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Governor Rod Blagojevich has scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference where he'll publicly address for the first time his arrest from last week on federal corruption charges. He'll speak from the Thompson Center downtown but it's not known if he'll field questions. This should be fun, so we'll be live-blogging the event.
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Great. I may try to run upstairs to see what he going to say if I can get in.
Oh, sure. He picks the one day when everyone's attention is diverted by the snowstorm, hoping that whatever lameness
he spouts will go unnoticed.
Very clever, Rod.
It's slippery genius politicking, as the weather will minimize the attendance of hecklers, protesters, and the cacophonous calls for his head.
Hope he drops the F bomb a lot. That would be great.
Is it in a public space? Anyone know where I can get a cheap pie?
Am I the only one that feels that somehow Rod is going to get out of this or drag the process out until the media finds something more interesting to cover?
I bet he will blame his arrest on the media and his political enemies, and say something about wanting to get back to the "work of the people of Illinois" or some other drivel.
I wouldn't expect him to take questions, but he won't give any real answers if questions are allowed anyway.
^totally mss2400
what a total fuck.
just resign already, you lost blago.
I'd like to ask all of you something: Are any of you somewhat amazed at times at how much context is lost when people post comments on blogs? I don't mean Chicagoist, I mean online articles and news sites that allow comments.
Two things that have amazed me in the past two weeks have dealt with vocal inflections in statements made by Fitzgerald and Obama or his team, and how they've been interpreted by people.
First, Obama haters are running wild with their interpretations of Fitzgerald saying "Obama is not a subject in "this" investigation. They take it to mean, "he's not a subject in this particular investigation, but that means he must be a subject in another investigation.
Secondly, I think that there's been rampant misinterpretation - I hope it's nothing but this - about Rahm Emanuel and other staff and if they spoke to Blagojevich about the senate seat. I believe that Obama and/or his staff have said "Rahm never spoke to Blagojevich [about pay to play]," but he could in fact have simply talked to him about who would be a good pick. Surely the latter of these two is a frequent and ethical practice? Or is even suggestive influence crossing the line?
The anti-Obama world is going crazy thinking that Obama and Rahm have their hands in this when they likely have done nothing out of line, and the public just has no knowledge of these processes in the first place.
@The Curmudgeon: No, I'm not amazed by that. I think that's par for the course.
$100 to anyone who throws a shoe at His Hairness. Who'll match it?
@Thecurmudgeon:
There's a distinct difference between Emmanuel having a conversation with Blagojevich about candidates and what Rod went and did, which was to stick a "for sale" sign in the seat.
It's academic. The people who hate Obama over this hated him long before this. Nothing is going to sway them.
Look, if Bush had found WMDs in Iraq, or managed an actual response to Katrina or showed even the vaguest stewardship of the economy, I'd give him credit where it was due. The entrenched are going to spend the next 4-8 years hating the man whether he crashes or soars.
@ontology:
I would absolutely shit myself laughing.
But the hair...the hair would NOT MOVE.
mitchapalooza, I have the same feeling. His crimes seem like they're on the edge of slimeball but legal and slimeball + illegal.
I like that the impeachment team is focussing on other older stuff, even if they only work 2 days a week.
Garlic:
The question I have--and perhaps someone can explain it to me--is if the impeachment team is focusing on older stuff to get him removed from office, why didn't they do this sooner, before the criminal complaint?
I am guessing it is because none of the politicians had the balls to do it earlier, at risk of looking bad themselves, at risk of tarnishing their own political careers, but maybe there is a better explanation.
I am guessing it is because none of the politicians had the balls to do it earlier, at risk of looking bad themselves, at risk of tarnishing their own political careers, but maybe there is a better explanation.
I think that is some of it, but I also think, this being Illinois, there wasn't enough political upside for the leaders in the GA to impeach our useless smurf gov. until recently. It's not like any of our important leaders have acted like public servants at all in the last few years. (Sorry, but until recently, people such as Quinn, who seems relatively honest, were not important as they had no real power.)