I tell you, every day this Blagojevich character is in the news, he astonishes me.
In a move that surprises ... well, no one, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 114-1 to impeach Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The one was State Rep. Milton Patterson (D-Chicago), who said he wasn’t comfortable voting for impeachment. Patterson said that even though he had read the committee’s report, which made extensive use of the federal wiretaps on Blagojevich, he had “no firsthand knowledge of any of the evidence.“
The House’s action gives Blagojevich yet another addition to his long and growing line of dubious distinctions: He’s now the first governor in state history to be impeached.
Here’s a little bit of what state legislators had to say about “Blago” before the vote:
Blagojevich is “a public servant who has betrayed his oath of office, who has betrayed the public trust, who is not fit to govern the state of Illinois.“
He “has been AWOL and derelict of his duties. He has abused his powers, and he has brought shame to this great state ... I believe that Rod Blagojevich is a liar, and I believe he is a thief. He has stolen the trust of the people.“
“I would have appreciated it if he had stepped aside, and we would not have been made the laughingstock of the country,“
His actions are “repugnant,“ and “the evidence is overwhelmingly damning.“
“The plague that has been brought upon us by Rod Blagojevich will be lifted. We will no longer tolerate the culture of corruption that has seized our government. Our duty is to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that has become our government.“
Wow. They are really mad.
You might think the tone of those comments might upset ol’ Blago a bit.
But no.
He hit the streets during the hearing, heading out for a little jog.
That’s right. He went for a run.
When he got back, here’s what he told reporters:
Let me simply say I feel like the old Alan Sillitoe short story, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.“ ... And that’s what this is, by the way: A long-distance run.
Blagojevich behaves as though he’s in a bubble. He acts like he’s changed his name and he lives in a bubble somewhere.
I keep saying it, but it’s really true: This guy is unbelievable.
If you watched the national championship football game between Oklahoma and Florida last night, you were treated to a fantastic sporting event that was every bit as good as it was billed.
I’m bummed that we won’t have any more college football to watch until the fall. (And no, I don’t count those spring intrasquad games. I mean real football, with tailgating and prognosticating and bands and concessions food and little kids playing ball with their friends in the grass outside the stadium.)
But in case you’re already in college football withdrawal, I wanted to pass along a couple of links that might assuage your discomfort ... at least for a couple of minutes:
Did you know that there was a handful of congressmen who tried to get Nancy Pelosi to reschedule congressional votes, including the official certification of President-elect Barack Obama’s victory? No, there wasn’t any concern about whether the certification was done on the up and up; they weren’t asking for time to investigate anything or make sure that votes were counted properly or anything like that.
They wanted to go to the national championship, and they didn’t want to miss any votes.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) wrote a personal note to Pelosi on the bottom of his formal request letter: “Madam Speaker — Kindly consider. Thanks, Cliff”
Hey Cliff – Kiss off. Yours, Nancy
Hello? Congressmen? Earth to congressmen. The legislative body of the United States of America doesn’t operate on your entertainment calendar.
If you’d rather attend football games than do your job in Washington, then maybe someone else should be doing the job in Washington.
Get over yourselves!!
In the event that four teams – Florida, Texas, USC and Utah – receive first-place votes in the final standings, never fear! Obama is here!
I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. You know, I am fed up with these computer rankings, and this and that and the other. Get eight teams. The top eight teams right at the end. You’ve got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.
This is important. I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. [If] you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season [and] there’s no clear decisive winner ... we should be creating a playoff system.
Yeah! Take that, computer dudes who denied the undefeated Auburn Tigers a chance to play for the national title at the end of the 2004 season!
CNN takes a look at how the current BCS system may be headed for some much-needed changes now that a “perfect storm” – a unique, bipartisan legislative current and the imminent thunderhead of an Obama administration – might finally pave the way to a playoff system.
I think a football playoff makes sense. I’ve spoken about this quite a bit, and I think if you look at knowledgeable sports fans, they agree with me. But, you know, I’ve got to pick and choose my battles. I probably am going to be spending more time focusing on creating three million more jobs.
Oh, yeah. Use that old, tired, I’m-too-busy-fixing-the-economy-to-worry-about-football excuse. If I had a nickel for all the times I’d heard that one!
Darn. So close, and yet ...
Finally, just for fun, here’s my favorite SportsCenter commercial in recent memory:
If you watched the national championship football game between Oklahoma and Florida last night, you were treated to a fantastic sporting event that was every bit as good as it was billed.
I’m bummed that we won’t have any more college football to watch until the fall. (And no, I don’t count those spring intrasquad games. I mean real football, with tailgating and prognosticating and bands and concessions food and little kids playing ball with their friends in the grass outside the stadium.)
But in case you’re already in college football withdrawal, I wanted to pass along a couple of links that might assuage your discomfort ... at least for a couple of minutes:
Did you know that there was a handful of congressmen who tried to get Nancy Pelosi to reschedule congressional votes, including the official certification of President-elect Barack Obama’s victory? No, there wasn’t any concern about whether the certification was done on the up and up; they weren’t asking for time to investigate anything or make sure that votes were counted properly or anything like that.
They wanted to go to the national championship, and they didn’t want to miss any votes.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) wrote a personal note to Pelosi on the bottom of his formal request letter: “Madam Speaker — Kindly consider. Thanks, Cliff”
Hey Cliff – Kiss off. Yours, Nancy
Hello? Congressmen? Earth to congressmen. The legislative body of the United States of America doesn’t operate on your entertainment calendar.
If you’d rather attend football games than do your job in Washington, then maybe someone else should be doing the job in Washington.
Get over yourselves!!
In the event that four teams – Florida, Texas, USC and Utah – receive first-place votes in the final standings, never fear! Obama is here!
I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. You know, I am fed up with these computer rankings, and this and that and the other. Get eight teams. The top eight teams right at the end. You’ve got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.
This is important. I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. [If] you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season [and] there’s no clear decisive winner ... we should be creating a playoff system.
Yeah! Take that, computer dudes who denied the undefeated Auburn Tigers a chance to play for the national title at the end of the 2004 season!
CNN takes a look at how the current BCS system may be headed for some much-needed changes now that there is a “perfect storm” – a unique, bipartisan legislative current and the imminent thunderhead of an Obama administration – that might finally pave the way to a playoff system.
I think a football playoff makes sense. I’ve spoken about this quite a bit, and I think if you look at knowledgeable sports fans, they agree with me. But, you know, I’ve got to pick and choose my battles. I probably am going to be spending more time focusing on creating three million more jobs.
Oh, yeah. Use that old, tired, I’m-too-busy-fixing-the-economy-to-worry-about-football excuse. If I had a nickel for all the times I’d heard that one!
Darn. So close, and yet ...
Finally, just for fun, here’s my favorite SportsCenter commercial in recent memory:
