How times change
Tuesday, Nov 19, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today…
* From July of 2007 during a budget impasse and just nine months after Gov. Rod Blagojevich was reelected…
Problems started early Saturday because Madigan decided to call the House into session at 10 a.m., despite a declaration from Blagojevich that the House and Senate should convene at 2 p.m. Madigan wanted to finish work early so House members could return home overnight Saturday before returning to Springfield Sunday.
Madigan agreed that Blagojevich has the authority to call the General Assembly into special session, but said the governor does not have the authority to dictate the time of the meetings. Blagojevich’s office disagreed, saying it has the constitutional authority to set not only the date of the special sessions, but the time as well. The administration said it is exploring its legal options. […]
Before the House could finish its work Saturday, Blagojevich issued another proclamation calling for another special session to start at 2:30 p.m. Nonetheless, Madigan adjourned the House at about 11:45 a.m.
Rank and file lawmakers who’ve been forced to stay in Springfield with little to do while the budget impasse continues erupted in anger Saturday. […]
“I believe we should look into what it would take to see if he (Blagojevich) is to the point where impeachment proceedings should start,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro. “I am dead serious.”
Back in the day, Rep. Bost wanted to impeach a governor over an argument about the precise time the House was required to convene a special session.
- Southern Illinois Mayor - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 3:54 pm:
Aww, angry Bost. He is thinks of himself of a big R republican and little A american.
- ChicagoVinny - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 3:56 pm:
Scalise’s graphic is a pretty good list of the President’s crimes.
- NoUseForAName - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 3:59 pm:
I always got along with Bost, but the tribalism was (is) strong with him. Had it been a Republican governor dictating the exact time of a special session, Mike would have been crying to the heavens and calling for the Speaker’s head for daring to defy the 2nd floor’s authority.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:02 pm:
Lol. Bost should know that the entire US National Security assessment is conclusive: Russia interfered in the US election to help Trump and to defeat Clinton. That’s not in dispute.
Bost should know that Roger Stone was just convicted for lying about his role as the liaison between the Trump Campaign and Wikileaks.
Bost should know what “emoluments” means since he swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. If he can’t see how President Trump is using the presidency to earn more money for his family’s business, then Bost is blind or looking the other way.
Bost should know the Mueller report provided evidence that the President of the United States attempted to obstruct justice.
Bost should know that the President’s own words prove a quid pro quo. If Bost doesn’t know that that phrase is the same as saying it was bribery, he needs a better staff. Or a dictionary.
And lastly, if Bost doesn’t know that Trump’s tweet, in real time, at last week’s hearing is the definition of witness intimidation, he is too stupid to be a Member of Congress.
Bost and his colleagues are willfully ignorant. They are putting their reputations on the line for a lying, adulterous, cheating, bankrupt, sexual predator and con man.
But I appreciate the handy list he gave us for all of the reasons that Trump should be impeached.
- R A T - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:04 pm:
OK, with the name Republicans Against Trump, I may be a little biased but for the life of me, how can anyone be arguing that he should not be impeached? If you want to argue removal from office, fine. But impeachment is a no-brainer obvious fact to me.
- Hamlet's Ghost - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:10 pm:
Does Mike Bost genuinely believe Donald Trump is innocent of each and every one of the high crimes and misdemeanors listed on his post?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:13 pm:
Mr. Bost pandering to Trumpkins in the downstate, places where seceding from the state is embraced too…
It’s not that Mr. Bost is not being thoughtful, his thoughts are what they were in 2007; what’s the best pandering I can do?
- Norseman - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:17 pm:
Hypocrisy is a norm for politicians. Trump’s GOP has ramped up the absurdity level of their hypocrisy to Himalayan heights.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:18 pm:
I’m disappointed that people don’t have a problem with some of the things President Trump has done. We have reached a point where right and wrong don’t seem to mean anything anymore. Republicans didn’t seem to have a problem impeaching a President for lying about having sex with someone but it’s apparently a coup to attempt to impeach a President now for what I believe are legitimately impeachable offenses.
- don the legend - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:20 pm:
Rep Bost and the Trumpkins. Not a band name but they do have this quote in common:
==Small minds have always lashed out at what they don’t understand.==
Dan Brown
- Thomas Paine - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:22 pm:
Times haven’t changed at all.
Bost has always been >thisprincipled
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 4:27 pm:
- Demoralized -
I take the complete opposite view. Respectfully.
I’m a no Trump, never Trump, no Rauner, never Rauner before that.
I embraced and appreciated folks showing me who they are.
I learned so much. I learned how open and overt and empowered some, whom I guess I misread, suddenly embraced so many things you thought they couldn’t or wouldn’t. Not just “here”, but civilians in life, family, close, dear friends. The overtly way during Rauner, then Trump, the casual way of things and mores that, well, are some of the worst things, ugly things, about the human experience.
I love the “but the economy, and he’s (Trump) not racist, so I’m with him”… or… “oh, I don’t agree with that, but I support him anyway”
The way Rauner hurt social service and higher ed, “but I’m frustrated too, but…” … but the glee of hurting others was too easily seen.
Embrace it - Demoralized -, let others show you their character, who they are, 51st staters included.
I’ve been lucky, not many hurt me by being who they are, if anything, there’s great hope with those willing to reject the hatred and anger.
Be well.
- Downstater - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 5:21 pm:
Congressman Bost - what has Trump done you disagree with? Anything? Nothing at all? Thank you for reminding us that with you its Party over Country. Just another partisan who doesn’t have the …….. backbone, to call out the President when he deserves it.
- Fixer - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 5:34 pm:
Bost is a career politician. He’s pandering for votes, same now as he has for the last 24 years. Not much to show for his constituents for as much as they’ve elected him though.
- Just Saying - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 5:42 pm:
You people don’t know what Trump has done for us. And if you can’t see it, then there is no helping you.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 5:49 pm:
How’s that tax cut working out for you? It’s doing wonders for the National Debt.
Just saying.
- Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 6:00 pm:
- And if you can’t see it, then there is no helping you. -
As a wider man than me, and you, used to say: “Don’t hide your light under a bushel.”
Really, I’d love to be helped. Awe me with your knowledge.
- Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 6:01 pm:
*wiser, based on the one photo I’ve ever seen I don’t believe he was wider.
- Blue Dog Dem - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 7:15 pm:
Right and wrong…..now thatinteresting. I find that argument can be applied often.
- DQCardsFan - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 8:22 pm:
Bost swore oaths as a Marine and a Congressman to protect and defend the Constituion. Semi-literate misogynists were never referenced in those oaths. Why he chooses to help Trump Make Russia Great Again is beyond me. Neither has done any good whatsoever for Illinois or particularly Southern Illinois.
- Anonanonsir - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 8:27 pm:
==Bost has always been >thisprincipled==
He’s principled enough for the IEA. They’re happy with him and they endorsed him.
- Captain Obvious - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 8:45 pm:
RAT - name the impeachable offense and the evidence that supports your contention. Be specific. I am slow on the uptake I guess, as I have seen no indication of a high crime or misdemeanor. So far it looks like some entrenched in the state department disagree with Trump’s policies or methods, which in their minds constitute a crime.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 8:57 pm:
- Captain Obvious -
“The only honest answer is that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers [it] to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office.“
Gerald Ford, Republican, Michigan
Minority Leader, US House of Representatives
- Remarks in the House (April 15, 1970), Congressional Record, vol. 116, p. 11913
Questions?
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 11:23 pm:
—Be specific. I am slow on the uptake I guess, as I have seen no indication of a high crime or misdemeanor.
Asking a foreign power to provide a specific action to help the President’s reelection in exchange for military aid. Is there some question that this happened? Because every one of the witnesses at this point seems to agree with this assessment.
Impoundment of funds without a specific reason as allowed by legislation is also impeachable.
Then we can add some of the longest occurring violations in both the foreign and domestic emolument clauses.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Nov 19, 19 @ 11:58 pm:
===Semi-literate misogynists were never referenced in those oaths. ===
Bost resembles this remark.
- truthteller - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 6:55 am:
I am thanking Bost for listing all the crimes that trump and his criminal circle have committed so far, but so many more can be added.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 8:17 am:
Whelp, as the saying does Da Nile ain’t just a river.
- StraightOuttaCobden - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 11:17 am:
Bost is in trouble this cycle. His fundraising his down and he has a real competitor, Retired US Army Major Joel Funk who flew as a Chinook pilot in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. He’s also a family farmer. Sounds like a pretty good fit for Southern Illinois. Bost may soon discover that it’s a dog-eat-dog world in Illinois politics and the folks of Southern Illinois are sick of his shenanigans.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 11:18 am:
===Bost is in trouble this cycle===
You may need a nap.