I'm going to put it right up front: I think it is wrong to try to auction off a senate seat. There it is. You can think I'm some kind of uneducated, backwards black and white thinking fool. But it is wrong and it is illegal. And something should be done beyond hounding Blagojevich out of office.
Not everyone agrees with me. From
Newsbusters I have a quote from Chuck Todd's column "Regardless of how we rail against Blagojevich, at the heart of all politics is pay to play. Yes. There's a thin line between expectations and shakedown. But do any of us really believe that the people who raise huge sums of money for a particular political candidate aren't expecting something for their efforts? Do we relly believe that a person who is vested with the power to give away a Senate seat isn't going to give it to the person who will somehow do him or her the most good?"
On MTP today with Todd was Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun Times. who said, "Reality check. Pay to play, everybody knows it. Even, not just in politics. Office politics. Pay to play. You know, if you know the boss, and you need something from the boss, he is going to look around and find the person who is going to do him the most good. He's not going
to hire, put somebody in a place of power that isn't doing him any good. That's the world. That's how the world works. But, there is a line. You got to know how to play the game. And Blagojevich, Governor Blagojevich was tacky in playing the game. That's what people are upset about. They are embarrassed that this man had the nerve to get caught on the wiretap using foul language, actually giving voice to, you know, the wink and nod thing. He didn't just wink and nod, he actually tried to shake people down according to the wiretaps."
Also from Newsbusters I have the story of Mike Barnicle claiming that the Blagojevich story is boring him and he wants to move on to something else. Barnicle says, "I'm going to have to tape my eyelids open with this story . . . because I mean this is getting pretty tedious, this attempted link with Obama and Blagojevich. It's getting pretty tedious. " This inanity came just after Barnicle had assured the world that any action in this matter by Rahm Emanuel will be found to be "above board." This when he has no more information about Emanuel than you or I. So I guess we have to put that down to magical thinking. It was noted that Jon Mecham, the editor of Newsweek, sat listening and nodding approval.
All of these people lack a moral compass. The fact that they can excuse the inexcusable just to try and save Obama any trouble says it all. They are incompetent to speak on public matters. Maybe other Democrats love what they are saying and want to hear more such BS but they do not belong among civilized men. And their disgusting performances bodes ill for the Democratparty and for America.
