Blagovitch is on TV!

[DavidS]

This guy is HILARIOUS! He needs his own late night TV show!

 

[Lycurgus]

He may be funny, but, he actually has some valid points.

He should be permitted to properly defend himself and that is not taking place.

 

[WillowTree]

He did. We want the "prisoners of war" to have a fair trial. Blago deserves one too.

 

[Lycurgus]

I would imagine that there are some very nervous and sweaty people, doing their best to see that this man goes down without being able to say a word or as little as possible, formally.

 

[Annie]

He may be funny, but, he actually has some valid points.

He should be permitted to properly defend himself and that is not taking place.

He would be permitted to defend himself and call witnesses. This is Chicago politics at their finest. He will not show up, nor his lawyers, he's a goner. However, if he tries to 'defend' himself, it will be used in his criminal trial. Out of office isn't great, but better than joining George Ryan.

 

[Annie]

Here's some reaction in the state, (trust me, not one person around here doesn't want to see Blago in prison):

Daley calls Blagojevich 'cuckoo' | Clout Street - local political coverage

Good video of our esteemed Boss Jr. at site:

Daley calls Blagojevich 'cuckoo'

Posted by Hal Dardick at 12:25 p.m.

As Gov. Rod Blagojevich attempts a last-minute media blitz before his impeachment trial, Mayor Richard Daley is offering a one-word summation of the governor's behavior.

Today the mayor puckered his lips and in a high-pitched, sing-song voice used the word "cuckoo" to describe Blagojevich.

It was the second time in four months that Daley sang like a fake bird poking out of a clock when asked a question about Blagojevich.

Since the first "cuckoo" proclamation last September, Blagojevich has been arrested on federal corruption charges, impeached by the Illinois House and called to stand trial in the state Senate.

Blagojevich is calling the trial a sham, saying it's an attempt to get him out of the way so state lawmakers can raise taxes. At his news conference today, Daley was asked about that.

"I said 'cuckoo' once, I'll say it again," Daley said said. "Cuckoo."

As the media and his staff laughed, the mayor smiled and walked out of the room, ending the news conference on that note.

Back in September, Daley sang "cuckoo" to the media when asked about Blagojevich's claim that CTA President Ron Huberman was being dishonest about the financial impact of the governor's mandate of free rides for seniors in an effort to justify fare increases.

 

[elvis]

These policians are more crooked than the Chicago outfit.

 

[Annie]

These policians are more crooked than the Chicago outfit.

There the same folks or the frontmen/bagmen.

 

[Annie]

Tribune editorial reply. I think part of the reason that Blago is going 'national' is that the rest of the country is aware of the senate seat sale attempt, there is so much more:

Thanks, Governor | Vox Pop

Thanks, Governor
Gov. Rod Blagojevich said on Friday that he can't get a fair trial in the Illinois Senate, and he called on the Tribune editorial board to defend him.

Here's our Saturday editorial. For more thoughts-and our Sunday editorial-see the next item.

Here in Chicago specifically, I’m calling on the Chicago Tribune editorial board, and the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board. Get involved. Write editorials. Urge the state Senate leadership to change those rules. Give me a chance as the governor of this state to be able to put my case on, show my innocence and show that I’ve done mostly the right thing for the people of Illinois. But I can’t do it unless the editorial boards weigh in and call on those lawmakers to follow the Constitution.

—Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Jan. 23, 2008​


We’re relieved that the governor of Illinois took time Friday to express renewed faith in the Tribune editorial board. One of the last times he voiced his thoughts about us—according to an FBI recording of Nov. 4—we sensed that he was distancing himself: “Our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get ’em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support.”

Time heals. On Friday a mellower Blagojevich invited us to opine that legislators are railroading him out of Springfield: The rules are stacked against him, he can’t defend himself, he can’t call as witnesses some of the folks with whom he discussed filling Barack Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate.

Governor, this is the wrong case for you to allege a conspiracy to get you fired. How so?

Yes, it’s crucial that fairness suffuse impeachment proceedings, just as it’s crucial that fairness suffuse what happens in courts of law. If we thought you were being driven from office unfairly, we’d say so with gusto.

We’ve done that before. In 1998 we opposed the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton on the grounds that his offenses didn’t merit removal from office.

A year before that, we had opposed the impeachment of then-Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice James Heiple. Here’s the key passage from an editorial of April 5, 1997: “It is a grave step, placing the legislature in judgment of the executive or, in this case, the judiciary. It should be reserved for cases in which an official is incapable of performing his job or has so discredited himself that his ability to serve is hopelessly impaired. This case does not meet such a standard.”

But your case, Governor, does meet that standard: You have demonstrated amply that you are incapable of performing your job. And you have so discredited yourself that your ability to serve is hopelessly impaired.

That’s why we urged the Illinois House to impeach you. And that’s why, after examining the Illinois Senate’s trial rules and your complaints about them, we don’t see the unfairness you allege.

We’ll have more to say about that, Governor, in a Sunday editorial.

You were correct Friday in observing that the Chicago Tribune has a history of siding with victims of unfairness. In this case, those victims are the citizens of Illinois—not the governor who repeatedly abused them.

 

[Annie]

Looks like the cuckoo is getting himself set for a world of hurt:

Gov's criminal case lawyer to resign - Chicago Breaking News

Gov's criminal case lawyer to resign
January 23, 2009 5:38 PM | 30 Comments | UPDATED STORY
Edward Genson, the lead attorney for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said he intends to withdraw as the governor's lawyer in the criminal case.
Genson, who has been practicing law for 44 years, made a brief statement to reporters after a hearing this afternoon in federal court, where a judge had just ruled that four undercover recordings of the governor from the criminal investigation could be turned over to the state legislature.

"I never require a client to do what I say," said Genson, who was accompanied by fellow Blagojevich lawyer Sheldon Sorosky. "But I do require them to at least listen."

"I wish the governor good luck and Godspeed," he added.

Asked about the status of the $500,000 that records show he has been paid from Blagojevich campaign funds, Genson said:

"The answer to that is that it's none of your guys' business."

Genson would have to file paperwork to formally withdraw from the case.

 

[editec]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the more it become a fact beyond question that Blago is guilty as hell, according to the talking heads, the less I am convinced of it.

I'm sensing a political assassination by media propaganda, here, folks.

The dogpiling by the media is disgusting

 

[Annie]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the more it become a fact beyond question that Blago is guilty as hell, according to the talking heads, the less I am convinced of it.

I'm sensing a political assassination by media propaganda, here, folks.

The dogpiling by the media is disgusting

You haven't lived with him or his predecessor for the past 15 years. Our state is a shambles. At least Ryan spoke with the legislature, Blago has gone to war with them. Nothing is getting done in this state, though among the most heavily taxed. Roads falling apart, bridges too. The amount of corruption has always been high here, but now to the point where people are very angry.

 

[editec]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the more it become a fact beyond question that Blago is guilty as hell, according to the talking heads, the less I am convinced of it.

I'm sensing a political assassination by media propaganda, here, folks.

The dogpiling by the media is disgusting

You haven't lived with him or his predecessor for the past 15 years. Our state is a shambles. At least Ryan spoke with the legislature, Blago has gone to war with them. Nothing is getting done in this state, though among the most heavily taxed. Roads falling apart, bridges too. The amount of corruption has always been high here, but now to the point where people are very angry.

Great...then impeach him for incompetence and be done with it..

But to date, I have yet to hear anything that rose to the charge of corruption that they keep implying, but not proving.

If they have this evidence, then they ought to remove him from office, charge him and whosoever was involved and take him to trial for his crimes.

 

[Annie]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the more it become a fact beyond question that Blago is guilty as hell, according to the talking heads, the less I am convinced of it.

I'm sensing a political assassination by media propaganda, here, folks.

The dogpiling by the media is disgusting

You haven't lived with him or his predecessor for the past 15 years. Our state is a shambles. At least Ryan spoke with the legislature, Blago has gone to war with them. Nothing is getting done in this state, though among the most heavily taxed. Roads falling apart, bridges too. The amount of corruption has always been high here, but now to the point where people are very angry.

Great...then impeach him for incompetence and be done with it..

But to date, I have yet to hear anything that rose to the charge of corruption that they keep implying, but not proving.

If they have this evidence, then they ought to remove him from office, charge him and whosoever was involved and take him to trial for his crimes.

Because the people do not want to wait for the criminal trial to prove what you want. Full pdf of articles of impeachment here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2009-01/44419149.pdf The trial in Senate begins Monday. If he chooses not to attend, could be finished by next Friday.

 

[Deva]

This man is an example of the kind of politician that should be taken out in public and shot. Period.

 

[editec]

This man is an example of the kind of politician that should be taken out in public and shot. Period.

He might be...there's a whole lotta that going on in American politics.

Of course those who are really good at it, we worship and adore.

 

[DavidS]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the more it become a fact beyond question that Blago is guilty as hell, according to the talking heads, the less I am convinced of it.

I'm sensing a political assassination by media propaganda, here, folks.

The dogpiling by the media is disgusting

This isn't exactly difficult to prove. They have TAPES of him, actual recordings of him trying to sell Obama's senate seat. There is no political assassination going on here. He tried to sell Obama's senate seat. They have proof of this. This is pretty open and shut here.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Hey.....it's a classic political move........

Get caught doing something wrong, then deny that it ever happened, then, paint yourself as the victim.

Next? Start standing up in front of the media every chance you get. Quote platitudes and tell everyone how you've fought for the people, as well as paint those persecuting you as the truly evil ones. Now Blowjob Bitch (Blagojavich), is starting to tell everyone that those who are going after him are doing so because they were against tax cuts.

He's using every excuse in the book people........

Nixon tried to do it, Clinton DID do it, and so did Bush Jr.

Oh yeah........Larry Craig did it also.........

What the fuck? Do these politicians get a handbook given to them on the first day of their freshman class as to how to screw others and steal?

Incidentally, I'm starting to think that all politicians are demon possessed..........

Why? Simple......in the Bible, the Devil is called the Prosecutor. It's also reflected in the story The Devil and Daniel Webster, which is to say that most demons don't lie to you, they confuse you with words and double speak.

Kinda like lawyers.

And, since most politicians are former lawyers, I'd be willing to say that our current political system is rife with demons.

 

[Annie]

What our esteemed governor is up to with his media blitz:

As the stakes sharpen, Blago bares his fangs -- chicagotribune.com

chicagotribune.com

As the stakes sharpen, Blago bares his fangs

John Kass

January 25, 2009


Even as the Illinois Senate prepared to drive a stake into Gov. Rod Blagojevich's political heart at his preordained impeachment trial beginning Monday, the governor rose from his coffin to demonstrate he's neither dead nor cuckoo, and so was transformed.

Once he was Gov. Dead Meat, quoting English poets, one foot in the grave. But in a media blitz on Friday, he was born again, this time as Gov. Nosferatu, the political walking dead, still quite dead but animated and of clear mind, posing a threat to the other political bloodsuckers in our state.

Gov. Nosferatu called attention to the plans of his fellow Democrats to slam through an income tax increase once they remove him, and a move by the road builders for another tax. And he went so far as to pressure President Barack Obama by demanding he be allowed to call the president's political operatives as witnesses, which the legislature has denied him as per the request of U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald, so as not to damage the pending criminal case against the governor.

All day Friday, he was speaking to three audiences at once:

•The public, arguing he was not being treated fairly;

•The media, including the Chicago Tribune, which he is accused of threatening, asking them to champion his cause;

•And the politicians, dropping enough hints about the road builders and so on to let them know he's now dangerous and about to go nuclear.

These are not the calculations of a madman, but a governor hinting at the corruption of his fellows, and for this they call him cuckoo...

 

[editec]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the more it become a fact beyond question that Blago is guilty as hell, according to the talking heads, the less I am convinced of it.

I'm sensing a political assassination by media propaganda, here, folks.

The dogpiling by the media is disgusting

This isn't exactly difficult to prove. They have TAPES of him, actual recordings of him trying to sell Obama's senate seat.

Do they? I haven't heard them.

What I have heard is sound blurbs taken out of context.

Taking your words out of context I can prove that you are a Moslem terrorist, too, but that doesn't mean you are, does it?

There is no political assassination going on here. He tried to sell Obama's senate seat. They have proof of this. This is pretty open and shut here.

Have you actaully heard this proof, or are you counting on the sound blurbs to adaquately describe the full point and purpose of these conversations?

Look, the guy looks guilty as hell to me, too.

But then there's the whole problem of the fact that none of us have heard ENOUGH of these tapes to actually KNOW what he meant.

Sopund blurbs taken out of context can be used to prove pretty much anything you want them to prove, amigo.

The fact that Blago isn't being allowed to mount a real defence in his impeachment is, I think, rather troubling.