Umm BYE BYE Blago! IL Senate votes 59-0 to convict...

[ddeclue]

:crazy:

[KansasVoter]

1. Not sure I 100% agree with it. Not until he is convicted of something!

[ddeclue]

2. Rod?.....Rod is that you?

:rofl:

[PBS Poll-435]

4. Well put

This is a travesty.

[ericgtr]

14. The Humanity!

:rofl:

[Occam Bandage]

13. He just was. nt

[Teaser]

18. He just was convicted.

He was convicted in an impeachment and removal trial,and was convicted by the jury that is specified as constitutionally appropriate.

[Hieronymus]

28. I'm with you. Tweety asked a state senator what law Blago had broken ..

he couldn't think of one.

[Lyric]

33. He WAS just convicted. By a jury of 59.

It wasn't a criminal trial, it was a political one. It's perfectly possible to be corrupt and abuse your office without necessarily doing something that translates to criminal charges.

[GodlessBiker]

35. Nixon was criminally convicted of nothing but was on his way to impeachment.

[Hope And Change]

3. The Illinois state senate voted also in favour of prohibiting Blago from any future state offices.

[Posteritatis]

27. Ha! Awesome! (nt)

[Upton]

5. Why is everbody presuming Blago's guilty?

Indeed some of you are reveling in his impeachment..you don't sound like Democrats to me.

[ddeclue]

7. Ummm come now... he's pretty much toast and he's an embarassment to the party..

let's not circle the Democratic wagons to save this clown...

I'd rather save it for someone more worthy.

This guy is going from the governor's house to the big house..

:eyes:

[phleshdef]

8. There is no context in this world that would change what the investigation has all ready revealed...

He was trying to get favors in exchange for making someone a Senator. There is no disputing that. He was crooked. Democrat or Republican, people that abuse power like that need to be taken out.

[ddeclue]

10. I really loved the Jon Stewart bit about the "Take A Wish Foundation"

where Blago was extorting a campaign donation from a children's hospital or he was gonna screw them on their grant.

:eyes:

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. "Presume?" Is there a part of "impeachment TRIAL" that is hard to understand?

He was tried, with evidence. That he decided to NOT show up - and went on East coast media rounds instead - is hardly a travesty of justice.
The best one liner this morning was a state congresswomen who quipped "I hope Blago has a ride home, cause by the end of today he won't have state police to drive him!"

[Upton]

16. Who are you kidding? ..Blago was convicted

here at DU the very day the charges surfaced. Just seems a little odd to me, particularly coming from a party that prides itself on keeping the presumption of innocence intact. I'm happy to say I'm one Democrat who hasn't participated in this speculative nonsense.

[FailureToCommunicate]

24. Apologies. By "everyone" I thought you meant the Illinois legislature, not

DU folks.

[ddeclue]

25. The presumption of innocence only exists until the burden of proof is satisfied.

Now the "presumption" is that he is guilty - at least as far as the impeachment trial goes. He is NO LONGER innocent wrt his impeachment trial.

He has a presumption of innocence on the Federal (and possible state) charges he faces but these are two separate venues from the impeachment trial and you really can't relate the two.

Doug D.

[NashVegas]

23. But He MUST Be Guilty. Fitz Said He Was.

Illinois Democrats look so spineless right now. No one with influence had the balls to campaign against Blago when they had the chance, voters didn't have the will to say "no" to Blago, so they let Fitz do their jobs for them.

[blueladybird]

6. The only dirty politician in Illinois...rolling my eyes. n/t

[Critters2]

17. Fine. Let's impeach and indict 'em all. This is a good start. nt

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

9. I think Blago got a raw deal, but he certainly didn't do much to help himself.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. I'm going to kind of miss him.

He's been entertaining if nothing else.

[customerserviceguy]

12. Late night show comedy writers

are sure gonna miss this guy!

[salguine]

19. Maybe his hair could step up and take over the Governor's seat.

[Teaser]

20. We Democrats remove our criminals...

well, at least we do more often than the other team.

[berni_mccoy]

21. Too bad we didn't remove the Republican ones too

[Critters2]

22. I hope Quinn will reopen the state parks and undo the other damage

Blago's done.

[sandspur]

26. A simple question to those who think this was wrong

Can you explain ANY circumstance where the remarks he made about how valuable the senate selection was would be appropriate? I do think he deserves his day in court, and do not question that is is right. He might not get convicted. But even with out a conviction for criminal charges, his remarks demonstrate that he is not fit for the office of governor. Quite frankly, a large part of my reason for not liking the selection of Buris, that it seemed to be part of a strategy to weaken the case against him in court, rather than a true desire to serve the people of his state. It may be years before the court case will begin, there is no way he could effectively do his job and he should have resigned, and could have done so with out admitting guilt.

[spanone]

29. it was close!!!!

[Thrill]

30. Is there anything stopping Blago from running for Rahm's seat? Or running for Governor again?

[Critters2]

31. There was a resolution passed right after the verdict, prohibiting him

from running for office in Illinois again. I'm not sure whether this means he can run for federal office representing Illinois.

[ddeclue]

32. The state cannot impose additional requirements (burdens) on a Federal office

so theoretically he could run for Congress - if someone would vote for him...

[Critters2]

34. There are a couple of districts in Chicago where I think he could get elected.

So, the House is possible. But he could never get elected to the Senate, to represent the whole state. He is much hated downstate.