He resigned Nov. 16, which is several days after that conversation must have taken place.
Bush will probably pardon George Ryan.
See, that’s a baseless smear.
I wish I could bet against such a crazy proposition as the Obama pardon, but no one would be dumb enough to offer action on it.
Now in a perfect world, Blag will end up sharing a jail cell with Ryan. They could install TV cameras and make it a reality show.
Dick Durbin has now called for a quick change to Illinois law to provide for a special election to fill any midterm U.S. Senate vacancy.
Such a change would require a special session of the legislature and the Governor’s signature on the bill. It’s close enough to the end of the legislative term that the governor can pocket-veto any bill passed at this point.
Who here thinks that Blago would sign a bill stripping him of his senatorial appointment power? If you’re going to hold a special session at this point, you might as well impeach Blago while you’re at it.
Frankly I’d rather not wait until January 12th (when the 96th General Assembly convenes) to get resolution on this issue.
It’s ok when your name is Rod Blowdryovich. 
That is a genyooine vintage 80s blowdried hairdo, suitable for 13-year-old boys from 1985. What it’s doing habitating the top of a 52-year-old man’s head, I have no idea.
Hey! Blago’s birthday is tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed the present, Rod, courtesy of the United States Department of Justice!
Maybe we should bake him a cake with a picture of a nail file on it.
And then not include the nail file.
Oh, he’s an idiot of epic proportions, that’s for sure. Probably the dumbest thing he’s done is to underestimate how much smarter Barack Obama is, and how unlikely he would be to go along with such a retarded scheme as to “pay” for his own Senate replacement. He’s the President of the United States (well, almost). If he has an idea who he’d like to replace him (which I’m sure he does), he’s not about to give Blago some fancy job to make it happen. That’s not the kind of “favor” a President is going to do for a guy like Blagojevich. Whatever Obama offers him is going to fall into the “just playing politics” category and not the “insane, over-the-top personal favor” category.
So who will Blago take down with him?
Any one who seems to have been willing to pay to play is going to be some pretty damaged goods and one suspects that some previously rising stars are among them.
Just that in 8 years, the details fade, and the whole thing gets reduced to 'guy who tried to scalp Obama’s Senate seat."
It’s a text book pardon case. Pardoning him would be a nice nod back to his home state party, that noboby will get all the worked up over in 8 years time.
Same as for Bush pardoning Stevens:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10409326&postcount=14
I don’t think that’s how people will remember an ex-governor who got sent to jail for corruption. Actually I don’t see the benefit to the Illinois Democrats if he gets pardoned, either.
What would Obama gain from that? A nod to his home state? That would be an insult to his home state. I don’t think the Illinois Dems would particularly want to be reminded of this or appreciate the bad pub from it either, 8 years hence.
Blagojevich is almost universally hated by IL politicians, Dem and Pub alike. Not really sure how he managed that, but it leads to two things: (1) most elected politicians have long since distanced themselves from him, so those he takes down are likely to be his board, staff and political appointees, not other elected politicians; and (2) no one cares about pardoning him–many politicians will be quietly happy about this.
Ha! You’re really not from around here brother. In eight years there will be a whole new cast of screwballs doing the same stuff in different proportions. This is Illinois, the Democrats are literally untouchable. If the Machine has to eat a few people here and there to keep the wheels rolling, fine, but bad publicity isn’t something they sweat.
Deep down in my heart, I know Daley was behind Blago getting caught so red handedly. That’s what he gets for not handing over the last Casino license when asked nicely. <Sean Connery>They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way. <Sean Connery>
Blagojevich was the first Democrat to be elected governor in how long?
What? Illinois Dems would riot at the prospect of ANY future president pardoning Blagojevich - but especially so with Obama. There’s no home court loyalty here. Blagojevich is extremely unpopular and that was before this latest revelation of gross corruption - including withholding funds from a children’s hospital. Obama wouldn’t vouch for this guy selling Amway products, let alone pardon him.
Either your barometer of Illinois politics is way off, or you got caught trying to baselessly smear Obama.
Ok, Ok, Dems are untouchable within 100 miles of Chicago. 
They might not sweat it, but they don’t crave it either. They might be able to survive the bad pub of a future Blago pardon, but they’d certainly have nothing to gain from it, and no reaosn to want Obama to do it.
P.S. I have a brother who lives in Chicago, so I actually do have a slight connection there.
Agreed that an Obama pardon of Blagojevich, anytime between 2009 and, say, 2017, is very, very unlikely.