Are the Democrats cutting their own throat in Illinois?

[IsItJustMe]

So you have Dick Durbin initially saying that that there should be a special election in Illinois to fill Obama's seat, you have Republicans in the state campaigning for such an election and now there are reports that Blago would consider such an election.

Given the political hang him high mentality that is going on right now, I can easily see that seat going to a pro-low-wage, union busting, pro-no-medical-coverage Obama-obstructionist Republican right now. Good luck with that 60 seat majority in the Senate needed to get anyting done.

It always amazes me how Democrats are able to form circular firing squads.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor

[el_bryanto]

1. Well yeah, but what is an alteranative solution?

I mean should Blago still appoint someone? Is that wise?

Bryant

[IsItJustMe]

3. No. The Dems should wait until he is out of there and then let Pat Quinn select that seat. Or, if

Blago would play ball, he could make an appointment of someone like Tammy Duckworth, who is beyond reproach, and the appointment would thus stay safely in the Dems hands.

[WI_DEM]

18. and how long will that be? Constitutionally Blago can make the appointment

at any time--it's an open seat and he's still governor--anybody he appoints will be under a cloud, rightly or wrongly. I say get him out of there as quick as possible.

[IsItJustMe]

23. I think they could have him impeached within a month or two. That means that the Lt. Governor Pat

Quinn would take over and make the selection.

If they do have a special election, it will cost millions of dollars and could not be held until at earliest, April or May.

And the thing about it is that the Senetor would only serve out the remainder of Obama's term, which means that the person who won the seat would have to run again in two years.

The more you look at this, the more you realize just how jacked up this situation is. But the worst option to me so far is a special election, for a whole host of reasons.

[Billy Shears]

2. no, it's just you

[IsItJustMe]

4. You not making an intelligent argument hear, now are you? Maybe you are not capable of it.

One liners are always fun though.

[JVS]

5. Durbin was unwise to open his piehole with that statement.

[IsItJustMe]

7. I admire Durbin. But sometimes he gets it wrong. Did not care about Dick's efforts to get Bush to

Pardon Ryan either.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. thompson has not yet been indicted,

although there have always been rumors.
RYAN sits in a white collar prison.

[IsItJustMe]

13. My bad. Corrected.

[JVS]

10. Yeah, he's Ok, but when I heard him talk about special elections I was like...

"WTF! We are not a parliamentary system. We do not call elections, they happen according to the calender."

[Peregrine Took]

6. Its insane to open this election up. The rethugs may run Fitz himself, who

knows?

We may very well lose this seat as its been so hyped up in Illinois against Dem "corruption."

Blago hasn't even been indicted yet and from what I heard of the Fitz press conference - any jury pool would be tainted from here to L.A.

[Orsino]

8. The legislators who failed to impeach him cut the Dems' collective throat.

Fail to police your ranks, and this is what can happen.

[IsItJustMe]

11. All I know is this. If this were a Republican seat up for grabs, there is no way in hell you would

hear fellow Republicans calling for a special election to fill the seat, because it would be a politically self inflicting wound and is just down right ignorant.

[ieoeja]

20. Agreed 100%. Stop passing the buck.

They tried passing a recall amendment so they could pass the buck to voters.

They tried convincing him to resign.

They are now praying that the IL Supreme Court will do their jobs for them. But that won't happen. The court will simply point to the fact that there is already a constitutional remedy/process in place: impeachment.

How in the heck can they not realize that the single best course for the Democratic Party in Illinois right now is an impeachment? A resignation does nothing to enhance the Party's image. A court ruling does nothing for the Party. Impeachment is the only thing that can help us in Illinois right now.

Sometimes I'd swear the stupidest politicians in the world are the actual politicians.

[Taverner]

12. I've always felt the seat should be chosen by Obama's Senate Staff

Not Obama himself, but his staff - so that whatever they were working on would not be abandoned.

[iamjoy]

14. I Disagree

I disagree completely. By failing to speak out against Governor Blagojevich's corruption, the Democrats could be seen as tolerating it, or worse, endorsing it. By strongly condemning it, they are showing the American people that we are trying to clean up government, and restore American faith in elected officials.

Of course I am worried the seat will go to a reactionary obstructionist, but that would be Blagojevich's fault, not the Durbin and the other Democrats who condemned the Illinois governor for his alleged actions.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. The people of Illinois should decide who represents them.

They, all too obviously, made a mistake in Blago, so they should get another shot.

It's called democracy.

[IsItJustMe]

17. In a supposed Democracy, we have the rule of law. The law states that the Governor chooses the

Senate seat. It is called the rule of law.

The reason they have that law is because it takes a very long time to organize such an election, and it costs tens of millions of dollars to hold such an election. It's called common sense.

You can't go around holding elections all the damn time.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Better to have the bosses select our "leaders"?

It's not a dogcatcher we're talking about here. It's some shmoe who's going to (allegedly) be representing the people of Illinois. Who, IMO, should have a say in who they hire.

[anigbrowl]

27. Yeah, but it seems very clear that the governor has broken the law

and thus can't really be trusted to administer it. If he resigns or is impeached, the Lt. governor's choices will also be the object of suspicion. I'm quite OK with having an election in order for the people of Illinois to have peace of mind and the incoming senator to have an electoral mandate.

[IsItJustMe]

28. I see or hear no evidence what-so-ever that an appointment by Quinn would some how be tainted.

[stillcool]

16. I'm not from Illinois..but I don't..

see a problem with the people voting for their next Senator.

[IsItJustMe]

19. It will cost tens of millions of dollars in a state that is already running huge budget deficits

and will take much longer to organize a new special election for a Senator that will only be serving out a two year term that Obama had left, before having to turn around and rerun for office again in 2010.

This is a very expensive and impractical proposition here.

[stillcool]

22. members of Congress..

run every two years, but wouldn't this be like a run-off..or just names submitted and voted on? I don't see what the big deal is, but again I'm not from Illinois. As far as costs, that's a hard pill to swallow. It's like the costs of a recount being a factor in determining the will of the people. Which is really more 'costly'?

[JVS]

24. That vote is scheduled for nov. 2010. Until then we deserve representation and it should be done...

according to our laws and without forcing us to pay for an extra election now.

[stillcool]

26. well, there you have it..

let the Lt. Governor pick someone and be done with it.

[snake in the grass]

25. Of late, cutting their own throats...

...seems to be the only thing Democrats successfully do.