Seems to be the case. $1.5 million to Governor Blagojevich in exchange for a Senate seat? Huh.
Note that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. says he knows nothing about any $1.5 million for a Senate seat. He wouldn't, of course. Just as Obama wouldn't know anything about Blagojevich trying to shake down the Obama team for dough in exchange for appointing Obama's preferred successor. Successful machine politicians (as vs. morons like Blagojevich) have people for that sort of thing, people whose entire job is to make sure that things of this sort don't touch their principal. If Rahm Emmanuel got a solicitation for a bribe from Blagojevich and swiftly narc'ed on Blagojevich in retaliation for Blago's presumption in trying to shake down the Boss, you can bet that Obama knew nothing about this. That's how machine politicians operate, they make sure their people know exactly what to do when anything happens that might tarnish the principal, and one of the things NOT to do is to disclose to the principal is that the knife in the back of the presumptuous turd has Rahm Emmanuel's fingerprints all over it...
-- Badtux the Mildly Amused Penguin
What do you think about Tavis Smiley's coverage? Jesse Jr. was the first clip. The reporter guest (I didn't catch his name) says that the ambiguity of Jackson's position shouldn't disqualify him; and Tavis heartily disagrees.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if in this celebrity-ridden age there will be any more non-celebrity serious candidates. Although I guess we'll have to define "celebrity."
Niall Ferguson (Ascent of Money author, which I am reading) is next!
He's brilliant. Watch it!
Suzan
ha ha!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the evils of celebrity candidates, Suze, especially the "inherited celebrity" ones. That includes Hillary, the Udall brothers, Mary Bono Whatever-her-last-name-is-now, all manner of Kennedys and their marriage partners, Ahnuld Schwarzenazi, Joe Biden's son who's being prepped for a U.S. Senate seat from Delaware... The fact that I could go on and on from here shows how far it's seeped into the political system.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the American virtues of rebelling against hierarchies? Didn't the country come about because our forefathers didn't like being controlled by dynasties? Since when did nepotism become a good thing? Now it's all "Hey, I know that guy's name. He MUST be good! Better than that person I never heard of."
Althouuuuuugh, "Blagojevich" is about as strange a name as you can have in American politics. But even he's dynastic, via his wife's family.
F@ck that! It all boils down to the stupidity of the voter. Morons who vote for a name just because they've heard it before deserve to get the ruin-nation that they've helped create. Too bad it brings down the nation in whichyou have to live.