Trading the Senate Post

This may be old news at this point - I am reading it all over the place now. But I love Some Have Hat's intro and concluding paragraph. Here is a cut and paste from her blog. She posts so frequently that this post is now buried under a few others. I wanted to be able to easily reference this article. I wonder what will happen next.

The Governor of Illinois was driving me nuts yesterday at his press conference in his black leather "just one of the folks" blazer. Referring to possible wiretaps, he said that it "has smells like Nixon and Watergate. As you might imagine, I was yelling at the television, "Nixon was GUILTY you moron." How can someone be governor of Illinois and make such a stupid analogy.

Well, turns out the joke's on me. It was a perfect analogy!

The criminal complaint filed today against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich contains a remarkable section detailing the Democratic politician's alleged attempt to cash in on his ability to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. The U.S. District Court complaint, which is excerpted below, alleges that Blagojevich was caught on FBI wiretaps noting that the Senate seat "is a f***ing valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing." He was also recorded saying that unless "I get something real good," he would appoint himself to the vacancy. "I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I'm saying. And if I don't get what I want and I'm not satisfied with it, then I'll just take the Senate seat myself." According to the surreptitiously recorded conversations, Blagojevich spoke with associates about the possibility of trading the Senate post for either an ambassadorship or a Cabinet post. The Democratic politician, according to the affidavit sworn by FBI Agent Daniel Cain, "analogized his situation to that of a sports agent shopping a potential free agent to various teams." Blagojevich, 51, and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested this morning on political corruption charges. [source]

My husband wants to know if he will still be able to make the appointment from prison. I'm thinking no, but I also think we'd better brush up on these kinds of legal questions. I have a hunch they will become less rare as the decade goes on.

The next sound you hear will be the Obamaniacs yelling about his lack of friendship with Blagojevich.

He's just a guy from the neighborhood.