Meanwhile, Illinois is PLUNGING INTO CHAOS:
Illinois plunged deeper into turmoil Friday over disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich as the attorney general asked the state’s highest court to strip the governor of his powers, billions of dollars in bills went unpaid and lawmakers moved closer to impeaching the scandal-plagued politician.
But Blagojevich showed no sign of backing down. He took time to pray with ministers at his home and signed a bill that extends insurance coverage for autistic kids, sending a sign to his critics that he’s still in charge.
That’s a worthwhile endeavor, the extension of insurance coverage for autistic kids. It’s kind of a page out of George Ryan’s book, from when he extended clemency to hundreds of death row prisoners on the way out the door.
Plunging into chaos? That’s pretty much like saying that once you remove the Ba’athists from power, it’s going to take a little while to get a new government installed. Some things, though, are much more soul-sucking than a little chaos.
A couple of days ago, I noted that the meme that flaks were floating was that Blago was nutso. Ace has the round up and a well-deserved flagellation of NPR, where I heard an “On Point” guest from the Sun-Times today stating that people are saying Blago’s a wack-job and that according to a USA Today piece, Chicago’s not that bad. The thing is, there’s no metric to determine the amount of merited prosecutions not brought.
Oh, look! It’s Rostenkowski:
Similarly, the current story about one apparently corrupt Illinois politician is used to tar the reputation of all those who serve our state, despite the fact that most do so with distinction.
It is painful to recall my situation and, on a personal level, I can sympathize with the pain the governor’s family must feel and can uniquely understand their concerns about what comes next.
But I find his reported behavior troubling. There’s a big difference between running a sloppy office and staging a personally-beneficial auction to make policy and personnel decisions. That’s what disturbs the public. It bothers me, too.
It would be a mistake, though, to conclude that Chicago or Illinois produced a disproportionate share of bad apples. They’re present in both parties whenever opportunity appears.
I also see that notorious ex-slut Jessica Cutler has a new gig as a housewife. Mazel tov!
Thanks, Glenn! (h/t happyfeet)
Comment by B Moe on 12/12 @ 6:41 pm #
They got hit squads after poor old Rahm. How long before Obama sends in troops?
Comment by Mikey NTH on 12/12 @ 6:44 pm #
Chaos in Illinois? I don’t think so. Gov’t departments will still keep running, including the state treasury. Until he is convicted either in federal court or impeached in the state legislature Gov. Blagojevich can still keep doing his job.
You know – that thing he was elected to do? It comes with a salary – he should try just doing that and taking that for as little time as he has left.
BTW – that was an admission of guilt: he hasn’t ‘lawyered up’, he has ‘ministered up’.
Comment by kelly on 12/12 @ 6:53 pm #
Straight out of the William Jefferson Clinton Playbook. Chapter 7, I believe. Next thing you’ll see is prayer breakfast with Jesse Jackson. Oh, wait, how about Rev. Wright?
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 7:11 pm #
Comrades,
We Soviets know how to deal with troublesome people: Moscow Psychiatric Hospital #1.
Comment by dicentra on 12/12 @ 7:12 pm #
He’s not a nutter, he’s a malignant narcissist with sociopathic tendencies. People like that are very much responsible for their actions. It’s just that their world view and self-perception is so effed up that they will never admit that anything they do is wrong, and they are certain that they’re entitled to get whatever they want.
And yes, Virginia, it DOES “rub off” on one’s associates, because one’s associates should perceive the malignant narcissist and get him put somewhere that he can’t hurt anyone. Failure to do so indicates that they’re either just as narcissistic, or that they’ve made so many moral compromises that they can’t tell whether something is unethical any more.
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 7:14 pm #
Are you saying Sarah Palin shouldn’t have run Ted Stevens’ re-election campaign, dicentra?
Comment by geoffb on 12/12 @ 7:20 pm #
Then will come the carrying of the ever enlarging Bible wherever he goes. It makes a good shield against reporter microphones and cameras.
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 7:37 pm #
That’s not me, that’s someone pretending to be me. You can tell because I wouldn’t say something that obviously stupid.
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 7:47 pm #
Are you saying Obama
Sarah Palinshouldn’t have run Blago’sTed Stevens’ re-election campaign, dicentra?Comment by Mikey NTH on 12/12 @ 7:47 pm #
The inestimable Michael Barone on all of this:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/2008/12/11/rod-blagojevich-the-stupidest-governor-in-the-country-puts-obama-in-a-bad-light.html#read_more
Comment by Patrick Carroll on 12/12 @ 7:48 pm #
Jonah Goldberg, over at NRO, currently has an hilarious bit up about corruption in Illinois politics. I can’t be bothered to go back and look it up, but I seem to recall him listing something like 79 senior Illinois politicians sent to jail in a four- or eight-year period.
So, this isn’t a tragedy, or crisis, or whatever, this is a chronic condition.
Comment by dicentra on 12/12 @ 7:48 pm #
Yes, I’m saying everything that can ever be said at all times simultaneously. I’m just that awesome.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 12/12 @ 7:52 pm #
#6, #8:
Who can tell?
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 8:06 pm #
Ah, an imitator, the most sincere form of flattery.
Happyfeet, is that you?
I must have touched a nerve.
Was it the Ted Stevens/Sarah Palin remark?
Or is it only Democrats who share their fellow party members’ guilt?
It’s Okay If You’re a Republican still obtains?
Comment by B Moe on 12/12 @ 8:10 pm #
I think 14 is real, you can’t fake that level of incoherence.
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 8:13 pm #
Was it the Obama/Blago
Ted Stevens/Sarah Palinremark?Comment by happyfeet on 12/12 @ 8:18 pm #
NPR is a sick and conniving socialist propaganda scheme I think.
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 8:20 pm #
hf
Those Soft-Voiced Anchors at NPR Make the Big Bucks
Photo of Tim Graham.
By Tim Graham (Bio | Archive)
December 12, 2008 – 12:01 ET
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* [Printer-friendly version]
Josh Gerstein, a former reporter for ABC News and the New York Sun, blogged about how National Public Radio — now laying off 64 employees and shutting down two programs — has some perhaps surprising salary figures for a somewhat public media outlet:
NPR reported its five highest paid employees were:
1. Managing Editor Barbara Rehm, $383,139
2. All Things Considered host Robert Siegel [pictured], $350,288
3. Morning Edition host Renee Montagne, $332,160
4. Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, $331,242
5. NPR afternoon programming director Richard L. Harris, $190,267.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2008/12/12/those-soft-voiced-anchors-npr-make-big-bucks
Comment by Darleen on 12/12 @ 8:21 pm #
What rot veggie ignores and the lesson camp Obama obviously forgot to remember inspite of being a Clinton Admin rerun, is that it ain’t the association but the coverup.
There are tons of legit reasons why The One and Rahm would meet with Blagocrook. But their first (and second and third) instinct was to equivocate, obfuscate and act all wounded.
Note that Obama stuttered, stammered and corrected himself mid-sentence in his first unscripted denial (from “we had no … I I I had no contact with the governor”). Within hours of the filed complaint Rahm should have called a press conference and said “yes, I’m on the tape. Let me tell you the details. No, I never played along, I was stunned …” THAT would have been the famed “transparency” Obamessiah has been touting as part of his HopeyChangitudeness that he claimed he was bringing to DC.
One gets OUT IN FRONT of the curve of bad news. People don’t expect perfection (well, reasonable adults, not petulant juveniles like the usual trolls here) they just expect people to step up rather than wag a finger at them and say “I did not have sex with that woman” and later whine “that depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”
We’ve all watched the press give Lewinskies to Camp Obama over the last couple of years … they have allowed him to redefine over and over again his relationships with a whole bunch of characters. Now Camp O is acting prissy because the press is just a tad off message of His Holiness. Oh, they are trying hard to cover for O, kind of like a cat trying to cover up a hairball on a tile floor, but without any chance at practice camp O is fumbling badly.
Popcorn time.
Comment by happyfeet on 12/12 @ 8:22 pm #
oh. Nope, alphie. I haven’t read the thread yet I just got home. After I got back to the office things got weird and I really haven’t read news all day and I would like a drink I think especially maybe a glass of cabernet but I won’t cause I have to get psyched up to go to work super early tomorrow cause this damn year is almost over and I bet I’m doing stuff over Christmas again which I vowed last year wouldn’t happen this year I just wanted to point out that NPR is a sick and conniving socialist propaganda scheme is all.
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 8:25 pm #
Obama’s fairly new to politics, Darleen.
Give him a few years as President and he’ll be lying like a Republican.
Comment by happyfeet on 12/12 @ 8:26 pm #
oh. Right, dre. NPR is a sickness. But they claim they can’t provide transcripts of their dirty socialist propaganda on their website cause it’s too expensive and you want them you have to pay for them even though guess what the search engine of their website is built on? Indexed transcripts. Otherwise they would have no search function. Lying NPR dirty socialist parasite bastards.
Comment by Darleen on 12/12 @ 8:28 pm #
Barry Milhouse Obama … and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet.
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 8:30 pm #
And yet Obama has an 80% approval rating.
That must kill you guys.
At least 60% of Republicans approve of Obama now.
Should give you guys a hint at how fringe you really are.
Comment by B Moe on 12/12 @ 8:34 pm #
Morning Edition host Renee Montagne, $332,160
Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, $331,242
Limbaugh will make that it about two days. No wonder they fucking hate his ass, lol.
Comment by happyfeet on 12/12 @ 8:34 pm #
Dirty socialist Chicago street trash is very in this year but come next year he’ll only have fat chicks what still pay full price for ugg boots in his camp I think.
Comment by B Moe on 12/12 @ 8:36 pm #
He is President, yet, tuberhead. He hasn’t done anything. It is pretty easy to get high approval ratings before you start a job.
Comment by B Moe on 12/12 @ 8:37 pm #
isn’t President yet…
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 8:37 pm #
“And yet Obama has an 80% approval rating.”
The real poll in November put @ 52% with 48% finding The ONE an asshat.
Comment by Darleen on 12/12 @ 8:39 pm #
Oh my … talk about giving Obama a Lewinsky. No wonder the LATimes is swirling the bowl.
Comment by happyfeet on 12/12 @ 8:41 pm #
Count me among the 48% I think. The economy is in real trouble and the dirty socialist is in a screechy little girl panic about carbon dioxide molecules. That’s what happens when you listen to too much NPR I think. You lose touch with the real world and start biting at air like a rabid Soros-fellating squirrel monkey.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 12/12 @ 8:43 pm #
I wonder who will take on the role of Warren Hooper in the remake of “Three Bullets Sealed His Lips”?
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 8:45 pm #
The real poll in November put @ 52% with 48% finding The ONE an asshat.
Haha, Obama crushed McCain 52.9% – 45.7%
The order from Rove to lie about the election results are hard to ignore, I guess.
Comment by Darleen on 12/12 @ 8:45 pm #
oh, and that 79% approval rating, BEFORE the Blagocrook debacle is about how O is ‘handling’ the transition.
Funny, though, that at least 50% of that smooth transaction is a credit to President Bush. Not that CNN’s “political analysts” would ever admit it.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 12/12 @ 8:47 pm #
And yet Obama has an 80% approval rating.
Shortly after 9/11, Bush had an approval rating of 90%, the highest in history.
God, you’re a moron.
And you’re shitting your pants right now. Just like thor.
Comment by Jeffersonian on 12/12 @ 8:47 pm #
And yet Obama has an 80% approval rating.
Oh, well then, his future Chief of Staff couldn’t have been been aware of Blago’s Senate auction.
Comment by Darleen on 12/12 @ 8:48 pm #
Crushed? But rot veggie, I thought Prop 8 passed by a very narrow margin 52.3% to 47.7% …
heh.
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 12/12 @ 8:50 pm #
Bush had sky-high approvals once, too, so things can change.
Funny distinction there. Bush didn’t care whether his ratings were up or down, he did what he thought was best. Whereas Clinton had the daily tracking poll as the highest priority, most of the time.
Comment by B Moe on 12/12 @ 8:50 pm #
From the comments at Darleen’s LAT link:
9. Honestly people–it was a hotly contested presidential race. If there was any SERIOUS scandal or wrongdoing involving Obama, don’t you think that Rove, Cheney or others in the RNC would’ve found it and aired it?????
Submitted by: Big Sigh…
12:54 PM PST, December 12, 2008
Priceless.
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 8:51 pm #
Ignore the troll pretending to be me.
Even I’m not dumb enough to think that being popular makes someone right, or honest, or qualified.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 12/12 @ 9:13 pm #
Much as we should ignore you? Thanks for the heads-up!
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 9:21 pm #
Thanks again, imitation is the ultimate blog win.
And SBP, even the dullest of you must notice this story is already fading.
I think Obama will top George W.’s 90% when he takes office.
Comment by happyfeet on 12/12 @ 9:25 pm #
ultimate blog win?
Comment by Dan Collins on 12/12 @ 9:25 pm #
And mockery means VICTORY!
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 9:26 pm #
Play Illinois BLAGO now worth $1,000,000,000!
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 12/12 @ 9:29 pm #
And SBP, even the dullest of you must notice this story is already fading.
In your dreams, snippy.
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 9:31 pm #
“I think Obama will top George W.’s 90% when he takes office.”
Sucking black dick is popular with Leftards?
Comment by parsnip on 12/12 @ 10:05 pm #
I am winning!
Obama is more popular than Bush!
This PROVES he wasn’t corrupt!
Comment by dre on 12/12 @ 10:29 pm #
“This PROVES he wasn’t corrupt!”
Rev. Wright: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Comment by Boots on 12/13 @ 12:03 am #
Pretty funny that Rostenkowski, who is a convicted felon who represented Illinois’ 5th congressional district till he went to prison, is claiming corruption is so rare. After Rosti went off to prison camp, a republican (Flanagan?) represented the 5th CD for one term, to be replaced by Rod Blagojevich. Blago was then replaced in the 5th CD by Rahm Emmanuel. There’s at least one joke in there somewhere……..
Comment by thor on 12/13 @ 12:07 am #
From the ashes rises a Phoenix?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 12/13 @ 4:51 am #
There’s at least one joke in there somewhere……..
The “I Plead the Fifth” Congressional District?
Comment by Eric on 12/13 @ 5:11 am #
If there’s one takeaway from all this it’s that Obama can’t deal with a crisis. Good thing presidents never have those.
And his chief of staff is running away from reporters like a little girl Reminds me of Edwards hiding in the bathroom. He won’t even go to the transition team HQ, er, the “office of the president elect”. Is that a Democrat thing?
Comment by JDW on 12/13 @ 5:34 am #
Congratulations to Mr. Obama – the junior senator of the most corrupt state government and most inner-city murders of any state in the USA.
Comment by Poole on 12/13 @ 6:44 am #
Corruptions is like sewage. You can smell it at a long distance, it fouls everything it touches and it flows downhill. It also requires a lot of work to clean up.
Comment by Governor William J. Le Blagomane on 12/13 @ 7:12 am #
Work, work, work.
Work, work, work.
Work, work, work.
Comment by Jeffersonian on 12/13 @ 8:16 am #
I think the way The One was able to stand in the middle of a shit storm of graft, wire-pulling and corruption and still come out smelling like line-dried linen is a tribute to His absolute perfection.
Comment by Pablo on 12/13 @ 8:20 am #
Whoopsie!
Comment by Jeffersonian on 12/13 @ 8:56 am #
Oops. He musta misspoke, Pablo. Just like Emmanuel and Axy.
Still, the karma flows.
Comment by Techie on 12/13 @ 9:34 am #
Pablo, I DENOUNCE you as racist. Also STFU. That seems to be the troll’s rallying cry these days.
Comment by MarkD on 12/13 @ 9:39 am #
I don’t see any sign of this story going away. Blago’s still governor, and there’s a Senate seat to be filled. This is more like Spitzer’s troopergate, where every day the story was, “Move along, nothing to see here.” Well, except for Ashley… The head of the State Police Special Investigations unit… Now he’s a journalist, which I didn’t think was lower than corrupt politician, but what do I know?
There are plenty of cockroaches in politics, and one never knows what will turn up when the lights are turned on.
Comment by iron308 on 12/13 @ 10:07 am #
I find it interesting that the democrats have called a full court press against Blago. it is almost as if they have to get rid of him or something. What does he know that they are so afraid of?
Comment by happyfeet on 12/13 @ 11:24 am #
Mr. Reynolds linked. I like when he does that cause more people get to read stuff that way.
Comment by maggie katzen on 12/13 @ 12:01 pm #
do you actually have a source for this? because Rasmussen says otherwise.
Comment by JorgXMcKie on 12/13 @ 12:28 pm #
Well, my brother and I (both former long-time residents of IL) and many IL friends have been debating for years whether Blago is crazy or just stupid. Michael Barone goes for incredibly stupid, and he has a lot of experience with politics, but I have a lot of experience with a certain type of crazy, and I think Blago fits the bill.
There are people in some professions (politics and academia among the top) who seldom if ever suffer for either making mistakes or over-reaching. When this gets combined with Delusions of Grandeur (or Adequacy in too many cases) it strongly resembles stupid, except the native intelligence of the afflicted enables to make blunders of such grotesque proportions that the merely stupid would never reach.
People suffering from, I dunno, Cocooned Delusions of Grandeur (?) all too often totally ignore the reactions of others, reality, the space-time continuum itself, and always any possible bad fallout from their idiocy. They also seem to attract followers and enablers in amazing numbers. I suspect that this is due to their incredible (if delusional) self-confidence.
Blago is not stupid, he’s reasonably intelligent but crazy. Not crazy in the legal “can’t tell right from wrong” sense but in the “has lost all connection with ordinary reality” sense.
Comment by Sdferr on 12/13 @ 12:53 pm #
Dan Riehl seems to want to ratchet this thing along for awhile, even linking back here. Jonah plays along.
Pingback by Not a Tragedy, Revisited [Dan Collins] on 12/13 @ 1:07 pm #
[...] to be too Aristotelian about it, Dan, but Blago lacks the stature to be a tragic figure, and the Illinois electorate has been too complicit with the political shenanigans to make them [...]
Comment by Mikey NTH on 12/13 @ 1:37 pm #
#65 Jorg:
Blago may have lost connection with ordinary reality, but he may have been operating in what was Illinois political reality, and didn’t realize when the boundaries began to shift. Not crazy at all, but narcissistic, hubristic, and not swift on picking up the clues that the wind has shifted and now is the time to trim your sails. In addition, Mrs. Blago seems to have the same problem and I doubt it is crazy.