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December 09, 2008

Blagojevich

Good grief. And THIS! Holy crap!

What's going to happen to the Democrats? A 1994 collapse re-do? Voters sour quickly on this shit. The Democrats in Congress by '94 were bathed in corruption. Perhaps the Republicans had set new records by 2006, but the 1994 Democrats were pretty awful. Guess they feel the need to wrest the record back.

Back in the day Dan Rostenkowski was the prime example. He was a quintessential smoke-filled room kind of guy. In 1994, it came out that he had ghost payroll and a gift scandal to make Ted Stevens blush, all while running the Congressional Post Office like an official money laundry. They couldn't take that even in Chicago!

Twelve years of Republican Congressional rule followed. We lived in the Chicago area then and I worked in a downtown skyscraper. I knew we were in for a long, long decade during that fall and the subsequent rise of Gingrich. It was a sinking feeling then...

Next thing we know, Obama will be impeached.

Posted by The Owl at 14:22. Filed under: Politics

Comments

You can't paint one party as good or bad based on what happens in Illinois. Like people of that state are saying today, the only surprising thing is that he got caught. And their last governor, a Republican, still has a few more years left of his federal prison term.

I think there is plenty of corruption for both parties to go around.

Posted by Tammy on December 09, 2008 at 16:08

Sure. But the Gingrichistas clearly are squealing with delight today.

Posted by The Owl on December 09, 2008 at 16:26

True. One corrupt Democrat trumps ten corrupt Republicans, so they get a clean slate for the time being. And former Governor Ryan might get a presidential pardon in the next month or so.

Posted by Tammy on December 09, 2008 at 17:30

That is SO true, T. Consequences for Democrats are 10x as severe too. (Clinton-> impeached, Bush-> received free pass).

Posted by deepblade on December 09, 2008 at 17:43

the pay-to-play electoral system itself places such a high importance, and bestows such handsome rewards, on fundraising, that i don't really see what the problem is here. a victimless crime. except that people don't like seeing "the myth of their own great, national, deliberative process" exposed.

pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Posted by Montag on December 10, 2008 at 08:14

To some extent, Blagojevich merely is being punished for engaging in SOP. He was just more blatant and opened his mouth in the wrong way in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people listening. But part of what is going on is Illinois is one of the worst-hit states in the economic crisis. The PBS News Hour did a pretty good report on this back on October 10:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour...

"Illinois state Comptroller Dan Hynes acknowledges the state has $1.8 billion in bills that it can't pay."

This ups the ante for contractors depending on State work and payments, turning up the knob on favors for patronage/quid pro quo into a frenzy.

Posted by The Owl on December 10, 2008 at 11:24
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