It's been amusing watching the media try to turn a scandal affecting the governor of Illinois into a scandal affecting the president-elect. Every detail was milked for maximum ominousness: a recent handshake between Obama and Blagojevich, a list of favored replacement candidates delivered by Rahm Emanuel, Rahm's "beet-red" face, David Axelrod's work for Blago in the 90s. All inflated to fill a sparse news cycle. But wouldn't it have been weird if Obama hadn't shaken Blago's hand, and weirder still if he'd shown no interest in who his successor would be? Trying to turn any of this into a suspicion of pay-to-play carries about as much weight as the Obama citizenship case. Sorry, guys, but Blagojevich said it all: the Obama people were "not willing to give me anything except appreciation."
At the heart of it all, is money -- as is the case in about 49 other states, regardless of all the television chatter Tuesday about a peculiarly "Chicago" brand of corruption.
The worst thing the governor could do is appoint an obscure member of Congress who promptly loses the seat to the opposing party--exactly what happened the last time a New York governor appointed a senator.
Our companies are not in the energy business, but both of them are making substantial investments in energy efficiency and clean power, not just to be good corporate citizens but because it's good for the bottom line.
Look at Blagojevich's life and his checkered tenure as Governor, and the amorality that led him to hang a For Sale sign on the Illinois statehouse door seems to have been part of his character for a very long time.
You're being forced to watch a commercial at the movies for a war there's a 50% chance you despise. And Kid Rock is in it, and he's browbeating you about how he's a better citizen than you are.
Snarky gossip bloggers, take heed: you will never have a better knack for cutting people down than Don Rickles does, and you owe much of your success to the groundwork laid by him.
Here are the worst of them--the trends that won't die despite our cultural outrage, and personal boredom.
I am from Chicago, and, so, having been disillusioned with politics at an early age I do not become involved. The only reason I vote is because they pay me.
Odetta's concert was more than I could ever tell you about now. I remembered being visited by things other than from this world.
Eat your heart out Brad! Angelina who? Here's why stripping in public let firm, cellulite-free Jen wash her ex right out of her hair and her life... at last!
Perhaps the shock to banking would be too great just now. I'm willing to be persuaded that intervention is necessary there. But the more I read about the auto industry, the less I am convinced.
The astonishing escape attempt occurred moments after Mr. Blagojevich was handcuffed by the agent, who was wearing a wire and captured the entire expletive-laden offer on tape.
There are defining moments in politics. By blocking the auto bailout, Republicans defined themselves. They are class warriors, willing to risk an economic calamity in order to break a union.
We've seen this before: specious attempts to connect Obama with corrupt or controversial figures in Chicago. This is what we can expect for the next four years. The crazy has only just begun.
This is not a time for the left wing of our Party to draw conclusions about the Cabinet and White House appointments that President-Elect Obama is making.
Friends of mine assure me that this is a stealth priority -- New Orleans is an issue that Obama cares so deeply about he dare not mention it yet.
November isn't September, 2008 isn't 2001, Pakistan isn't Afghanistan, and India isn't America. So perhaps we should reclaim our tragedy and pick through the debris with our own brains and our own broken hearts so that we can arrive at our own conclusions.
If rape is a weapon of the Congo's war, then treat it with the gravity afforded every other weapon. Until the sexual violence ends, the world has no right to speak of peace.
