
The Day They Came for the Governor - com2kid
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2018/The-Day-They-Came-for-Rod-Blagojevich/
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BeetleB
When it comes to Illinois, saying "The governor" is not enough. Which
governor?

3 of the last 7 governors spent time in prison.

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Nasrudith
Brings to mind the very multifacted interpretation quote from Nelson Mandella
- "In my country we go to prison first and then become President."

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dmitrygr
A joke in illinois is that you never ask a governor what he will do after his
term is up. There is only one path: jail for corruption.

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R_haterade
This is an interesting glimpse into the mindset of feds.

Underscored the old saying that the police are never there to help you.

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nradov
I've been helped by police several times.

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pm90
Interesting. I wonder if this is how a US president would be arrested as well.

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paganel
I don’t think any US president is going to be arrested anytime soon, the
best/worst (depending on your political affiliations) that could happen is a
repeat of how Nixon went away.

Afaik Nixon still had quite a big popular support when he was forced to make
way, and I think that the people behind his fall thought that antagonizing his
supporters by putting him behind bars would have created unnecessary political
and geo-strategic turbulences. On the other hand, I think a president with low
approval points is not worth being arrested while in office, he’s a sitting
duck anyway, his hands are tied and he’d only have to see his mandate through
without creating that much of a fuss.

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rootusrootus
Nixon's approval ratings were below 25% before he resigned. That's getting
pretty close to what I expect is the floor (one in five is a pretty low bar
and not a bad estimate for the number of loons among average citizens).

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paganel
TIL. Yeah, I looked it up now, he seems to have had quite a fall, as one year
before his resignation he was still at about 60%.

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mikestew
T'was a different time. Remembering that not only was Nixon elected, he beat
Humphrey by popular vote and electoral, _and_ he won re-election. He did some
popular things (EPA, for example), so we weren't ready to hate him just yet.
Though I was young, politics didn't strike me as much of a team sport as it is
today. Watergate, though, showed us what politicians are capable of. Though
many might have suspected, the 70s were the first time it showed up in your
living room on TV as live-and-in-color proof.

Today, thanks in part to Watergate, we have a much more cynical populous and
so, say, Trump probably won't have as far to fall.

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paulie_a
Also he ended the Vietnam war as promised. Whether that was the best thing can
be left up for debate, but he delivered.

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Latteland
Remember war crimes on his orders, The Bombing of Cambodia, thousands killed,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Menu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Menu).

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paulie_a
Hence why i said other things are left to debate. My scope was that he ended
the war... nothing more. It's a fact I was pointing out. A single specific
fact.

