What a Sham - Blago as the Martyr for the corruption of Washington - Masturbatory Self Righteousness

[debbierlus]

Don't get me wrong. This creep needs to be prosecuted within the full extent of the law. What he did was slimey & sleazy...unethical & against the law. Throw the book at him. Accountability is a must.

However, the incredulity and outrage against Blago just seems a tad bit misplaced. The media seems perfectly comfortable with ascertions of stupidity and craziness against him. They are almost gleeful. And, the weirdest thing I have noted is the disdain for his idiocy in getting caught is running even with anger against his crimes. I have heard a few commentators talk about how any Washington schmuck knows you ALWAYS talk to the other person as if they are wearing a wire.

This is just too bizarre.

Blago seems like very small potatoes, indeed. And, again, this does not negate his guilt or the need for justice. It just seems that after a President manipulates intelligence and lies the nation into a war that kills a million people in a country that posed us no threat, steals our treasury, dismantles our justice department, engages in no end of illegal behavior with pseudo-claims of executive privillege to justify unconstitutional acts, plus countless other crimes against America and the globe; it just seems that the outrage over one governor's greed and political arrogance is a tad misdirected. Or, actually, COMPLETELY misdirected.

Is the media excising its demons for not covering the biggest criminal scandal in American history with this circus over Blago?

And, where the hell is the outrage for a Congress that just allowed corporate America to commit a major bank heist against the American taxpayer?

This self-righteous crap from the media would fly a lot better, if they actually covered the center ring instead of the back sideshow as the real news. But, it is ever so much easier to narrate the drama of mini-series proportions instead of doing the real work of making the case for accountability for murder and high treason.

[leftstreet]

1. K&R Yes, where IS that outrage?

And, where the hell is the outrage for a Congress that just allowed corporate America to commit a major bank heist against the American taxpayer?

[debbierlus]

3. It is surreal, isn't it?

And, pathetic.

[ben_meyers]

2. Small potatoes? The Governor of one of our largest states

attempting to "sell" one of 100 Senate seats hardly seems trivial. I think it qualifies as a major scandal.

[debbierlus]

6. It IS small potatoes compared to the litany of crimes I laid out

And, it speaks to the grand criminality of Bush & Congress that this type of crime pales in comparison.

As I said, my point is not that this should not be prosecuted and treated seriously. It is the picking & choosing. It is the failure to hold the same standards across the board. It is the failure of the media to hold crimes with much more serious national and global implications to account.

[old mark]

8. The interesting thing to me is that a Republican - led FBI has been

investigating this Democratic Governor.
Sure he's a shit, but he's not the only one, and I'm sure not the worst out there, either.

Politics again.

mark

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. It is bizarre. But don't you understand why? We really have become

a country that is very sophisticated when it comes to criminal activity. It is so endemic that no one can be taken down without a dozen people going down with them. The term, "institutional malfeasance for self-preservation," is brilliant, whoever coined it.

I hope, I hope, I hope that Jon Steward collects all those comments from the media so they can see how jaded we all have become when it comes to white collar crime.

[Shiver]

5. It's getting the attention it is...

...because it involves the President-elects former Senate seat, a corrupt Governor many would love to tie the President-Elect to, and... well, basically because it has these incredibly tenuous connections with the President-Elect.

[onenote]

7. if blago had been busted just for the hospital bribe and the tribune bribe

this would've been a below the fold or even inside the front page story nationally. But when you are accused of trying to sell the United States senate seat vacated by the incoming president of the united states and there are recordings of you stating your intent to do so in the bluntest of terms, its going to be a big story. Deservedly so.

[debbierlus]

9. You would think a unprovoked mass murder of 1,000,000 people would be a big story

But, the media won't even report the true numbers.

Again, my point is not that justice shouldn't be served. It is the hypocrisy. It is the utter failure of the media to go after
Bush's crimes in the same relentless way. Crimes that have much wider scope. Crimes that result in much broader and profound suffering.

[Jennicut]

10. Blago is a dime a dozen corrupt governor, Bush and Cheney's crimes are at a higher level

Selling a Senate seat is bad stuff for even a gov, but it pales to the crap Bush and Cheney pulled with the "executive privilege". Have we ever had a more secretive government? I like Obama's desire to be transparent and Biden's desire to have the VP go back to a more traditional role.

[debbierlus]

11. Exactly

[Cha]

12. And, that is an excellent

talking point, thank you. rove, bush, cheney killed people and Newsweek gave rove a job.