Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

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School for Scandals: Version 2.1

Will Durst | Posted 03.02.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Rod Blagojevich the View, Rod Blagojevich Impeachment, Rod Blagojevich Impeached, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Comedy News

10. Hold a press conference to read a poem. Stay away from the arty crowd like Verlaine, Rimbaud or Sylvia Plath. Pick a heterosexual who didn't commit suicide. Someone classy, like Kipling.

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Three Truly Weird Governors, USA

Jamie Stiehm | Posted 02.28.2009 | Politics

Somehow Palin's speaking pattern, upswept hair, glasses and supreme self-confidence electrified the body politic. Love or fear her, she and her small-town ways could not be ignored.

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Blago Is My Embarrassing Uncle Who Won't Shut Up

Erica Heller | Posted 02.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Politics, Illinois, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich Impeachment, Blago, Politics News

Watching Blago, the narcissistic, wacko windbag it's been pretty hard to avoid that creeping, familial feeling of rage, shame and scalding irritation.

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Advice To Blago: Invoke Caesar

Stuart Whatley | Posted 02.27.2009 | Politics

If only he had invoked Caesar from the start, instead of civil rights heroes whose legacies are so sacred to so many, perhaps he could go down more gracefully (or at least less offensively).

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Who Will Watch Government When All The Journalists Are Laid Off?

Geri Spieler | Posted 02.27.2009 | Media

Read More: Politics, Unemployment, Watch Dog, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Weak Economy, Journalists Government, Economy, New York Times Magazine, Jobs, Newspaper, Death of Newspapers, Labor Unions, Newspaper Industry, Media News

Reducing an experienced editorial staff is not the way to go about cutting business costs. When quality suffers, the entire industry is tarnished.

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The Traffic of Pay-to-Play Politics

Monica Youn | Posted 02.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Money, National Infrastructure, Budget, Secretary of Transportation, Clintons, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Budget, Transportation, Infrastructure, Kennedys, Illinois Senate, Bush Administration, John Fritchey, Rod Blagojevich, Transportation Department, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Federal Highway Fund, Illinois, Blagojevich Corruption, Ray Lahood Obama, Transportration Secretary Ray LaHood, Ray Lahood, Ray Lahood Department of Transportation, Politics News

The Bush Administration's DOT succeeded in knocking a sizeable hole in Illinois' ban on pay-to-play deals that the state Senate had attempted to pass in the wake of the Blagojevich scandal.

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What if we Held an Impeachment, and Nobody Came?

Jayne Lyn Stahl | Posted 02.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Bill Clinton, Don Siegelman Case, Karl Rove, Don Siegelman, Impeachment, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, George W. Bush, The View, Waterboarding, Affairs, Rod Blagojevich Corruption, Clinton Impeachment, Karl Rove Don Siegelman, Rod Blagojevich Indictment, Dick Cheney, Blagojevich Impeachment, Politics News

For shame, America, impeach a guy over extramarital oral sex, but not waterboarding?

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Blago is The New Media Pinata. A Whacky Devil. Great Fun!

Blake Fleetwood | Posted 02.27.2009 | Media

Read More: Blagojevich, Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, Impeachment, Lisa Madigan, Blago, Governor, Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, Rod Blagojevich Scandal, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Criminal Justice, Rod Blagojevich Corruption, Rod Blagoyevich, Criminal Justice System, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich Indictment, Media News

Today, after being impeached by the Illinois House, the Senate is hearing evidence to remove Rod Blagojevich, which it will probably do in the next few days.

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Blagojevich 2.0

Lloyd Garver | Posted 02.13.2009 | Politics

What Blagojevich did is so shocking that it could make "Lincoln turn over in his grave." But Caroline getting the seat because of her zillion-dollar fund raising ability wouldn't do the same?

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The One-Minute Impeachment

William Klein | Posted 02.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: House of Representatives, Bill Clinton, Patrick Fitzgerald, Eliot Ness, Richard Nixon, Impeachment, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Bill Clinton Impeachment, Alice in Wonderland, Illinois Politics, One-Minute Manager, Management, Blagojevich Impeachment, Political Impeachment, Illinois Corruption, Political Humor, Politics News

The full Illinois House impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich after a zippy ninety minutes of debate. Pretty good -- but I think we can do even better.

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How About Some of that Blago to Go?

Kathleen Reardon | Posted 02.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Friends of Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Complaint, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Illinois Governor, Roland Burris, Patrick Fitzgerald, Gov. Blagojevich, Politics News

Blagojevich, by any reasonable standard, ought to be beside himself with embarrassment over the 114 to 1 vote to impeach him. Yet he's reciting Tennyson in front of cameras.

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Fox News Ate My Brain (I Swear!) - Of Chaos Theory & Roland Burris

Brian Ross | Posted 02.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Roland Burris Senate, Bill Hemmer, Media Coverage, Roland Burris, Media, Barack Obama, America's Newsroom, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Fox News, Harry Reid, Burris Media Coverage, Megyn Kelly, United States Senate, Fox News Channel, Senate, Politics News

The Fox News spin on Roland Burris was interspersed with video and misstatements of the event, trying to weave in the racism angle, or trying to paint Reid as the bad guy.

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Replace Harry Reid?

Michael Fauntroy | Posted 02.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Friends of Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Complaint, Blagojevich Indictment, Harry Reid, Blagojevich Arrested, Illinois Governor, Roland Burris, Patrick Fitzgerald, Gov. Blagojevich, Politics News

The Democrats should cut their losses and seat Burris. Perhaps they should cut their losses with Reid, too.

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Blagojevich vs. the Senate

Stanley Kutler | Posted 02.06.2009 | Politics

In this contest of wills -- the governor's rightful authority to appoint a senator as opposed to the Senate's power to judge the qualification of its members -- the last word simply belongs to the Senate.

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Enough About 'Roland Burris, Good Guy'

John R. Bohrer | Posted 02.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Harry Reid, Roland Burris, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Illinois Governor, Gov. Blagojevich, Friends of Blagojevich, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Blagojevich Complaint, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Patrick Fitzgerald, God Tells Burris He Belongs in the Senate Seat, Politics News

It doesn't matter how clean his record was when he was in office a decade ago or if he didn't pay a cent for his appointment: Roland Burris is a willing pawn in a very corrupt game.

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A Lesser Class of Rogue

Allison Silver | Posted 02.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Roland Burris Senate, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Roland Burris, Roland Burris Senate Appointment, Illinois Governor, Gov. Blagojevich, Friends of Blagojevich, The Great Mcginty, Preston Sturges, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Blagojevich Complaint, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Patrick Fitzgerald, Politics News

Though Blagojevich is regularly described as the apotheosis of the shady Illinois politician, he does not come close to the finesse and style embodied by masterful machine politicians. He's no McGinty.

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2008: The Year of Audacity

Andrea Chalupa | Posted 02.04.2009 | Living

We now have something outside ourselves to struggle against. A very real and tangible angst.

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ABC's "The Note" Embarrasses Itself on Behalf of Beltway Journalism

Eric Boehlert | Posted 01.24.2009 | Media

Doing its best to prop up the beyond soggy Blago/Obama "scandal," The Note worked feverishly to convince fellow journalists that they didn't make fools of themselves hyping the non-story for weeks.

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Blago and Me

Neil McCarthy | Posted 01.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Corruption, Chuck Schumer, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Illinois Governor, Gov. Blagojevich, Friends of Blagojevich, Campaign Finance Reform, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Blagojevich Complaint, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Patrick Fitzgerald, Blagojevich Corruption, Politics News

In electoral politics we want to avoid the rich and famous in favor of the modest but qualified. But we make it impossible for anyone but the rich and famous to get the jobs and then keep them.

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What Did Obama Know, And When Did He Know it?

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted 01.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Transparency, Politics, White House, Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama, Chicago Corruption, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Report, Tony Rezko, Politics News

The Blago-Emanuel and by extension Obama connect in itself would normally be little more than a pinprick distraction except for the long history of corrupt Chicago style wheeling and dealing.

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Blago Should Still Appoint Diane Nash

Stephen C. Rose | Posted 01.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Gov. Blagojevich, Friends of Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Complaint, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Illinois Governor, Diane Nash, Patrick Fitzgerald, Politics News

Diane Nash is a pillar of the civil rights movement who happens to be a blue ribbon Chicago citizen and is certainly more qualified than Caroline Kennedy to be a US Senator.

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Why Obama Picked Rick

Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama, Rick Warren, Barack Obama Rick Warren, Rick Warren Invocation, Obama Inauguration, Rick Warren Obama Invocation, Obama Invocation, Politics News

For a good ten minutes, I puzzled over why Obama would select an anti-gay conservative preacher, Rick Warren, to give his invocation speech. Several reasons occurred to me.

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Welcome to the Blagosphere

Thomas Frank | Posted 01.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Friends of Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Complaint, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Illinois Governor, Patrick Fitzgerald, Gov. Blagojevich, Politics News

The Blagojevich scandal is widely seen as a heavy blow for the incoming administration, but in fact it's good for Mr. Obama that it happened early on.

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Sunday Roundup

Arianna Huffington | Posted 01.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Rod Blagojevich, Axelrod Blagojevich, Obama Blagojevich, Rahm Emanuel, Blagojevich Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich, David Axelrod, Blagojevich Indictment, Rahm Emanuel Blagojevich, Illinois Governor, Blagojevich Democrat, Gov. Blagojevich, Blago, Politics News

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."

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