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Entire Senate Democratic Caucus Tells Blagojevich to Just Go


Harry Reid and the Democratic Caucus bring the hammer down. They urge Blagojevich to resign, and tell him that should he make an appointment to the open Illinois seat, the Senate will probably reject that appointment. They also warn that the Illinois Legislature can strip him of his power to appoint a Senator. It's already in the process of doing that, and of getting impeachment charges leveled against him.

Blagojevich would be the second Democratic Governor in a short space of time to be forced out, but in very different circumstances from Elliot Spitzer, whose actions were personal. Blagojevich, in contrast, has run his office as a cesspool of corruption and disrepute, culminating with his attempts to sell the appointment to the US Senate that fell into his hands with Barack Obama's victory in the Presidential Race.

This has been a major crisis of leadership for both the Democrats in the Senate, and for Barack Obama - it was essential to clear the boards of someone who brings ill repute to country, state, party, and politics. The Democratic Party, in it's quest for corporate money and acceptance, has breed dozens of chances for politicians of this ilk to enter it's ranks. Bob Torcelli was among the first high profile examples. The Democratic Party must realize that there is an inevitable logic to cleaning up the party, now that the future of the country rests in the hands of a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress. Now that it is time to ask the American people to sacrifice to deal with deep political and economic problems. We are at war abroad, and in crisis at home, and people who seek to deal high office have no place in American life.

Majority Leader Reid got out in front on this one, which is always dangerous for a Majority Leader of a fractured caucus to do. It was politically the right thing to do, and morally the right thing to do. It provides hope that courage will no longer be seen as a cost, but as the currency of how the new Senate will do business. But this will only come to pass if there is a clear and public backing for doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. Politicians like Blagojevich are out of step with the times, with the country, and with the Democratic Party - which must now renew itself as the party of clean government, and good government, rather than being tolerant of a culture of corruption. The stakes are very high, corruption in the face of crisis turns problem into panic and paralysis, and destroys the willingness of the public to accept pain. There are only two principles in what lies ahead, "No one left behind," and "We are all in this together."

Blagojevich forgot both of them, and the Democratic Senate Caucus has affirmed both of them.


Stirling Newberry December 10, 2008 - 7:31pm
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And Reid's alternatives were?

"Majority Leader Reid got out in front on this one, which is always dangerous for a Majority Leader "

Not in this case. Dangerous if he did not.

Synoia December 10, 2008 - 7:51pm
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Sometimes there is no safe answer

but in this case there was a right answer.

Stirling Newberry December 10, 2008 - 9:36pm
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More stuff will come out.

I bet...

creativelcro December 11, 2008 - 12:12am
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Why is the Senate getting involved with state politics?

I find it kind of strange and bothersome that the Senate would take a position on this matter. I don't ever recall them interfering with state politics in this fashion before. And it's a very, very major violation of the Constitution. They simply have no power whatsoever to interfere with state politics. Period. The argument that they are concerned with corruption in the Democratic party doesn't really hold up, since the Senate is probably the most corrupt institution in the world. To put it mildly. If the Democratic Senators want to clean up the party they need to begin with themselves. (A good way to begin would be to investigate and audit the incredibly corrupt Ted Kennedy, who, as we all know, pretty much purchased his Senate seat with his daddy's money.) I get the impression that there's something fishy going on, a big power struggle in the party. It's no coincidence that Obama's right-hand man, Rahm Emmanuel, is apparently the one who tipped off the feds. Weird that a Democrat would turn in another Democrat to Republican investigators. I wonder if it has to do with Blagojevich's public support of those striking workers in Chicago, the ones occupying the plant. I can't imagine that the corporate-controlled Senators were happy to hear about that.

jonbrown December 11, 2008 - 2:23am
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I don't think

it is the strikers since Obama backs them also. Just think if Rahm did not tip off the feds, how ethical would it be for the transition team to be approached, turn down the offer and then not report it? That is if Rahm tipped them off, I haven't been keeping up but I thought the investigation started before Nov.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." -Henry David Thoreau

Tina December 11, 2008 - 3:02am
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Garbage

". They simply have no power whatsoever to interfere with state politics. Period."

You should read the constitution someday, it is fascinating reading, and there are several places where states have rights in the Federal sphere, and the Federal government has the power to act in state politics, from assuring a Republican form of government, to protecting the rights of citizens as federal citizens from state action. In this case the question hinges on the Article I power to determine the qualifications and election of its own members.

The rest is garbage rant off of right wing radio.

Go spam someone else, this isn't the basis for productive discussion.

Stirling Newberry December 11, 2008 - 5:26am
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Such a diversion from the real theft @ Treasury

The essential core question of this scandal now embraced with all delight by the chattering classes: was the Illinois governor's pattern of activity different than the norm for politicians and members of the political class in this country? It seems more desperate and chronologically compressed, as well as having more expletives than average.

However I am a bit surprised to find myself concluding that it was more business as usual; the major real snag is that 'quid pro quos' are legally required to happen in a more silent way spaced out over a longer period of time. It was like he took the usual discreet GOP patronage arrangements that unfold over 2 years and packed them down into a few weeks. Which of course makes an illegal quid pro quo.

In any case, once you accept the morality of attending fundraisers and everything else, I don't see where the line is at.

This whole thing is a welcome diversion for the Establishment from attention directed at the labor battles and wholesale systemic breakdown. More of my weirdly improper remarks here (and don't forget how they knocked out Spitzer and Siegelman):
http://agonist.org/hongpong/20081209/the_unmaking_of_a_democratic_governor_part_three
I posted it up at DailyKos, wherein I appreciated how one guy felt that you just shouldn't try to wrangle SEIU gigs over the phone. Which I think reveals the point I'm getting at.

--
Hongpong.com

HongPong December 11, 2008 - 1:36pm
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North Dakota Tops State Corruption List

"Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln in that analysis". well we know about Alaska;-)

USA Today -Its largest city is legendary for machine-style politics and its elected leaders have been under investigation for years, but by one measure, Illinois is not even close to the nation's most-corrupt state.
North Dakota, it turns out, may hold that distinction instead.



Yes, I can come up with a post-election signature, just... not... yet...

nymole December 11, 2008 - 3:26pm
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Actually, I'm still waiting for Fitzgerald to arrest Cheney....

The Illinois "let's put Obama on trial by newspaper" is even more of a diversion fromthe VP's and the Justice Department's destruction of the Constitution(if anyone can remember past the start of the economic meltdown).



Yes, I can come up with a post-election signature, just... not... yet...

nymole December 11, 2008 - 3:36pm
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