Flying Pink Unicorns

Blagojevich tries to sell an appointment to the Senate

As you have all likely heard, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, already publicly under federal investigation, was arrested and charged with trying to personally profit from his right to appoint the successor to Barack Obama as Senator from Illinois.

Given that he and everyone else knew he was being investigated, that he would say what he is alleged to have said on phone calls he absolutely knew may have been tapped, is just insane. It shows how disconnected from common sense people can become. I hope they throw the book at him.

Still, an argument can be made that this is no big deal. As Andrew said, is this sort of corruption really godawful? If he and Rahm Emanuel had agreed that in exchange for his nominating who Obama wanted to fill the seat the Obama administration would push for 25 new schools and hospitals in Illinois, that would be perfectly legal. Normal, ordinary political horsetrading. But if the Governor seeks a $500,000 a year job for himself, its bribery. I note that $500,000 a year is a whole lot less, to say the least, than 25 new schools and hospitals would cost! Yet the one is normal politics and the other is the worst form of bribery, suitcases of cash in essence. Is one really that much morally worse than the other? More harmful to the Republic? A serious argument could be made, but I don't feel like making it now.