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For the other candidates (esp. known recruits), they can now point to the memo and use it as a foil against both Blago and Madigan (to show independence).
MJM's authorship becomes a moot point.
If I was a GOP Candidate, I would use this letter to show that the Dem cannot think on their own and will just be a puppett with MJM moving the strings.
There may be quite a few Dems MJM is quite happy to cause problems for.
talking about impeachment tells voters that the candidate is independent of blago. most voters don't have a clue who madigan is (sorry, folks). it's hard to see how this is a bad thing for democratic candidates, as long as the guv's appearance in the news is related to rezko, corruption and federal investigations.
plus, what is the governor going to do now? raise money (like he promised for those candidates like toni ashmore to run against a madigan ally) and run negatives ads against them? if he couldn't get it done in the democratic primaries, he sure won't be a factor in the general election.
backfire? the only way it could backfire on democratic candidates is if the pope suddenly declared rod a saint. we should all be able to agree that this isn't going to happen...
There's potential big backfire right there....
This may be often overlooked by those not involved daily in state government: at least downstate, the few people who know who Mike Madigan is don't really know much about him. His public perception is similar to Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. Certainly by design....he's merely setting the stage for Lisa (Madigan, not Simpson).
We have been seeing a slow motion train wreck of an administration. Voters are aware of the legal problems Blagojevich faces. They are also aware of the stalemate in Springfield. They are aware of the personal partisanships, the fingerpointing, the bloviating, etc. After years of witnessing this, the voters understand the bedrock reasons we are discussing impeachment.
The politics of the situation are unavoidable, yet the caution that we have seen in dealing with the ongoing Blagojevich crisis should resonate well with citizens. Today's impeachment discussions are not a knee-jerk reaction to a contemporary political opportunity, but a thoughtful reaction to a drawn out, and seemingly endless Purgatory. No one has jumped Blagojevich without warnings. The Governor's legal bills indicate a multi-million dollar realization of his situation. The last guy who should be surprised by impeachment is Rod Blagojevich.
There are those of us who, like Monday morning quarterbacks, focus on how a specific player erred causing the last minute touchdown or game-winning field goal. These bloggers will look at our situation today and endlessly debate political minutia, "what ifs?" scenarios, and partisan conspiracies over political power. They somehow believe that Rod Blagojevich was done in by a trivial or unfair event that would go unnoticed if produced by another.
Then there are those of us who recognize that being governor is one of the highest honors a democracy can bestow on one of it's citizens. We recognize the power, prestige, and importance that can be harnessed behind it's Office. When we discover that one of it's occupants corrupts the Office for their own short-term political benefit, we are obligated to remove that occupant.
Impeaching Blagojevich is part of the cleansing reform the office needs now. Allowing him to remain unquestioned or unchallenged diminishes us all. If you want good governors in our future, you must dispense with the bad one we face today.
Blago created a groundswell for recall and impeachment by irrational in-your-face tactics and at least several extraconstitutional actions. However, incompetent performance is not an impaechable offense. When push comes to shove and he is indicted, Blago won't have any political friends or allies left. The public would like to be rid of Blago ASAP!
What about the rest of the Democratic majority in the Legislature along with the statewide elected officials? Their performance over the last two sessions was pathetic. And pathetic is a polite word. Very few of them have expressed any angry rebukes of the governor and the entire system which is broken.
And now because of a memo they will have the talking points to speak in unison over the situation?
Removing one person will not instantly repair the entire system. The enablers have got to go too. They all voted for the guy. They all endorsed the guy. They all campaigned with him or worked on his campaigns.
The memo is clearly a buffer to avoid that "beep, beep, beep" sound you hear of a truck backing up.
Rich Miller has it right. Loyalty comes with a price at times. With the GOP it was Ryan (Statewide) and now Bush (Nationwide). With the Democrats (Statewide) it is Blagojevich.
Oh- and Romeoville D - when in the time that Hassert has been Tom Cross's lacky has he shown an ounce of independance???