It's getting harder defending the inaction by the democrats. So many scandals and no guts to unite and DEMAND/FORCE hearings.
It took the great leader to make me a registered democrat out of me. I grew up in a white collar family of democrats. My parents used to wince when I told them I had voted for a non-democrat. I remained uncommitted until the Dear Leader made the scene. Georgie inspired me to become proactive by working locally on the Kerry campaign. In other words, I felt like our country needed a SERIOUS change.
But when I read crap like this. I'm ready to become an independent again. The democrats better not partake in getting rid of Fitzgerald. That will BE the last straw for me!
Why do some pols want to get rid of the heat?
Dennis Byrne, a Chicago-area writer and consultant
Published August 1, 2005
After the limp response House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) gave to the idea of keeping the corruption-busting Patrick Fitzgerald on as the U.S. attorney here, the immortal words of White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson come to mind:
"He gone!"
As Fitzgerald's noose tightens around Mayor Richard M. Daley's City Hall and the trial of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan is coming into view, a historical political battle looms. Will Fitzgerald be allowed to continue his brilliant legal campaign to weed out the grafters of both parties, or will Chicago and Illinois continue to be most corrupt?
The smart money already is on the powerful dealmakers of both parties who want Fitzgerald vised. He's a hunter of big game, and the pursued on the top rungs of the power structure are fed up and fearful. Last week, rumors again surfaced that Fitzgerald would be gone when his term expires in October. So, it's understandable that Hastert--the second in line of succession to the presidency, one of Capitol Hill's most powerful lawmakers and Illinois' top Republican--would be asked Thursday, "how do you feel" about reappointing Fitzgerald.
His non-response betrayed no feeling one way or another: It's not my job; the president appoints the U.S. attorneys. No one has asked for Fitzgerald's resignation.
Question--"Do you think he should continue?"
Hastert--"Well, you know that's a decision that is going to have to be made by the president."
Hastert could have said that he'll try to use his supposedly meager influence at the White House to protect Fitzgerald from the circling buzzards. That he thinks Fitzgerald is doing a hell of a job, that he shouldn't be run out of town by the boodlers.
But he didn't, and in this game, failure to back Fitzgerald puts you on the dark side. Fitzgerald has devoted a lifetime to fighting such bad guys as John Gambino, of the Gambino mob family. And Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who led the 1993 terrorist attack against the World Trade Center. And Osama bin Laden and the terrorists in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0508010139aug01,0,4007807.story?coll=chi-newsopinionc
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