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    Selling a Senate Seat

    Posted Tuesday, December 09, 2008 11:56 AM | By Melinda Henneberger
    Just when I was feeling all elevated and proud to hail from the Land of Lincoln and 44, here comes Gov. Doo-doo Head, aka Illinois Democrat Rod Blagojevich, along to remind me why I could never, ever say with a straight face that I've never been anything but proud of my country/state/church or party. He was arrested this morning for trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat. Alexis de Tocqueville was wrong, that's all. He thought that one thing that made Americans so darn exceptional was that chez nous, anybody at all could aspire to a fortune. But I'm pretty sure he did not foresee a politician so venal as to view an inspiring, history-making election that showed America at her very best and think: Ah, quick-buck city! Come to papa, you beautiful dollars and board appointments! "I want to make money,'' off the appointment, he reportedly said on a wiretap; let's just say that subtlety is not a hallmark of corruption in my state. I guess he figured that if his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, could milk bribes out of driver's licenses, then he could ride the hope train all the way to an ambassadorship. Blagojevich was elected in 2003 on promises to clean up Illinois government—and just like that guy who ran for Mark Foley's congressional seat on family values, well, he did exactly the opposite. Should we maybe start reading campaign promises as campaign threats? Because I grew up in the Louisiana of the Midwest, I will not pretend to be surprised. But how he could go so low—or imagine that he would not be caught—is something I guess he will have ample time to kick around with Ryan when he joins him behind bars. 

     

     

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