There’s Chicago politics, and there’s Illinois politics; sometimes they overlap, sometimes they clash. Players who support each other locally gleefully sell each other down the river statewise and vice versa. You’ve heard of inmates running the asylum, imagine toddlers running the university and you have a pretty good idea of the political landscape in the Land of Lincoln.
Everybody hates everybody who can’t help them, until they can. Then, they support them fully, until they don’t. State Senator Dick Durbin supposedly joked, when asked about the long-standing feud between House Speaker, Mike Madigan (father of Attorney General Lisa) and Governor Rod Blagojevich, that it would be wiser to hang out in the Middle east than deal with their mess:
Illinois senior Senator Dick Durbin said in 2008 that he receives many constituent complaints about the dispute between Blagojevich and Madigan, with letter writers wanting him to step in to negotiate.[6] Durbin said the subject is also often talked about in the United States Congress in Washington, DC among the Illinois congressional delegation.[6] However, Durbin joked that he’d rather go to Baghdad to mediate than Springfield.[6]
That Madigan and Blagojevich are enemies is no secret, nor is the fact that Madigan has been planning to solicit the Supreme Court to have Blaggo removed since the summer, circulating an “impeachment memo” that House Impeachment Committee Chair, Obama supporter and neighbor, Barbara Flynn Currie called an “opinion piece” the committee was “not considering” in their ongoing process. Pouncing on the opportunity to put his plan in action afforded him by Hot Rod’s recent arrest, (the timing of which was not affected by any news story) Madigan, via Lisa announced their fall back intentions to have Blago declared unfit within hours of his release on bail. Unfortunately for them, that case was dismissed, as anybody with a brain knew it would be. No matter, Madigan’s purpose was served. Blago was further damaged by negative press, the Madigans at least tried, gosh darnit, and there’s always impeachment.
Mike Madigan and Currie were superdelegate supporters of Barack Obama, who has had his own love/hate relationship with Blags. Then, there’s Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Candidate Number 5,) Mayor Richard Daley and his brother, Obama campaign senior adviser, William, of J.P. Morgan Chase, Obama political “Godfather,” and Blagobuddy, Emil Jones, who hates Madigan, Tony Rezko and Alex Giannoulias, all of whom circulate in and around Oblago’s orbit, depending upon the degree of advantage doing so affords them. Daley has not always been an Obama fan, and Jesse Jr. has issues with Madigan (once co-chair of Blago’s re-election committee) regarding Obama’s support for Giannoulias. From Jackson’s website, August, 2006:
Everyone knows House Speaker Michael Madigan is a man of few words.
Last week, he uttered a special one: Messiah.
“There’s been no word from the messiah,” Madigan answered wryly when I asked whether he would be supporting Democratic Treasurer nominee Alexi Giannoulias in November.
The “messiah” to whom Madigan referred is U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama yanked Giannoulias from obscurity and endorsed his run for state treasurer — despite the fact that Madigan had a different candidate in mind. In TV commercials that catapulted Giannoulias into Illinois living rooms, Obama called the young treasurer candidate “one of the most outstanding young men I could ever hope to meet.”
Illinois State treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has been accused of making loans to mobsters, supports a “pooling pensions” plan once proposed by Blagojevich, (who has his own problems on that score with his father-in-law, Alderman Richard Mell as well as Rezko,) and has a long history with “the Messiah.” Of course, Obama and Blagojevich both also have Rezko connections. In light of the current Blago problems, that also touch upon his wife, Patti, her father, Mell, is threatening to tell what he knows.
And that’s just the prologue. After following all these links I’ve provided, I’m even more convinced that Obama’s brand of Chi-town politics is “Hardball with Clean Hands,” or, “you’re busted, prove I had something to do with it,” and that he likely, deliberately, set Blago up for this Senate seat fall. And we haven’t even mentioned Daley-Blagojevich supporting, DLC member, and designated carrot-dangler, Rahm Emanuel. As much as I’d like to go through each and every one of these little subplots and explore them in more detail, the multiple plot twists and turns have fried my brain. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, and who knows who’ll be hating who by then?
Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel?
[...] typical passive/agressive, envelope pushing, playing dirty by the book, “what who me?” hardball with clean hands tactics, is learning quickly that bringing a gun to a knife fight only works if your opponents are [...]
[...] The Saga Of Blagobama « Cinie’s World [...]
Hey, Frank, why the heck not? Thanks.
I like your blog!
Care to exchange links?
links have value not if they rubber stamp, but if they result in diverse discourse by linking to blogs that have intelligence and wit, which your blog has
http://franklynchusa.wordpress.com
HT, just let me know you’re there once in a while and that’s good enough. I lurk on sites I like, too, and often don’t have anything pertinent to add. Hi, myiq.
Who’s lurking?
PS, you have a lot of other lurkers too. Myiq gave you a ht over at the Confluence.
Cinie, I don’t comment often, but I’ve been remiss. Have I written lately that I love your brain? If not, consider it said. You are one very smart lady, and I am in awe at your ability to absorb multiple sources and parse what is important. I spent 35 years managing projects. I wish I had even one Business Analyst with your smarts – it would have made my job much easier. Keep on, I’ll keep lurking, but be safe. These days are rather unnerving.