Before an earthquake or a big storms hits, animals are said to act quite strangely. Politicians must share this premonitory gene with our friends in the animal kingdom. On Monday, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich got his face all over national newscasts as part of a union's occupation of a Chicago factory that had apparently gone under. Dressed in proletarian costume, Blagojevich boasted that Bank of America would not get any state business until they extended the beleaguered factory's line of credit. Tuesday, after having wrapped himself in laid off workers (read: props) and posed against the big evil bankers, Blagojevich again finds himself on national newscasts--accused of numerous acts of corruption, including an attempt to sell the vacant Illinois senate seat to the highest bidder. The chain of events bears a curious resemblance to the downfall of Blagojevich's predecessor, Governor George Ryan, who now resides in a federal prison camp in Indiana. Before his downfall, Ryan issued a moratorium on capital punishment. One of his last acts before the ax fell was to clear death row of all its inhabitants through his power of commutation. This made him appear noble in some circles, but thankfully did not save him from a guilty verdict on corruption charges. Trent Lott's spidey sense kicked in after he opined that America would have been better served had former segregationist Strom Thurmond been elected president. The Senate Majority Leader immediately offered to rethink his stance on affirmative action as an act of contrition. This political spidey sense is probably just another way of throwing oneself upon the mercy of the court of public opinion, which is generally ruled by liberals who despise bankers and the death penalty, but love unemployed union workers and affirmative action. It's a healthy sign that such acts of desparation rarely work.
Rarely "work" in what sense, Dan? Do you mean that unjust executions are a good thing? I'm not sure I get your meaning here.
Do you think it was a good thing that BofA got a 25 billion dollar handout from the government and then went around stomping the little guy?
I seem to recall a parable from the bible along these lines which ends up with the guy who is unjust to the little guy getting sacked, or thrown into prison...?
Blago is scum, and Ryan was corrupt. That doesn't mean that the causes they cloak themselves in are worthy of contempt.
Their embrace of these causes were a cynical attempt to manipulate liberal sympathy. You ask if I think "unjust executions" are a good thing. No. I don't, but Governor Ryan uniformly emptied death row. There's something unjust about one man nullifying scores of jury verdicts by whim. The Bank of America threat is a gross display of power politics, with Blagojevich telling BofA to make a bad loan--the type of loan that got us into the mess we're in--or else he would bar the state from doing business with the bank. If you read the site, you know that I was a very vocal opponent of the banker bailout. I am also an opponent of political pressure on private entities to partake in politicized moves that would undermine their businesses, e.g., make more environmentally-friendly cars that don't sell, provide loans to people who show no capacity to pay them back, etc.
Bitch set me up. 'prolly set him up too...
