Inspire Political Discourse

Gov. Rod Blagojevich Arrested on Federal Corruption Charges

Gov. Rod Blagojevich [D-IL], along with his chief of staff, were arrested by the FBI today on federal corruption charges.

Read the full release detailing the charges from the US Attorney's office here.

Scroll down or clickhere to view today's political news summary.

A federal complaint charges Gov. Rod Blagojevich with conspiring to sell or trade Obama's vacant senate seat for personal benefit, along with other corruption charges.

“"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement. "They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."”  Chicago Tribune

Image credit: Dec. 8, Chicago Tribune

:: Blagojevich, Illinois Governor Arrested - Huffpo

UPDATE NO. 1 - 1:30pm: Think Progress is reporting that Rahm Emanuel may be responsible for the FBI's quick action on Gov.Blagojevich today.

I am loving the idea that our incoming administration has actual scruples. You know, one of the many attributes of a fine character that has been in notably scarce supply for the past 8 years.

“Marcy Wheeler catches local Chicago press reporting that Rahm Emanuel may have tipped off federal investigators that Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was engaging in corrupt acts. Jack Conaty, a Chicago reporter for the local Fox affiliate, said on-air that Rahm Emanuel might have been responsible for causing federal investigators to act quickly to apprehend Blagojevich this morning:.”

Daily Political News Summary - Tuesday, December 9, 2008

►The story of the ultimate press conference, told by Salon.com, re the "The Born Conspiracy".

This would be a completely amusing read if these people weren't so very deeply pathetic. Try not to laugh....out of respect, ya know.

“Two and a half hours later, as dentist-slash-lawyer Orly Taitz harangued reporters for not investigating whether Obama's mother was actually dead, that hope had been obliterated. It was crushed by a torrent of half-baked legal theories, vague platitudes about the Constitution and sinister "facts" assembled by a collection of true believers so extreme that even Michelle Malkin wants nothing to do with them. (Let alone actual Republican operatives, who appear to realize that questioning Obama's citizenship isn't the best way to begin their journey out of the political wilderness.) Although the news conference wasn't quite over when Taitz began her harangue, it had been 15 minutes since a member of the audience compared Obama's alleged electoral fraud to how Hitler rose to power -- a sure sign it was well past time to leave.”

Graphic by MGM and IPD.;)

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►Gov. Rod Blagojevich [D-IL], along with his chief of staff, were arrested by the FBI today on federal corruption charges.

»Read the full release detailing the charges from the US Attorney's office here.

Read the story with updates, here.