Ah, there's a joke that makes its own gravy. The NYTimes is reporting is that noted Blagoevich critic Jesse Jackson Junior is in fact "Candidate 5," the person that Blagoevich tried to get to pay to play for the Senate seat in question (great graphic on the scam here). Jackson as the hopeful in question makes a lot of sense: the two have a history and it's not a happy one. So if Blagoevich was to appoint Jackson to the Senate position, Blagoevich would undoubtedly want him to pay. And who would relish throwing Blagoevich under the bus more than Jackson? Nobody.
Jackson has taken some liberties with the language. Here's a quote: “It is impossible for someone on my behalf to have a conversation that would suggest any type of quid pro quo or any payments or offers,” Mr. Jackson said in comments broadcast by ABC News. “An impossibility to an absolute certainty.” First off, it's not impossible. It's quite possible. Maybe even probable. Secondly, what's the difference between an impossibility and an absolute certainty? That's right, everything is now in play.
Just wait until we get confirmation on who the other four (or more) hopefuls are. I wonder what they would have had to pay?
12.10.2008
Blagoevich Ahoyevich
Sure, someone with the name "Chapman Rackaway" probably shouldn't be making fun of someone else's name, but Rod Blagoevich sounds like a lung condition so I'm going to go with it.
But it's also important to understand this guy. Illinois politics has been corrupt for longer than I can remember. Blagoevich is an example of how, just when we think we've got a handle on corruption, it's still there. Big Richard Daley would certainly be proud at all of Blagoevich's 'honest graft.'
The worst example from the Politico article about Illinois corruption is here: "The scandal involving Otto Kerner Jr., for example, only came to light because one of the participants deducted the value of bribes paid in the 1960s--to win freeway exits and other favorable treatment for her horsetrack—in her income tax returns. The logic was that the payments were simply a part of doing business in Illinois. By the time the payments for services rendered came to light in the 1970s, Kerner was a federal judge and resigned in the scandal." So corruption is so pervasive it's part of doing business in Illinois.
I don't even need to mention it, but since Obama's invited me to be skeptical I will be. How can a guy come up through this system (four governors indicted in the last forty years) and not get some of that value system imbued in him? I think Obama needs to take a very clear and hard-line stance on Blagoevich to ensure that he's not endorsing that sort of dirty politics.
But it's also important to understand this guy. Illinois politics has been corrupt for longer than I can remember. Blagoevich is an example of how, just when we think we've got a handle on corruption, it's still there. Big Richard Daley would certainly be proud at all of Blagoevich's 'honest graft.'
The worst example from the Politico article about Illinois corruption is here: "The scandal involving Otto Kerner Jr., for example, only came to light because one of the participants deducted the value of bribes paid in the 1960s--to win freeway exits and other favorable treatment for her horsetrack—in her income tax returns. The logic was that the payments were simply a part of doing business in Illinois. By the time the payments for services rendered came to light in the 1970s, Kerner was a federal judge and resigned in the scandal." So corruption is so pervasive it's part of doing business in Illinois.
I don't even need to mention it, but since Obama's invited me to be skeptical I will be. How can a guy come up through this system (four governors indicted in the last forty years) and not get some of that value system imbued in him? I think Obama needs to take a very clear and hard-line stance on Blagoevich to ensure that he's not endorsing that sort of dirty politics.
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