Blagojevich gets His
I’ve been reading some of the comments by Blagojevich, being somebody who lives in his state and all, and I have to say a few words.
First, it hardly surprises me that he has this in his character.He has always been slimey, though I’m not sure we knew this on such a scale in his first term. In his first term, he looked mostly harmless at best. In his second term, he pulled some moves that made most of the state scream in agony.
Take for example, the stalemate over CTA funding. After strikes and budget debates ad nauseum, it looked like the state finally had the right funding worked out and agreed on, when he suddenly threw in a provision to make public transportation free for seniors. A noble idea for sure, but we all know his idea was just meant to anger just about everyone.
Second, Contrary to what Michelle Malkin might say, Liberals are wagging their finger and being gleeful about this. Blagojevich had a 4% approval rating a few weeks back, and I think that it was still falling. 4% basically means his friends, family, neighbors, mailman and interior decorator liked him. Really, having listened to stories covering his actions as Governor for years, nobody in politics really liked him. Nobody. Blagojevich is to Democrats what Nixon is to Republicans.
Third, looking at his State Senate picture on wikipedia, he has a striking resemblance to Richard Nixon, son’t you think?
Fourth, and this one’s the kicker, I know a lot of people that are still happy that they voted for him instead of his opponent, Judy Baar-Topinka. I agree. We got the lesser of two evils in that election. The last cycle was proof that we need a slot on the ballot to get two new candidates, we want neither. We would have knowingly elected George W. Bush over either of them, and, I’m convinced, have had better, more fair governance.
Fifth, my favorite quotes from him via the State Journal Register, a Springfield paper: I don’t care whether you tape me privately or publicly. I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful.”
and
“This is America, you know, and I’d appreciate if you want to tape my conversations, give me a heads-up and let me know.”
There are questions as to whether these statements are taken out of context, or constitute a crime. This is ignoring what is in many ways a bigger issue, since Blagojevich isn’t resigning, who would work with him after this, who would stand by him on any legislation? In short, how can he possibly do his job?
Lastly, the only thing that I can say that hasn’t already is that weeding out corruption in Illinois is kind of like the Cubs winning the series. We always wait for next year, and we’re used to disappointment.