Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) on Sunday predicted that the state legislature would remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) from office before Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday on February 12.
The Illinois state House can impeach Blagojevich with a simple majority, and it takes two-thirds of the Senate to convict.
"There's far more [senators] than that ready to" remove Blagojevich, the lieutenant governor claimed on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Quinn reiterated that he thinks that the best thing for the state would be for the governor to step down voluntarily. However, Blagojevich has remained publicly defiant, promising to stay in office as he works to clear his name.
Quinn said he and Blagojevich had not spoken since August of 2007, and that the governor rarely accepts outside advice. Instead, the lieutenant governor said, Blagojevich chooses to listen to a small number of "palace guards."
"He's isolated. He always has been. He doesn't really ask other people for advice," Quinn said. "What he needs to know is he's disgraced himself, he's disgraced the people of Illinois and he needs to do the proper thing and resign."
Blagojevich was arrested on Dec. 9 and prosecutors alleged he was trying to trade President-elect Obama's Senate seat for personal gain, either through campaign contributions or future employment.
Quinn said he hopes to be able to appoint an interim senator who would serve on a temporary basis until the state can organize a new election.
"I hope we can have a special election," he said, estimating that it would not take place before June.
Also appearing on CBS, top Obama advisor David Axelrod dismissed notions that the presidential transition team has anything to worry about if and when federal prosecutors release transcripts of phone calls between incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Blagojevich and his aides.
According to a report issued by Obama's office this week, Emanuel had "one or two" conversations with Blagojevich in the days after Obama won the election, though those conversations focused more on the congressional seat Emanuel would vacate than on Obama's Senate seat.
"When [the transcripts] are released, they will completely bear out our report this week," Axelrod said.
Still, he added, Obama has no control over when those transcripts see the light of day.
"It's within the power and purview of the U.S. Attorney to release those transcripts," Axelrod said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 12:38 ||
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#1
"Blagojevich will be removed soon"
Via cement overshoes, or elevator shaft?
Or maybe he'll commit suicide by shooting himself 3 times in the back of the head?
Inquiring minds, etc.....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2008 13:31 Comments ||
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Axlerod has read the transcripts? Otherwise, how can he know that Obama team has nothing to worry about.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
12/28/2008 14:05 Comments ||
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#3
Barb, it may be asphyxiation after an unsuccessful attempt to breathe water in his bathtub.
#6
ONLY IN AMERIKA = OWG USSA/USRoA can MTV's poor ratings vee REALITY SHOWS be interpreted as righteously meaning that MTV SHOULD AND MUST PRODUCE MORE AND MORE REALITY SHOWS!
In the beginning, just three long weeks ago, the idea of Caroline Kennedy being a United States senator had a certain ring to it. The Camelot myth still has shelf life and a merger with the historic Obama presidency provided an intriguing story line.
Kennedy would replace Hillary Clinton, one leading lady following another on a stage where name recognition often substitutes for merit. The narrative was tailor-made for the fever chambers of celebrity-obsessed media and the bandwagon quickly picked up speed.
Some top Democrats were certain Gov. Paterson, a close-to-the vest electorate of one, would find Kennedy irresistible now and as a running mate in two years. All others were chopped liver next to her sudden star power.
But a strange thing is happening on the way to the coronation. The wheels of the bandwagon are coming off. Fantasy is giving way to inescapable truth.
That truth is that Kennedy is not ready for the job and doesn't deserve it. Somebody who loves her should tell her.
Her quest is becoming a cringe-inducing experience, as painful to watch as it must be to endure. Because she is the only survivor of that dreamy time nearly 50 years ago, she remains an iconic figure. But in the last few days, her mini-campaign has proved she has little to offer New Yorkers except her name.
Her handlers and family enablers insist she feels no entitlement to the Senate job, yet there is no other possible reason to give it to her. Her name is the sole reason she even dares go for it. Camelot must be Gaelic for chutzpah.
New York can do better.
There is no denying the situation is odd. No one quite knows how to garner Paterson's approval or what his vetting process is. He hasn't even endorsed the sensible idea of public forums and debates, which would give voters a way to participate.
Kennedy apparently decided to go public to build support and scare off others, including Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whose nasty divorce from her cousin still roils both clans. Kennedy also had to introduce herself to Democratic party leaders because, other than endorsing Obama, her politics were a mystery.
But the minute she faced the routine questions that help define a candidate for virtually any office, she had nothing to say. There was no "there" there.
"I just hope everybody understands that it is not a campaign but that I have a lifelong devotion to public service," she said during her first-ever visit to Rochester. "I've written books on the Constitution and the importance of individual participation. And I've raised my family. I think I really could help bring change to Washington."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 10:41 ||
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her real problems boil down to two
- hasn't voted in NY during many primaries and a few general elections
- even more important, has given only $1000 toward local and State Dem candidates in the past few decades
#2
Bah. What problems? Caroline is the end product of a carefully selected breeding program designed to provide us peasants with a new line of rulers. I mean look at her. That crown has been growing from her forehead since the age of 2.
Posted by: ed ||
12/28/2008 12:01 Comments ||
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#3
How I long for the good old days, when royalty and the hoi polloi frequented Monaco and not the hallways of legislatures.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
In the beginning, just three long weeks ago, the idea of Caroline Kennedy being a United States senator had a certain ring to it. The Camelot myth still has shelf life and a merger with the historic Obama presidency provided an intriguing story line.
