The usefulness of Gov. Blagojevich (who is innocent until proven guilty despite Democrat attempts to convict in advance of evidence) will be soon made manifest when his Senate appointee, former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, travels to Washington and takes vacated Obama’s senate seat from Illinois. Democrats (cue Reid, Pelosi, Durbin, and Obama) will fall all over themselves attempting to block Burris, as they normally do, even when Burriss has every legal right to do so (based on the 17th Amendment Blagojevich is legally bound to appoint a successor for Obama’s open seat), therefore Burriss is legally entitled to the senate opening no matter what Reid, Pelosi, Durbin, Obama, and the rest of the Democrat cadre say… But that is only part of Blagojevich’s usefulness; the larger part of his utility is one corrupt Illinois Democrat shining light on all the other corrupt Democrats (lesson learned maxim: like cockroaches corrupt Democrats despise light shined their way). And corruption in Illinois among Democrats is legendary; or said another way, Milorad Blagojevich is simply a representative sample, no more or less corrupt than Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emanuel, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and of course Barack Obama, who are all from the same Illinois system of political patronage. All corrupt? Ounces of good has come out of the state but it is greatly overshadowed by tons of bad in terms of politics… and this will be Gov. Blagojevich’s usefulness; shining light on the cesspool. I have no particular fondness for Gov. Blagojevich; I do hope ongoing investigation of Gov. Rod Blagojevich by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald continues… said U.S. Attorney has asked for more time so we can see this investigation is by no means complete and may grow in direction. Good. Let’s shed some light here; and let said light fall where the politicians have heretofore operated in darkness. Let us hope peripheral bad actors Tony Rezco, ACORN, et al., get a fair bit of brightness shined as well, for their corruption is all too apparent. Yes the usefulness of Milorad Blagojevich is clear here; he is providing the open door that Daley, Emanuel, Jackson, and Obama want closed (slammed shut) to hide Illinois corruption and as Americans what we should be asking Illinois politicians, including the president-elect, what have you to hide? Let's open the door... and why are trying to hide it? And in terms of Roland Burris taking his legally appointed Senate seat, our question should be to Democrats: why are you all against due process of law?
Jackson Jr. has been cooperating with Fitzgerald since 2003. So much for that "corruption" charge. Obama and Emanuel aren't and never have been part of the Democratic party machine. This is, like, Chicago Politics 101. Everybody knows this. Really, you should just shut up when it comes to Illinois politics, because you're embarrassing yourself. You clearly don't know what you're talking about.
Exactly. I will agree with ITN from a criminal perspective. We have a long way to go to determine if the wire taps were legal and the evidence meets certain burdens. Fortunately, our politics does not have such a high standard. Once you lose the support and trust of the people, you are done and dusted. I think what most people don't realize is that Blago was finished long before this scandal. He had no support (16% before the arrest) and no political allies left -- anywhere. He has been at odds with his own party in the legislature for at least three years and was a dead man walking in state politics. So, politically, the tapes are game, set, match. Criminally, I would like to see the feds make their case and see Blago go to jail. I'd like to see Mrs. Blago go there as well, but she had no public trust to violate.
And yet despite that Obama and Emanual met with him regularly and only stopped meeting with Blago when the criminal complaints against Blago were aired. So what does that say about their integrity not to even mention his?
They were representatives of the state of Illinois. How could they not meet with the Governor and do their job effectively?
My point is clear Matt... try to follow along... if Blago was a bad as even Democrats now say he was, why didn't Rahm Emanual or even, Barack Obama, bring the Governor's misdeeds to the light of day? Why does it take a Special Prosecutor or posts on YouTube or felony convictions to convince Mr. Obama that the people he deals with are crooked? There is a history here, with Blago, Wright, and Rezco (and many others) that Obama has no problems associating with such folks and only denies relationship when their misdeeds are highlighted! Certainly Blago didn't just become a bad politician in Illinois - why didn't Obama challenge the Governor of his state previously on his misdeeds? He's was a Senator from Illinois... he can do that you know! It calls into question Mr. Obama's character; but that has been suspect for quite some time...