January 29, 2009
It's too bad the national audience has no idea about Chicago politics. Blago did nothing that isn't done every day in Chicago and nothing that will be done tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. blago was railroaded. Period. You don't get a complete shutout unless there was a frank discussion before the vote. The vote itself shows the same dealmaking that blago was only accused of. He has not been convicted of anything other than darkening barry's halo.
They have been after him for years and they seized the moment. The impeachment had nothing to with what he did or might have done. Right out of the mouths of the Chicago politicians after the verdict. IF HE DID something wrong. Nothing was proven. Not a single thing. The tapes should not have been brought in and they were. Blago did not have a chance to defend himself no matter what they said. Those tapes haven't been vetted. Those tapes were selected bits of inflammatory language not backed up by a single act.
EUGENE ROBINSON: By all accounts he was a terrible governor - that's grounds for impeachment.
Absolutely no idea what was going on. Not at all a surprise. 750,000 Illinoisans have health insurance. All children have health insurance. The first and only state in the US. He's actually done something barry has flipflopped and campaigned on. Blago made it happen. Right now someone is in an ER getting lifesaving treatment. Right now a family is eating, has heat and electricity because they haven't had to pay for health insurance. Minimum wage earners got a raise because of him. Single moms have gotten by because their taxes haven't been raised. Women have had mammograms and pap smears and cancers found and treated without having to pay for them because of him. Seniors ride the bus for free. Three and four year olds get to go to preschool.
After his arrest and shaming in the media he signed an Autism bill mandating insurance companies to cover autism diagnosis and treatment up to $36,000/year for ALL children with autism up until age 21. Do you know what a victory that was? And he granted clemency to 22 people. (Two more today as a last hurrah.)
He has benefited a great many Illinoisans who will continue to benefit from his efforts while he is on trial for an indictment that has still not come and no one can say will be forthcoming.
You cannot discount that. He was made mockery of (and still will be) by people in the national press who have no idea what he's actually done and what he has been accused of and if he actually has done any of it. It was not proven in a court of law because he has not been indicted on anything. But he was smeared and is being smeared. That will - is - not going over well especially to the people who have watched the national media turn a blind eye to barry's nefarious dealings.
FYI - Tony Rezko is a real person who is being held in solitary confinement as a means to make him cooperate to convict blago. And what is he saying about barry? What hasn't he been pressured on to give up about barry? He was the first and primary fundraiser for barry. He was indicted for corruption involving pay to play - involving campaign contributions - $10,000 of which made its way into barry's coiffures - which he had to eventually donate to charity AFTER he was named in the Rezko indictment. barry has had to donate $160K of the $250K Rezko generated campaign contributions ($90k couldn't be returned) and only after he came clean, after 18 months of pressure by the Chicago papers, after Rezko's trial began, and after he had basically sewn up the democratic nomination. He didn't give it all back after Rezko was indicted. He gave it back piecemeal as each questionable donation was exposed. And he is still donating back unclean money.
How many of you robamabots know that? How many of you still refuse to believe it?
How many of you in the national media, who have been laughing at blago's "stupidity" for getting caught while he knew he was under investigation, know that barry got involved in his "boneheaded mistake" of buying his house with Rezko while Rezko was under federal investigation. And unlike Blago, Rezko had already been exposed in a false minority front involving a dead woman and Jabir Muhammad - son of the Nation of Islam founder. That is not a "boneheaded mistake".
The Illinois People do not know about the specific political wranglings blagojevich was allegedly involved with - but every one of us knows that that is how things happen. We know that every year - every month - there is someone found to be corrupt or involved in pay to play. It's how things are done. We know what barry has done to get where he is and see how the media has chosen to ignore it.
What we are now seeing is the Illinois legislatures taking advantage of blago in order to save face and "root out the corruption". Like one person is going to do it. It worked awfully nice for barry didn't it?
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