better.
At least a guy like Spitzer who looked like a huge hypocrite acted contrite and apologized after he was caught.
The frowny face gives it away. :P
I hope it's the beginning of something big. I hope that federal prosecutors go to fucking town on corrupt officials and put them in federal PMITA prison, not some white-collar country club under lockdown.
This cycle made Alaska look like a political madhouse, apparently Illinois wanted back in the spotlight.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
He is also weasel and I'm sure he has a history of corruption that started years ago that implicates many. I bet he'll rat out others to save his skin, may hit some of Obama's supporters and campaign members but not Obama himself. This will roll up and down hill very quickly.
Boo dynasties.
Meh, he doesn't seem like that bad of a congressman on his own merits. Same with Biden's kid, given that he's Delaware's AG. If this were a Caroline Kennedy I'd definitely agree with you, though. Being a name shouldn't be a blessing, but neither should it be a curse.
Yes, but they were different governors.
He's in CYA mode, so it's a bit of an open question how much he will be caught up in it, though chances aren't too bad that he will take at least a political hit for it.
He isn't.
That's just because Jersey doesn't have a flare for these things.
Given the fact that it is a blessing, I prefer to curse it.
Ross Douhat, commenting on Caroline Kennedy:
Um.....the indictment specifically says Obama didn't do anything wrong. In fact, my OP has this jackass complaining that they were “not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F*** them.â€
So how is this a slam of Obama? For me, it's a slam of this Blagovich asshole and his unique combination of arrogance and stupidity.
Margaret Thatcher
Most badass prosecutor ever.
Have you been elsewhere on the internet? Even the seemingly low levels of critical thinking and reading comprehension required to realize this are absent in a nontrivial proportion of the population.
ibelieveinpatrickfitzgerald.jpeg
It'll be interesting to see what Obama does with him. Part of me wants him to be the special prosecutor for whatever 'forgiveness committee' might be invented to look into the Bush administration, but a larger part of me wants him to stay where he is, giving Chicago and Springfield all kinds of hell.
Laughing so hard.
And Moniker, he won a second term because of people like my mom, who wont vote for an Illinois Republican under any circumstances. Unless Ditka decides to run for governer this is the way things will be.
I can't tell if they're trying to sensationalize or making excuses for the guy.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
What's wrong with the Illinois Democratic party that guys like this get through the primaries, if I may ask?
In fact, 5 of the last 9 Illinois Governors have done jail time after their terms for this kind of stuff. I don't think it's an inherent issue with either of the political parties, so much as a problem with the Illinois electorate in general.
Edit: And one of the guys who stayed clean gave L Ron Hubbard his own state holiday.
WTF Illinois? Where do you find these guys?
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
You can't really blame voters when you have machine politics. The machine is rotten and serves up two rotten candidates. Voters don't get much choice, whether everybody in Illinois or six people show up to vote.
There was a New Yorker article awhile back that outlined how Obama had to court and make peace with the machine to get his seat. Part of me suspects that he's remained squeaky clean and championed transparent government out of sheer disgust of that experience.
We import them from Alaska.
It isn't just our governors, either. You can't get into Illinois politics if you aren't either batshit crazy or a scumbag.
Hey, hey, hey. Alan Keyes is not one of our guys. The IL GOP brought him in because nobody else wanted to get a public whipping. And Jack Ryan? Come on, who wouldn't want to get kinky with
So you're saying that the vocally psychotic Alan Keyes isn't a good example of how horrible Illinois politics are because he's just the willing carpet-bagger the Illinois GOP brought in after their first candidate turned out to be a sicko?
Like... that's better?
Yes.
He may be clean for now, but he got that position working through the machine. Fitzgerald is most likely working on his case right now.
Man the last time I rooted for a prosecutor was Eliot Spitzer and look how THAT turned out.