Blagojevich, Blagging again
And another thing about Mr. Blagojevich:
Back in 2006 I saw a number of Democratic chest thumping on what an election the party had, and something to the effect that not one Democratic Congress member, Senator, or state-wide office including most importantly Governor had lost election. This struck me as a bad way of looking at things, because clearly various Democratic politicians deserved to be dumped — whatever the cumulutive value of the two parties were.
The obvious figure that deserved to be dumped was William Jefferson, who two years later finally lost. But Rod Blagojevich, never popular with Illinois voters, always swarming with less than 50 percent approval, and always with a spectre of corruption hanging over him, would have been best be shoved aside. The combination of a weak state Republican party and a tidle wave for the Democrats brought him through loud and clear, though — with less than a 50 percent vote, and with the Green Party grabbing a big enough percentage to garner “established party” status.
Around 2006 a hackneyed partisan argument came into vogue that “Republicans” couldn’t govern because their ideology of “limited government” put them into the position that once they had power they couldn’t see how the levers of governing did anyone any good, so they’d use it for personal gain. I never liked this, and could see the argument of “one for me, one for you” in the ideology of liberal graft. At any rate, back in 2006 Republican hacks were too busily focused on the phony specter of corruption with Harry Reid and Boxing tickets (as today we see strained attempts to attach Blagojevich’s scandal to Obama)– and Blagojevich? Who was he?