I think it's now safe to say that Illinois has stolen from Alaska the title of Nation's Dumbest Governor.
Beyond that, it's hard to conclude much of anything about about the stench of corruption emanating from Rod Blagejovich's quarter of the Illinois Democratic Party, and especially to suggest that it extends much beyond that realm. Yes, there's a long history of corruption in Chicago politics (we all remember too well Dan Rostenkowski). But there's simply no evidence that Barack Obama or for that matter progressive Democrats from Illinois generally have had much of anything to do with these folks at all.
Case in point: Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, who many of us have been hoping would get the job. She was interviewed by Andrea Mitchell today on MSNBC, and got off a deft one-liner about her role in the mess:
I thought at the time that I was a serious contender, but I realize now I probably wasn't, because he never asked me for anything. So I must have been out of the running.
Like Obama, Schakowsky has called for Blago to step down.
But of course, none of this has kept the Malkinite flying monkeys from fanning out across the skies. They're busy shouting "culture of corruption" at the Democrats now.
Please. Can we be spared the lectures about corruption from the people who brought us Jack Abramoff and the K Street Gang (where every Republican in sight was busy bellying up to the trough), Enron, and Cheney/Halliburton?
Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin at Politico have one of the only rational assessments of the risks Obama faces. The key point they raise is that the situation warrants keeping U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in his seat for the time being -- and we strongly agree.
