My first reaction to the Blagojevich story was "I can't wait to hear Megan take this sleaze apart." My second thought was that it sounded like a story straight out of the Wire. This guy makes Clay Davis look good!
Is it wrong that a little part of me is like yay its Chicago's time to shine and be in the spotlight? Suck it New Yorkers, you think you know what corruption is like with prositutions? You dont even know what corruption is, our governor has more corruptio nin his little pinkie than goody two shoes elliot spitzer ever could. We have a pres. elect and a scandal being reported internationally, WERE NUMBER 1!
@Lymed: At the gym I was just thinking that he looked like Sean Astin (Rudy, Sam from Lord of the Rings) with dark hair, but not in this picture. He's not squinting enough here for him to look like dubya.
And the transcript...the guy is so literal in his bribes. Where's the coded language? The long pauses? The *wink wink* and *nudge nudge*? My God, man, even corner drug dealers use coded language for their transactions!
@Sophie needs to study...but isn't: I think his lawyers might be able to claim not full mental capacity. For him to do this I think that he ha to be either insane or have an IQ below 70. Im being a little snarky but not really, my mind cannot wrap around how dumb this was, in fact I know of drug dealers who had a below 70 IQ who were smarter than this.
@Lymed: OMG! Tiger the twelve-toed cat loves his dilly beans. Of course, he eats them with dignity and panache. If panache is catode for "a cloud of food around his head."
I just... I feel like this corruption lacked imagination which is really unforgivable. Where's the Indecent Proposal? Why aren't there ANY Russian mobsters involved? Had this guy never heard of Nixon and the need to be paranoid about your phones? The mind boggles.
@PilgrimSoul: Honestly I kept feeling this is a scheme hedy, I mean hedley , Lamarr could have concocted but he would have been smarter. I mean he knew his phones were tapped and still he talks about this over the phone?
He really needed to be paranoid, the thing that might bother me the msot, and this is really showing my true Chicago heritage, is not that it was so blatantly corrupt (though that is plenty horrific), but it was just so very stupid. I just expected the governor of a state to be smarter than your average drug dealer in talking about things on the phone. I was wrong.
@PilgrimSoul: Well - among other people, the horse racing industry and labor unions were involved - so there MAY be Russian mobsters somewhere in that mix!!
Although apparently he didn't, imagine the phone call wherein Rahm tipped off the U.S. attorneys. Full of profanities, concluding with a death threat and a "go fuck yourself" if the attorney even hinted that s/he would not go after this case as if his/her life depended on it.
Some semesters I am considered a state employee, and here in Illinois that means that I also have to take an online ethics course. It culminates in a test that asks questions like, "If, while in the course of performing your duties as a State Employee, a person offers you gifts, should you: a) accept them b) accept them and report the person, c) refuse the gifts, or d) refuse the gifts and report the person."
The ethics test always reminds me that I live in a state where someone might actually pause to mull that question over.
@theNChills: I took that test too when I was a graduate assistant. I always made sure to take extra long for fear that someone would come after me if I filled it out too fast. Because that test totally prevents ethics violations..
as a chicago resident, i can verify that yes, this man is all the rotten things you may be thinking of him. just like the majority of illinois politicians. another amazing thing about obama is how successfully he managed to distance himself from the state that is often called the most politically corrupt in the country.
@la_phantom_lady: She does seem to be pretty clean, not particularly innovative but good. But, I would rather have her as governor, as much as I have a problem with her personally, Jan might be good for senate and she def. wants it.
Fun fact: If you say Blagojevich three times, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney appear. Then the room gets dark and smoke appears from nowhere and evil laughter fills the air and you are trapped!
Even if Obama talked to him about possible replacements, that doesn't mean Obama asked him how much coin he thought he could pocket from the person he named. Red herring, Axelrod, no need to change your story.
@Archetype: He's terrible, he has done one great thing while in office (giving poor and middle class children healthcare) and absolutely nothing else. George Ryan was more principled, at least I believe Ryan did his good, commuting those sentences, because he thought it was the right thing. I honestly dont believe that Blagojevich ever does anything out of the good of his heart
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He really needed to be paranoid, the thing that might bother me the msot, and this is really showing my true Chicago heritage, is not that it was so blatantly corrupt (though that is plenty horrific), but it was just so very stupid. I just expected the governor of a state to be smarter than your average drug dealer in talking about things on the phone. I was wrong.
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Rahm. Call me!
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The ethics test always reminds me that I live in a state where someone might actually pause to mull that question over.
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