Surprising no one (except maybe Rep. Milton Patterson, the lone dissenter), The Illinois House voted to impeach Blago today.
From the AP via Yahoo:
The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, an unprecedented action that sets up a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out for abuse of power, including allegations that he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1.
Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.
"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.
The Governor, displaying his narcissistic unrivaled vainglory, was out jogging around his Chicago neighborhood while the vote occurred, and yet again paraphrased an obscure piece of literature.
Blagojevich refused to answer any specific questions about the vote, but upon returning from his jog, he likened his situation to long-distance running.
"Let me simply say I feel like the old Alan Sillitoe short story 'The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.' ... And that's what this is by the way, a long-distance run," he said.
From Wikipedia:
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a story by the British writer Alan Sillitoe published in 1958, and it is contained in a collection of short stories published under the same title.
The book's title story was subsequently adapted into a film of the same name. In the film, an impoverished Nottingham teenager has few prospects in life and enjoys few pursuits beyond committing petty crimes. His home life is dismal as well. Caught for robbing a bakery, Colin is confined in a borstal, or prison for delinquent youth. He seeks solace in long distance running, attracting the notice of the school's authorities, but, during an important cross-country meet which he is winning, he stops running just short of the finish line to defy his captors.
Anyway....
During the House's 90-minute debate on impeachment, no one spoke up to defend the governor. But Rep. Milton Patterson, a Chicago Democrat, made the sole vote against impeaching Blagojevich.
Patterson said he read the impeachment committee's report and wasn't comfortable voting against the governor. "I have no firsthand knowledge of any of the evidence," he said.
"I went by my own gut feeling, it's as simple as that," he said. "I read the report. If the government is going to indict him, let them go ahead and do that. That's their job and I'm doing my job."
Rep. Elga Jefferies, another Chicago Democrat, voted "present."
This has not been confirmed by anyone and we have no realiable source, but it's rumored that Ms. Jefferies also goes by the name Barack Obama.
Obama did nothing today except nominated "clearly unqualified" Leon Panetta to head the CIA.
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