More than Stupid: Blagojevich

Stupid, vulgar and corrupt are a pretty good summation of a pretty bad man. Putting a senate seat on eBay raises chutzpah to a new level. Holding a children's hospital hostage to ones greed is despicable. Trying to get editors fired is...well, that's a political tradition going back to John Adam's. Blago deserves to share a cell in that special wing of the prison system consecrated for former governors of Illinois.

John McCain was correct when he spoke of the toxic effect of money on the body politick. Of course, selling a senate seat is wrong on all kinds of levels from legal to moral, but the line between selling a position and the acceptable doling out of patronage is legally complex. We do allow money to influence our elected officials.

Bribery is wrong and against the law. And yet, there is a big, fat fuzzy line in the financing of our political system separating bribery from a campaign contribution. People who give big money expect something in return. Politicians say that a contribution only buys access not results. Do we, uh, buy this? Access is influence. How do people get to be ambassadors in London, Paris or Tokyo? They are really good friends of the president--and have shown their friendship in concrete ways. The other road to an ambassadorship is through the Foreign Service, and with that you get Baghdad, Cairo, Kabul and Caracas. Pays to be a friend--and as a friend you indeed do pay.

So, do honest politicians take money and give out positions? Yes. Blago went way too far with too much vulgarity and a reckless disregard for the subtle corruption we tolerate.