Day after sentencing, ousted Illinois Gov, Rod Blagojevich counts last days until prison.
What do you think? Do you think his punishment is fair? Do you feel it fits the crime?
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No, I don’t think it fair. I’m not defending Blago… but his life is over with a fourteen year bit.
Regards,
Doug
What I don’t get is he got 14 yrs. Well it seems like these days if you murder someone you get punished way less. How does that work out?
That’s just what I think too Jenny. I do think he’s guilty of a crime and should face what’s coming to him but man, it’s harsh.
Now BLOGOJEVICH can really sell his seat!
Jay Leno
1) I think . . . he needs a new haircut!
2) It sounds like a lot, but when will he be up for parole? Since he’s not a child murderer (that we know of), he’ll get parole on his first try, most likely.
As long as the mega-media covers politics, nothing involving politicians will ever be fair.
No Parole in the Feds anymore, he has to take it to the Door. 12 of 14, or 85% ..and he has two years of paper after. Plus 20K fine.
Again I’m not defending him…just too steep.
I also heard today that he’ll serve 12 years and it said how old his kids would be etc when he’d be released.
When I consider that he was holding money from hospitals so he could get something he wanted…
Think aboout that. If it were your child or spouse that needed something that hospital had to offer bui they didn’t get or couldn’t get it because the funds were being held up…
It’s about time someone held Chicago Politicians accountable. He made the decision to be a crook. Let him do his time.
I agree with you also. I’m really on the fence about this. I know how stupid this sounds but when he was on Celebrity Apprentice, he wore on me. He seems like such a buffoon, for lack of a better word. Almost simple. He was so kind to everyone that it seemed so hard to fathom that he broke the law the way he did.
I guess I just find the sentence so long “comparing” it to other, more violent criminals.
Mind you, I’m not even really sure what it was he did other than trying to sell that Senate seat which I know you can’t do anyway. But I do agree with you. It’s time these politicians started to pay for what they did but when you look at, or think about the really sleazy people, this guy doesn’t come to mind like the John Edwards, Larry Craig and the Anthony Wieners. He actually reminds me of a stuffed animal. I know how stupid that sounds and I’d only say it here to my peeps.
I think Celebrity Apprentice (for him) was all about putting (in front of public eyes) the Mr. Nice Guy persona. It seems as if it’s always about making him look good or what he can do to make HIM look most favorable in the public eye.
Speaking of John Edwards, why didn’t he get into trouble for taking those campaign contributions and hiding his pregnant mistress out with the money while his wife was dying?
Are they trying to make this guy the poster boy for bad behavior? Do you think that’s why his sentence was to the max?
I have a strong feeling that there is more to the story. Chicago is so full of corruption it isn’t funny. He was right in the thick of it. We’re talking so much money being misdirected away from the people who really need it, and apparently this man had not an iota of conscience. I think the only reason we didn’t hear much about this guy’s bad acts was that they weren’t sex scandals. Gotta have a sex scandal if you want the media to pay attention.
John Edwards was indicted in June.
Blago is a symbol of “The Chicago Way”. I was out of the loop much of the time that he was in office, but I can remember bits and pieces of his antics relayed from friends. He sailed into office, much like our current president, by smiling a lot, looking good, and promising to “cut out corruption”. And the votes weren’t even finished being recorded when he started with the under-the-table deals.
It was well known that he was for sale, if you could meet his price.
I guess he was officially convicted for offering Obama’s Senate Seat to the highest bidder. But there were plenty of other transgressions. For example, he refused to live in the Governor’s Mansion, preferring, instead, to “commute” by private plane, daily, from Chicago to Springfield (roughly 100 miles), all while telling the residents of Illinois that they needed to “go green” and cut back on waste. He withheld funds from Children’s Memorial Hospital for personal gain. And he was involved in the Tony Rezko nonsense, which has never really been investigated because of Obama’s involvement. Those are the ones I can remember.
I also know that he was simply hated by many citizens of the state. Not that it’s a crime, of course, but the man was (and still is) arrogant and narcissistic to the extreme. During all of this, leading up to his conviction and sentencing, he was a part-time talk show host on WLS, the big talk station in Chicago. He was alternately whiny and arrogant with his callers, and I don’t think his show lasted all that long. Even the other hosts made fun of him. The man is pathetic.
Honestly, I think his sentence was fair. I also don’t think that it can be compared with sentences of violent criminals, because then… what is the price of a life? If 14 years is enough for a murderer to serve, then Blago should only get a couple of months. But then, if you extrapolate out the damage that his corruption did… as Michael pointed out, how many kids were denied services because Blago held up that money? Did any die? And should he be held responsible for those deaths? Conversely, if 14 years is good for Blago, then should we be executing every single murderer who is found guilty? It’s a quagmire if you let yourself get into it.
Frankly, I’d like to see a LOT more politicians take the same walk he’s taking.
I know how stupid my thinking is and I have NO basis for it. I agree that this guy does have his head up *you know what* because he really does act like “who me, what did I do?” He’s not one bit remorseful.
Joy there ya go again. Way too much gray! Not enough black and white. 😉
I know. There you go!