Get FREE BuzzFlash News Alerts

Email:  
Home

'What's wrong with Illinois politics?' Obama's Reply

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 12/11/2008 - 12:08pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Christine Bowman

Following a press conference today announcing Tom Daschle's nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services, President-elect Barack Obama faced reporters' questions regarding corruption charges against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Obama reiterated that he was "appalled and disappointed" by what he had heard in the FBI transcripts and said, "I did not speak to the Governor."

Obama Press Conference 12/11/08Source: Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images

The President-elect said that in the next few days his transition team will finish their internal review of any possible contacts that may have occurred with the Illinois governor or his agents in recent weeks and promised to share that information. He said flatly, there had been "no deal making." 

"I won't quote back any of the things said about me," Obama said drawing laughs, a reference to obscene insults hurled by the Governor and recorded by the FBI.

Mike Flannery, political editor of CBS 2 Chicago, asked Obama, "What's wrong with Illinois politics?"

The President-elect gave a lengthy reply, framing his answer in terms of what's wrong with politics in general nationwide. Obama contrasted the tradition and spirit of politics as service to the cynical view of politics as a business propelled by the question, "What's in it for me?"

"Our whole campaign was about changing that view of politics," he asserted, adding that his presidential race sought to model a more idealistic, service-driven version of  politics. His campaign hoped to demonstrate, "You can get elected by doing the right thing."

Obama cited the honorable tradition of Illinois lawmakers Abraham Lincoln, Paul Simon, Paul Douglas, and Dick Durbin as a contrast to the disturbing alternative of using politics as a "means of self-aggrandizing."

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT




»

Politics just keeps getting

Submitted by Lisa O on Fri, 12/12/2008 - 11:35pm.
Politics just keeps getting dirtier and dirtier, especially in Illinois. Bad morals will eventually catch up with you. It was payday for Rod Blagojevich who along with his chief of staff John Harris was arrested Tuesday morning on several charges by the FBI. I was shocked to hear that Governor Rod Blagojevich had been arrested as this is the second time in a row that an Illinois governor has been arrested on federal charges. The governor who preceded him was George Ryan who was indicted on federal charges as well. Blagojevich was apparently trying to sell the senate seat being vacated by president elect Barack Obama who resigned from the senate after he won the November 4th election. Apparently, according to Illinois state law, it is the governor's job to fill the seat and governor Blagojevich saw the opportunity to use his power to leverage some additional amenities for himself. According to the news, Blagojevich was hoping to get a substantially higher salary, a position on the board for his wife, a cabinet post and more in exchange for his choice of a senate replacement. Looks like the governor got a little greedy. The FBI apparently has been on to him for awhile as they filed a seventy six page indictment against both Blagojevich and Harris. It was reported that a court ordered wire tap got him on tape last month. The Residents of Illinois will have to wait patiently for the outcome as the governor professed that everything he has said, both in public and in private, has always been lawful. Hopes are high but times look tough for both Blagojevich and his cohort John Harris as they might not get to see their next payday in office. Click to read more on Blagojevich courtesy of Personal Money Store's Payday Loan News.
»

What is wrong is a state with more than 100 years

Submitted by grolaw on Fri, 12/12/2008 - 8:16am.

Of criminal pols.

Indict, try, convict, appeal, habeas and then send them up for Life without parole, forfeiture of all assets, isolation in prison (no calls, mail, visitors) and plant the withered corpse in an unmarked grave on prison grounds - and in another 100 years the crooks won't have such a prominent presence in IL politics.

"In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying."
- Bertrand Russell -

»