Governor Hang Together

Blago's political theater again today, as the cameras of the country were turned on Illinois at noon. The occasion was the impeached governor's swearing in the new Senate session of his jurors. Tribune:

After Cullerton was sworn in, Blagojevich gave a brief speech. He asked the Senate to, like him, say a prayer for President-elect Barack Obama's success and offered a nod to Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday next month. Quoting Lincoln, he asked them to work on the state's problems "with malice toward none and charity for all."

Blagojevich did not mention his upcoming impeachment trial. The governor then left the chamber through its back entrance and did not stop to take reporters' questions.

I especially liked Sen. Heather Steans' (D-Chicago, naturally) speech nominating the new Chicago Machine Dem Senate President, in which she mentioned his lawyerly background as appropriate for impeaching their Dem governor, and quoted Ben Franklin, "We shall all hang together, or hang separately". Somehow I think Ben would be appalled at being quoted on this occasion, an impeachment by the perp's enablers--especially after they turned down a recall measure last year.

The new Illinois House confirms its impeachment.

In other news, Barack Obama nominates a Treasury Secretary who cheats on his taxes. What notorious Chicago figure was convicted of tax evasion by an earlier version of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald? You guessed it.

Related posts: Paglia: Nixonian Dark Arts Rahm, Governor Booed? (no, they didn't boo him), Follow the Money Hits O?, In an otherwise smooth path