* 3:19 pm - Click here to read the transcript of the governor’s event.
* 3:14 pm - Most of the governor’s media event…
* 3:11 pm - We’re coming a bit late to this, but Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn is doing a press conference right now. Click here to watch.
* 3:01 pm - The governor quoted from Tennyson’s Ulysses today. This stanza immediately preceding the one Blagojevich quoted seems much more appropriate…
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
* 2:51 pm - Tribune…
Blagojevich, the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached, sought to portray himself as a governor fighting to expand health care and the availability of affordable prescription drugs against an Illinois House that stood in the way.
“The House is impeaching me for that? Is that an impeachable offense?” Blagojevich said at a news conference at the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago.
MSNBC…
Women, minorities, crying babies and a man in a wheelchair served as the backdrop on stage at a news conferenece rembattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who the Illinois House voted to impeach today 114-1.
Blagojevich continued to show a defiant confidence in his innocence.
He called the House’s decision to impeach him not a surprise. “This is not something that came as a complete surprise to me,” he said, since the state House considered the idea in 2007.
He discussed how he has pushed the House, for “real and meaningful” housing, for cancer screenings and other policy initiatives.
“Is that an impeachable act,” Blagojevich said.
* 2:35 pm - Blagojevich: Not a surprise… foregone conclusion… What the House did today they’ve been talking about doing for the last couple of years… First time was in the summer of 2007.
It happened kind of fast, but then again kind of expected. Dynamic since reelected as governor in 2006. Struggled to… try to get things done for people.
Wanted to do a capital program but: “The House has stood in the way of letting that happen.”
And so from the moment of my reelection I’ve been pushing and prodding the House to expand health care… stood in the way of my expansions.
Wanted tax relief for homeowners of Cook County, they passed a bill to take away tax relief.
The House’s action today and the causes of the impeachment are because I’ve done things to fight for families who are with me here today.
The governor is now going through the impeachment counts to defend himself, starting with the I-SaveRx program, which was first suggested to the governor by Rahm Emanuel.
“The House is impeaching me for that. Is that an impeachable offense?”
Now he’s talking about helping a mammogram patient and his mammogram screening program. “That’s a life-saving program the House would not act on. I found a way to do it by going around the House… Is that an impeachable offense?
Now, it’s AllKids. Another beneficiary is pointed out. “Is that an impeachable offense?”
“Creative ways to use the executive authority of governor” to get things done. “I don’t believe those are impeachable offenses.”
“I’m going to continue to fight every step of the way.”
Quoting more poetry. Left without taking questions, even though he indicated he would earlier.
* 2:21 pm - “Supporters” of the governor have been ushered into the room. He needs a cheering section, apparently.
* 2:17 pm - Two minute warning
* 2:01 pm - The Tribune also has a live feed.
* 1:45 pm - CBS2 will have a live video feed of the governor’s 2 o’clock media event. Click here to watch it.
And while we’re awaiting the governor’s statement today, keep my recent Sun-Times column in mind…
When Blagojevich ranted, “I will fight until I take my last breath,” those legislators saw the gauntlet once again being thrown directly at them.
The word “impeachment” was first uttered publicly back in the summer of 2007, when the General Assembly and the governor engaged in a superheated, months-long battle. The governor and his henchmen reacted swiftly.
Legislators were threatened with direct retaliation. If they had a mistress, their wives would hear about it. If they had ever asked for an untoward political favor from the governor or his staff, they would be dragged through the mud right along with him. Every rumor they’d ever heard about personal or official corruption would be leaked to the media. It would be total war. […]
Still, nobody will be surprised if Blagojevich attempts retribution. A quick read of the FBI’s surveillance records clearly shows that’s his way.
It could be fun, campers. We’ll see. He loves to blame the House for absolutely everything. Today will obviously be no different. The big question I have is whether he calls out individual members by name. He’s just bizarre enough to do it.