Rod Blagojevich is the best friend that big-government has ever had. He has done a less-than-average job as governor of Illinois, and focuses nearly all of his energy on promoting the nanny state. If you think he has a chance of becoming President, think again. He is not a good candidate. He only became governor because his opponent shared the same name as his scandal-ridden predecessor, and voters didn’t know the difference.

I have to agree with Peter. Blagojevich’s election was a fluke. He ran against the drug companies, in a state where drug manufacturers are some of the largest employers. From what I have seen, he is unapologetically big government. Had he had a real opponent for governor, he would have gotten crushed, even in Blue Illinois.

I may be wrong on this but I don’t think Rod Blagojevich has a prayer of being President. No one wants a president whose name is tough to pronounce on first site. Take my last name, Thorkelson. It’s not that tough, but it gets mangled all the time. Can you imagine a President Thorkelson? Me neither.

I would just like to point out that thanks to Rod Blagojevich’s love of the "big government", he has proposed two bills in Illinois to punish retailers selling "M" rated games to children under 17 (I read this in my TIME Magazine [you have to be a subscriber to read the full article . . . bleh . . .] right before I read this post . . . ). This is sort of off-topic but did you know they are releasing a game called "JFK Reloaded"? Go to that site. It’s a sick game. Unfortunate, indeed.



Sometimes I think that some forms of "big government" are excusable. I’m sorry if this is the unforgivable sin for some of you. :-D

Yeah, but all of Blagoyevich’s Big Government stuff is silly and does nothing to actually help the people of Illinois, but gets him a bunch of photo ops. A statewide ban on ephedra? Regulating video games? Banning beedies (little Indian cigars that contain nothing different than a regular cigar, but look somehwat like a joint)? These are neither the proper functions of government nor the best use of a governor’s time. He ought to be focusing on the astronomical tax rates, or at least using that tax money to curb crime or improve schools on the southside. But he doesn’t, because he’s a photo-op hungry egomaniac who wants good press but is too lazy to solve any real problems.

I read Free Republic, the right-wing activist website, daily. The people who post on FReep aren’t usually the sharpest tools in the box. But still, I thought I’d share this: Almost every reference I see to Bill Richardson seems to accuse him of being a crook and of running a machine of crooks -- whether legally speaking or commonsensically speaking.

President Bill Richardson? Please, you’ll give me nightmares. He was on Greta van Susteren the other night raving at length about the world’s debt to the U.N. for addressing the tsunami crisis, planting sloppy kisses on Annan’s butt and helping him steal the credit that belongs to the U.S. military on behalf of the U.N.

None of these guys seems to have "it."

The ability to win elections against Republican opposition.

Blags is already embroiled in the obligatory scandal, with his father-in-law publicly name-calling him.

Richardson is a Clinton Admin hack without Clinton’s gift of connecting to ordinary voters in hostile media environments (think Arkansas).

Maybe the guy from Tennesee might connect, but he’s got no chance to win the nomination. For better or worse, it looks like the early voters in New Hampshire and Iowa will annoint someone like Dean, Kerry (again, yeesh) etc.

Dems are pretty weak, outside places like Berkeley or San Francisco.

The Dems are REALLY weak right now. Especially if the Republicans run a good moderate (*cough* Voinovich *cough*).