Brass balls Blago!

Well, it still is appropriate to note that he's (evidently) being booted out of office without having been convicted of anything. Although the evidence laid out by the prosecutor's office appears to be compelling, Blago does raise a valid point in terms of his limited opportunity to interpose a defense at his impeachment trial. It would certainly be interesting if he's convicted at the impeachment trial and then subsequently acquitted at the criminal trial. I'm cognizant of the fact there's a different legal standard that applies to both, but we are talking about removing a duly elected official from office...

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Originally Posted by JMS

Blago is crazy, crazy like a fox!

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It sounds like you admire this guy. I hope not. But it sounds like you admire him and the only reason I can think of is because of what you called "The warning shot he took at the Obama administration."

Do you admire him Mark?

Brad

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Originally Posted by billyjeff2

Well, it still is appropriate to note that he's (evidently) being booted out of office without having been convicted of anything. Although the evidence laid out by the prosecutor's office appears to be compelling, Blago does raise a valid point in terms of his limited opportunity to interpose a defense at his impeachment trial. It would certainly be interesting if he's convicted at the impeachment trial and then subsequently acquitted at the criminal trial. I'm cognizant of the fact there's a different legal standard that applies to both, but we are talking about removing a duly elected official from office...

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This is a convenient argument but inaccurate. He had an opportunity to defend himself but he chose to avoid the hearing two days in a row while he ran around the media grand standing.

I am still shocked that something like this could happen in Illinois ! :w

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Originally Posted by Bigear

I am still shocked that something like this could happen in Illinois ! :w

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Absolutely, all politicians' souls are as white and fluffy as uber lather here! At least until they get caught.

Our politicians here in Connecticut are clean, honest and moral. Just don't count the Hartford Mayor who got picked up the other day or the ex mayors of Waterbury and Bridgeport who are both in lockdoown or that silly ex-governor who recently finished his sentence.

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Originally Posted by icedog

It sounds like you admire this guy. I hope not. But it sounds like you admire him and the only reason I can think of is because of what you called "The warning shot he took at the Obama administration."

Do you admire him Mark?

Brad

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Admire Blago? I don't admire slime balls of any stripe! Marvel is the word I would use! He reminds me of the definition of chutspah as it was explained to me 20 some years ago: A boy kills his parents, and standing before the judge prior to sentencing, the boy asks the judge to have mercy on him as he was recently orphaned!

Well, as expected, he's gone--the state Senate voted 59-0 yesterday afternoon to remove him from office, and subsequently voted to bar him from ever seeking public office in Illinois again.

My sober analysis: :y:tu:D

As someone from the state Chamber of Commerce was quoted yesterday, at least we will have grownups in the room again. Our new Governor, Pat Quinn, has his work cut out for him. He's been an avid reformer, and kind of a gadfly, all his career, and has to take on somewhat of a different approach--without, I hope, sacrificing the principles that have made a lot of us admire him--in his new role. And he has to somehow pull back from the brink a state that has been left in near ruins financially, and harder still, he has to start rebuilding people's trust in state government. All this in the middle of a deep recession (possibly a recession with a capital D). One thing he has going for him is a lifelong reputation--well earned, I think--for integrity. And I hope, maybe naïvely, that the legislators he will be working with finally understand how profoundly disgusted ordinary people in Illinois are with a state government that for years has been an embarrassment to every thinking citizen and that in recent months has accomplished nothing. :cen:rant::mad:

Not that we Illinois voters have any grounds to plead innocence. We have been voting like idiots for years--my fellow Democrats emphatically included. But maybe, possibly, just within the remotest margins of conceivability, maybe we've finally begun to learn something.

Maybe.

Wish us :gl: here in Illinois, please, we're going to need it.

~Rich~Not even through with my rant! But I have to get some work done.~

"This is a convenient argument but inaccurate. He had an opportunity to defend himself but he chose to avoid the hearing two days in a row while he ran around the media grand standing."

Not really inaccurate. Blago's position was that the impeachment process unfairly limited his ability to present witnesses and other evidence that he contended were important to his ability to defend himself against the impeachment charges. I think he was probably correct to the extent the impeachment process is not the same as a judicial proceeding where the accused has certain rights in terms of presenting evidence. I still think the guy is a slimeball, but my original point remains that he was driven out of office via a mechanism that probably didn't afford him a full oppty to put on a defense.

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Originally Posted by JMS

Marvel is the word I would use!

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I can see it. He is loathsome and offensive yet, I cannot look away.

LOL.


-Rob