Pat Quinn certainly has no friends in Illinois, particularly among the party faithful, party popular, and/or corrupt. That's definitely going to screw him with well-connected ILL types like the Madigans. A general assembly vote would all but coronate Lisa Madigan Senator, neatly stepping around the law.

But as I see it, that's exactly the reason why Quinn should assume the governor's position, and why bending the law to suit the Madigans and other assorted ILL worthies is just bullshit, perpetuation of the greasy palm style of politicking that makes Illinois what it is. Let a political wolverine like Quinn pick somebody based on their qualifications, not based on their family name and connections.

Quinn knows he's got next to know friends among the real players in the state, and so he's at least potentially likely to be more objective in his decision. Certainly far more objective than Madigan et al. Or maybe Madigan will seek to impeach Pat Quinn and appoint himself governor. It's about the same thing.

Quinn's a mean guy. He'd give Rahm Emanuel a run for his meanie money. But he's a liberal guy, too. I think it would be amusing as hell to see him as governor. The alternative is something oily as hell, fishy as can be. I'm going to hold my breath that Illinois will suddenly do the right thing, but perversely, I think upholding the law of the state just might be the way to go on this one, particularly if Blago goes down.

The president-elect believes the Illinois general assembly should step in to "consider the issue and put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois," Gibbs said.

I'm a little off-put by the calls to do this. Just because Blago's been pinched doesn't suddenly make the Illinois general assembly a basket of roses. It feels like they're trading one form of Illinois corruption for another, taking advantage of a political crisis.

Impeach Blago, let Pat Quinn become governor of Illinois (which in itself would be revolutionary, even though that's what a lieutenant governor's primary role is), and see who he picks. Opportunistically changing the law to suit the needs of the moment feels so dirty to me.

Hah hah. Ho ho. Hee hee. Hoo hoo hoo. Ha. This is getting better and better. Illinois politics is in full swing, now, with the whole country watching. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

15 minutes called, Joe, it wants its time back.

A political sage he's not. I wonder what Blagojevich will do now that he's out on his own [BLEEP]-ing recognizance.

I guess Blago's authority is still in place so long as he's governor, even if he's under arrest! But ILL House Speaker Mike Madigan can't stand Blago, nor can most of the ILL Democrats, so I could see them fast-tracking an impeachment for Blago, which might render a speedier smackdown than the criminal proceedings, and get pit bull Pat Quinn in place. The real key is finding out which of the would-be candidates for the Senate seat tried to turn Blago's favor with money. Anybody Blago might name now would surely be viewed unfavorably, I would think.

Wow. Pat Quinn gets to be governor of Illinois, I guess. Nobody embodies two-fisted liberalism the way Pat Quinn does. That doesn't necessarily gel with the classic Illinois politics culture of corruption, but it is a huge departure from the wink-and-nod smarmy pandering of Blagojevich, and this could completely upend the appointment of Obama's Senate successor, taking all of the classic Illinois-style candidates off the table. Quinn is a no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners type of guy. I hope that he taps Jan Schakowsky for the Senate seat. They're both strongly liberal, so they have that in common. I know Quinn has downplayed his liberal stances while serving as Lt. Governor, but the history is there. Who he picks will say everything about where he's standing these days.

While I didn't see this particular line of attack coming, I did write that the Right would do whatever they could to try to rob Obama of legitimacy, were he to win. This particular meme is a curious one, if only because it's so cockeyed and desperate.

In the face of Obama's studied pragmatism and clear moderate politics, it's ironic to me how shrill the reactionaries are in their opposition to him. It's probably fortunate that he's not tacking toward honest liberalism or the loonies would be calling for secession.

Clearly, anything to the left of Mitch McConnell is creeping

socialism to these loonies. It's long since time we set them adrift, and stop trying to humor them. The country's problems require leaving them in the wilderness.

One of the reasons the Republican Party is quickly slipping into oblivion is because they let the yahoos on the far right take over. If you want the same thing to happen to the Democratic Party I say give into the far left, try to meet all their unrealistic demands, make them your chief spokespeople. See how well you do in the next election.

There is no "far left" in American politics. You know that, right? Least of all in the Democratic Party -- even the most liberal of American Democrats pale in their liberalism compared with global notions of right and left. It's typical that the clarion call warning about the "far left" is invariably coming from those "yahoos on the far right" as you put it.

It's also why everyday Americans are typically further to the left than their so-called representatives. Once you strip past the labels, to the policies behind them, it's clear that there is a liberal mandate, if only the Democrats were strong enough to take it.