Breaking: Senate Dems ask Blago to quit

At least Harry Reid has shown some integrity in this instance. Also, he has pointed out the one thing the Senate can do--Exercise Article 1, section 5. That should be a sufficient deterrent.

I'm surprised that Durbin didn't mention it. But your mention that Durbin previously said that resignation was premature shows his weaselly nature. I would say that Durbin should resign over this and the Ryan letter, except that would give Blago two appointments for the Senate to reject.

And right after this letter, Durbin wrote President Bush and asked him to add Blago to his previous pardon request for Ryan.

There is no leadership in this county, city or state.

One of the first things Republicans are trying to do is associate Obama with Blagojevich (big surprise) which really shows why Obama shouldn't try to be so engaging with the Republicans. They don't appreciate it, and they don't deserve it from now on.

In the coming days, as Republicans try to manufacture links between the incoming administration and Blagojevich, it will be important to remember this fact: Not only was there no link between Blagojevich's corruption and the Obama team, but Blagojevich cursed out Obama for not being willing to play ball.

In fact, as Blagojevich was trying to enrich himself, President-elect Obama was working to get this economy back on track after eight years of disastrous Republican leadership.

Yet even as Democrats across the board are calling for Blagojevich to resign or to be impeached, even as most Americans want to see Blagojevich behind bars so we can adddress this nation's great and pressing challenges, Republicans want to drag this out -- purely for partisan gain.

In other times, this kind of a gambit might just work. But not now. Not in the middle of the Bush Recession. Just like John McCain crashed and burned, so to will Republicans who head down this path. There is no surer route to political irrelevancy for their Party than to obsessively try to fan the flames of political outrage at the same time that there is so much important work to be done.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIt_QbLfnlc
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This is the business of the citizens of the State of Illinois not the United State's Senate. We will clean up our own mess. This letter implies that all citizens of the State are criminals.

After all that has happened, if this chuckle head has to be asked to quit, I think he's unlikely to do it soon. This may go all the way to the beginning of impeachment.

When the shoe .came down on Blagojevich the sound you heard was a loud thud. The shuffling of feet were then heard as others tied to him started running for the door. T When the shoe a loud thud.
Then the retractions started so as to cover heir butts. Now were are getting Durbin flip-flopping. Everyone wants to put as much distance between the governor and themselves as possible. Maybe the house of cards will start to tumble in IL and the people can go on to something better.
It only goes to prove that everyone should analyze whom them are voting for before they exercise their 'right' to vote. Informed citizens make wise choices but, unfortunately, many vote the way they are told to vote by unions, friends, relatives, newspapers, etc. and are swayed by "celebrities" and "entertainers".
Start thinking for yourself.

"One of the first things Republicans are trying to do is associate Obama with Blagojevich (big surprise) which really shows why "

And where was your concern about unfair claims of association when the Obama campaign ran against McCain calling him another George Bush? That was even more farfetched than a Blag - Obama relationship. How about when every republican candidate down to dog catcher was labelled a "Newt Gingrich" back in the 90's and early 00's? You Dem hypocrites have absolutely zero shame. Pathetic....

Agree
Durbin lost most or all of his credibality asking for Ryan's release.

I moved to Chicago several years ago and after 6 years moved away. The one thing that never ceased to amaze me was the amount of pride that locals took in their political machine and it seemed that every other month some mayor, alderman, etc was being indicted for something or other. To which people would respond to my inquires with "Oh well, that's Chicago politics" or something else equally inane response.

Some probably want him to resign before he drags some of them into the mess.

I think Mr. Reid and the nit wit dems better check to consitution of the US on this one.

Good job Senator Durbin and Senator Reid. This governor is impotent at this time.
From Thomas Jefferson:
"When [the moral sense] is wanting, we endeavor to supply the defect by education, by appeals to reason and calculation, by presenting to the being so unhappily conformed, other motives to do good and to eschew evil, such as the love, or the hatred, or the rejection of those among whom he lives, and whose society is necessary to his happiness and even existence; demonstrations by sound calculation that honesty promotes interest in the long run; the rewards and penalties established by the laws; and ultimately the prospects of a future state of retribution for the evil as well as the good done while here. These are the correctives which are supplied by education, and which exercise the functions of the moralist, the preacher, and legislator; and they lead into a course of correct action all those whose depravity is not too profound to be eradicated." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law, 1814. ME 14:142

Shazam. democrats NOT standing beside/with democrats. "Change" and "Hope", all within the same predicament. There's is "hope" here, America.

YOU PEOPLE THAT DONT THINK OBAMA AND BLAGOJEVICH ARE NOT TIED AT THE HIP JUST DONT KNOW HOW CHICAGO IS RUN.

"And where was your concern about unfair claims of association when the Obama campaign ran against McCain calling him another George Bush?"

Not sure if those comparisons were so unfair if McCain voted with Bush 93% of the time.

Let's see, Durbin wants to set Ryan free, yesterday Durbin said calls for Blagojevich to step down were premature.
I can't but help to think that the only reason Durbin changed his tune was because he got a call from Reid with an 'or else' alternative attached.

Chris: Your party created this kind of situation, not the Democrats. Thanks to Lee Atwater and his paranoid, anti-social campaign tactics, the Republican party became a cesspool. Stop trying to make everything a game of he said, she said. Lee Atwater ruined the Republican party, right on down to the present day.

Dear Governor:
Please resign, to help me avoid trying to remember how to spell your name.

I'm afraid you are helping to perpetrate a large misconception: that
the U.S. Senate has a blanket power to refuse to seat a new Senator.
Though everyone in Washington appears to think this, it actually
stopped being true in 1969. The Supreme Court ruled 7-1 that Congress
"has no power to exclude a member-elect who meets the Constitution's
membership requirements." Those specified membership requirements are
simply age, citizenship and being a resident of the state.
http://supreme.justia.com/us/395/486/index.html
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=395&invol=486

That ruling has never been challenged, there have been no attempts to
reject a new Senator since then, and the 17th Amendment gives
governors the right to appoint replacement Senators. So the current
Supreme Court is likely to ask Harry Reid, "Which part of 'has no
power to exclude' is unclear?"

The Governor would be foolish to resign-
Why
He would loose his clout, if any
His fat salary
His airplane
His 24 hour body guards-
Legal expense?

Knowing Blagojevich he is trying to get a deal to offer his resignation.

Victor: that's quite a broad and unfounded accusation you're making. Your demand to "stop trying to make everything a game of he said, she said" is rather hypocritical based on the tone of your comment. The fact is both parties are to blame for this increasingly nasty environment of partisan politics. And things will only get worse if Obama doesn't engage the centrist leaning members of the Republican party, contrary to MXZ's ax-grinding comment above.

It's natural that Obama and many of his staff have crossed paths with the players in this scandal. But according to Lynn Sweet of the Tribune, who has followed Obama for some time and is not a sycophant, says the campaign put a mile between itself and Blagojevich, not even allowing him to speak at the Democratic convention. They are not close.

Hypocritical Republicans just automatically spew this stuff out, it's in their DNA and it doesn't really mean anything.

Regardless of the fact that the Republicans just spent 8 years wearing themselves out looting and pillaging the public treasury, some of them even going to jail for it. They are very good at running guilt by association propaganda scams (Ayers, Wright, ACORN). It used to work too --- people would either simply assume that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, or forget that it was Republicans who made a fetish out of K Street lobbying and even passed out checks on the House floor and lay it all at the feet of the Democrats. It's part of the GopSoviet airbrushing of the Bush years.

Kudos to Obama for pushing for that legislation getting rid of these pay to play schemes. That Blagojevich was caught in part because he was scrambling to stuff his campaign's pockets before legislation (which Obama was apparently instrumental in passing) went into effect should be included in all media analysis of this story.

If Bolgo had any concern for the welfare of the State of Illinois we would not have this issue. So, don't hold your breath waiting for him to step aside or resign. It will take Impeachment to remove him since we cannot recall him. Corruption is not limited to any political party as we have seen in Illinois. 1 Republican down & 1 Democrat to go (soon I hope)

Once again we see complete Democratic corruption. That party is eaten alive with common criminals. Probably explains why they have lost 7 of the last elections for the white house. Obama's fingerprints are all over this. Funny how the rats start running for cover when the lights are turned on. Welcome to "Change You Can Believe In" America.

"And where was your concern about unfair claims of association when the Obama campaign ran against McCain calling him another George Bush?"

The difference, Chris, is that is the truth. I know, I know, neocons don['t care about the truth, but the rest of us do.

The GOP's main line of attack during the general election: baseless 'guilt by association' smears which created zero jobs, provided health insurance for zero citizens, and educated zero children. Now, during the transition, what's the best way to take Obama down a peg according to the head of the RNC? More baseless 'guilt by association' smears. That's like bingeing on ice cream in an effort to lose weight (I've tried it; it doesn't work!).

We saw this garbage from the Repugs during the campaign too. There were all sorts of "unanswered questions" about Obama's "association" with William Ayers and Tony Rezko. The Republicans didn't have any direct evidence of wrongdoing, so they tried to bait Obama into providing evidence against himself by prattling on and on and on about "unanswered questions."

He didn't take the bait then, and he won't now. May the Blagojevich case go forward, and the chips fall where they may.

I agree with Paul (above). Reid’s letter is interesting, but I don’t think the Senate has the power Reid claims to exclude an appointee if Blagojevich goes ahead and makes an appointment before being ousted from power. The U.S. Constitution grants the executive of the State the power to issue writs of election to fill a senate vacancy unless the state legislature “empower[s] the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.” (U.S. Const., Amend. XVII, Section 2.) If State law already grants Blagojevich the power to make that appointment, as it appears to, one must presume he will continue to have that power until he is either removed from office or otherwise deprived of that power by the state legislature - if possible. I say “if possible” because, presumably, the governor could veto any legislation stripping him of the power of appointment, which would then necessitate a legislative override.
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As Paul also indicated, Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969), is dispositive of the validity of Harry Reid’s threatened exclusion of an appointee. In Powell, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Congress' power under Article I, Section 5, to judge the "Qualifications of its Members" is limited to judging the standing qualifications expressly set forth in the Constitution. Thus, neither House of Congress has the power to exclude a duly elected (or appointed) member who otherwise meets the Constitution's membership requirements. (Id., at 518-548, 550.) Furthermore, Article I, Section 5 only provides for expulsion as a punishment for the misconduct of an already seated member. This was view of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661, 669-70 (1897), where the U.S. Supreme Court, speaking of the constitutional powers of the Senate said, “The right to expel extends to all cases where the offense is such as in the judgment of the senate is inconsistent with the trust and duty of a member.” Accordingly, if Blagojevich appoints someone who meets the Constitution’s requirement for membership in the Senate, Reid’s (or the Senate’s) sheer displeasure with the appointment cannot provide grounds for a valid Article I, Section 5 exclusion. Also, expulsion would not lie because it only applies to seated members and, in any event, would require proof that the appointee committed some offense inconsistent with his or her trust and duty as a Senator. Displeasure with Blagojevich doesn’t count.
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It is, however, possible that one further remedy would exist to counter a Blagojevich appointment. The Seventeenth Amendment (quoted above) only grants the legislature the power to “empower the executive … to make temporary appointments . . .” Thereafter, the appointee serves “until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.” Thus, the way I read this, the Illinois legislature might call for an immediate election after the appointment is made to replace the governor’s appointee. It might be more expensive, but necessary all the same.

AN OPEN LETTER TO GOV. GOBLOWYABICH:

I hate you, your wife, your family, your friends, your thugs, your dog, the roaches in your walls and even the squirrels that play in your yard. I wish we had a bit of Chinese justice where corrupt politicians are punished worse than drug dealers, rapists and murderers: they are publicly excecuted to serve as an example to the rest of scum bag politicians!

I hope you do fight this to the bitter end. You deserve to be impeached and disgracefully thrown out of office. Your end should be as ugly as possible so that maybe the rest of the thug politicians in this state will wake up and scurry out of the light of justice like the cockroaches they are. Your humiliation should know no bounds. In the end you should serve your time not in club fed but next to rapists, murderers and pedophiles...Ponitac prison would suffice.

Do us a favor and show the world the coward you really are and turn on all of the scumbag politicians and worthless corrupt bureaucrats who have helped turn this state into the joke of the world. Then, maybe your children might be able to suck up some amount of pitiful pride in their father. Maybe your children might find solace that at least daddy helped bring about the end of corrption in IL politics by outing all of his corrupt friends. I hope their tears end up drowning you.

Merry Christmas you dirtbag waste of life. You have hurt this state in everyway possible and will continue to do so even when all you are taking from us is our precious oxygen.

Asking Governor Blockhead to resign is a waste of time.

Impeach the S.O.B. P.D.Q.

well this is really nice contest. worth watching.

From Obama.com

"Make White House Communications Public: Obama will amend executive orders to ensure that communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public.

Conduct Regulatory Agency Business in Public: Obama will require his appointees who lead the executive branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can see in person or watch on the Internet these debates.

Release Presidential Records: Obama and Biden will nullify the Bush attempts to make the timely release of presidential records more difficult. "

Right out of the gate, he is ignoring his own promises. The first thing his staff does is clam up. This man is a fraud. His plan to bring sunshine to all Federal government operations was the only thing I liked about hime. Now that promise has been exposed for what it is, self-serving false claims of integrity and forthrightness. He sounds good, he looks good, but who is he, really?