Another Great Example Of Why I'm Not Condemning Blago

[NashVegas]

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22feinstein%22+%22Senate+Appropriations+Committee%22+%22husband%22

Dianne Feinstein has enriched her household by millions awarded in military spending contracts.

I'm not even going to bother to search to see how many millions Bill Frist saved or made for his family (HCA) in his 12 years in the senate.

Blago had an opportunity to get on the same gravy train the power elite have been on for generations. He blew it by being stupidly crass, not by being corruptible.

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Yeah. And I shouldn't be condemned for hitting my wife.

After all, other guys have murdered theirs!

:eyes:

[Terry_M]

4. That's exactly what's wrong with that argument.

The fact that there are worse people out there doesn't make him any lass "bad". Instead of defending Blago, we should be trying to get Feinstein and Frist in jail if they're just as bad or worse.

[NashVegas]

9. Or Cheating On Your Taxes?

Because your tax lawyer isn't as good at finding loopholes as the guy in the McCastle down the street?

Would you have me condemn you for that?

[Deja Q]

13. Or cheating on my wife

She cheated AND got married before I had a chance to it unto her!

[deaniac21]

2. He seems like a swell guy to me. There's just some mean folks

in Chicago.

[floridablue]

3. I haven't really seen or heard a crime. Perhaps I missed it.

[dionysus]

5. why am i not surprised you'd defend that...

:eyes:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[NashVegas]

7. I Didn't Say He Was Innocent

Rather, that I choose not to condemn him when his only real crime is not understanding the rules of the game as they are played at the highest levels.

[dionysus]

8. his only real crime was he wasn't sneaky enough to get away with being bribed?

hoookay :rofl:

[Alexander]

10. Apparently being caught on tape soliciting bribes isn't enough evidence for some.

:eyes:

[NashVegas]

11. I Find Your Sigline to Be The Epitome Of Irony

In this instance.

But for the record, his crime - if there is one - was in its lack of subtlety.

[dionysus]

12. so basically, you are saying crime is okay if you don't get caught

only on DU folks... :rofl:

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[Alexander]

14. Why? Greed and ignorance got Blagojevich arrested.

And apparently the ignorance trickles down to his defenders, who don't know what the word "bribe" means.

[leftstreet]

16. But..but...Fitz said Blago "would make Lincoln roll over in his grave"

:eyes:

... it is hard to feel comfortable with Mr. Fitzgerald’s remarks in announcing the charges that Mr. Blagojevich’s conduct amounted to a “political corruption crime spree” and “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” that “the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” that Mr. Blagojevich “put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator” and that his conduct was “cynical” and “appalling” and has “taken us to a truly new low.”

Any prosecutor at the center of a firestorm of publicity may find the temptation to grandstand hard to resist, but these comments are, to put it mildly, remarkably inflammatory. Mr. Fitzgerald’s expressions of revulsion, use of hyperbolic rhetoric and implicit assertion of his personal belief that the charges have merit clearly run afoul of the rules. It is one thing for a prosecutor to publicly condemn a defendant’s actions and assert a belief that he did what he is charged with doing after a trial and conviction, but another to do so before he is indicted by a grand jury.

Of course, editorial writers, pundits, bloggers, voters and anyone standing by a water cooler talking to anyone else are free to characterize Mr. Blagojevich or his conduct as they see fit, limited only by the remote risk of being sued for defamation.

But Mr. Fitzgerald is a prosecutor, a highly regarded, powerful and well-known one. His public characterizations of the charges against the governor will stick in the public mind. They will remain in the public arena, on the Internet and in the memories of citizens who, one day, may be summoned for jury duty in Mr. Blagojevich’s case.

This is not to express an opinion, one way or another, about Mr. Blagojevich’s guilt or innocence. But he is entitled to a fair trial, and it is hard to escape the conclusion that such a trial has become less likely as a result of these public remarks by this otherwise very competent and effective prosecutor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/opinion/13coburn.html

[NashVegas]

18. Thanks For Posting That

I believe Fitz's grandstanding may be intended to pressure Blago into resigning out of fear the charges won't stick, just as was done to Spitzer.

[merh]

17. crash has nothing to do with it - simply stupid and corrupt - a bad combo

stupid, yes, because he knew he was being investigated

corrupt, yes, because he was trying to sell the seat, strong arm the press and misuse his office to line his pockets.

[Toasterlad]

19. 500,000 Wrongs Don't Make a Right

The fact that every politician* is corrupt to some degree does not excuse the corruption of any of them.

*except Dennis Kucinich. :loveya:

[EFerrari]

21. He's a hangnail on the corrupt corpse of our government.

He did blow it by being crass.

[Critters2]

22. I want him GONE as my governor!! He withheld money from a health care

program for poor children, while he waited for a kickback. That alone should make progressives angry.

I can't believe anyone is defending this man. I hope he goes to prison. For a long time.