Reply #18: Ridiculous.

[SteppingRazor]

I am floored by how many DUers are taking up this line about Blagojevich's statements regarding BoA being the reason behind his arrest, throwing reason and logic out the window, and ascribing causation in the absence of any and all evidence. Especially when there is so much evidence to the contrary, as a simple perusal of the criminal complaint against Blagojevich would show.


The OP asks "What was Blagojevich's real crime, the one that made it necessary to make him an object lesson today?" and then goes on to discuss yesterday's statements about BoA, as though one followed from the other, without offering any evidence as to why this is so. As stated, this is especially disappointing given the preponderence of evidence in favor of other answers to that question -- for example, that Blagojevich was about to move on appointing a senator who would have gained the seat through corrupt influence. (According to the complaint, the governor was in favor of "Senate candidate #5. Marc Ambinder postulates, somewhat convincingly, that this is Jesse Jackson Jr, and indeed, Jackson met with Blagojevich for almost two hours yesterday). This is an alternative answer to the OP's question, and one that meshes far better with the facts at hand.

It may be painful to admit to corruption within the ranks of the Democratic Party, and for some, it may be oddly painful to admit that the Bush administration simply does not control every aspect of the public and private sector in a totalitarian regime with a democratic facade. But there is corruption inside the Democratic Party (less so today with the arrest of the governor and the removal of William Jefferson in Louisiana through the electoral process), and the Bush administration is not some unseen éminence grise controlling all from the shadows.