What to call the Blagojevich scandal? Mark Krikorian on The Corner bemoans the banality of the ubiquitous “gate” suffiix. Blagogate? Senategate? Tired indeed.
My wife Sheryl Longin has a suggestion: Blag-oy-veh! [Well, she has a point. Ethnic name, ethnic scandal.-ed. That's what I thought. And it fits for Rahm Emanuel! Didn't you read on Drudge? He's not a target of the probe. Well, it's still a good name.]
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
22 Comments
1. Charlie (Colorado):Hmmm.
Maybe you could take a Pole.
Maybe a name blag.
I’m trying to get one on “Serb” but it’s not coming.
Dec 12, 2008 - 3:52 pm 2. Roy M:You haven’t sugested a name that implicates the current holder of the seat. Come on, You are not really trying!
Dec 12, 2008 - 4:36 pm 3. Roy M:Blagof******ggate.
Rich’Vich
The Bluh-GOY-uh-vich scandal (for newsreaders)
…and I’m out.
Dec 12, 2008 - 4:55 pm 4. srlucado:If the gate is strait, Blagobamagate.
(What does Blagojevich mean in Serbian, anyway? “Send me to prison”?)
While I think about this, let’s have a little song:
B is for the many bribes he’s taken,
L is for the lying he adores.
A is for the anarchy he fosters,
G is for the graft that he wants more.
O is for the Obama he fostered,
J is for the jail where he’ll go,
E is for the evil that he’s part of,
V is for vicious smoke he blows.
I is for the income he’ll be missing,
C is for corruption, naturally.
H is for the hell he’s made of his state,
Blago, you’re a rat from an alley!
(Okay, not very good, but it’s dinner time and I’m in a hurry.)
Scott
Dec 12, 2008 - 5:15 pm 5. dre:The “Allahfather” starring Barack Hussein Obama.
Dec 12, 2008 - 6:17 pm 6. cfbleachers:Curtain’s, Rod?
Bedtime for Blago?
Chicago and DC, Sale of Two Cities?
GiveGuvGraft?
Blagman on the take?
Rod Squirreling?
Dec 12, 2008 - 6:18 pm 7. GaryC:The perfect name for this effing mess is:
The Effing Mess
Dec 12, 2008 - 7:51 pm 8. ManosTheHandsOfFate:What to call the Blagojevich scandal? Based on reporting from the MSM, I’ll currently go with “Operation Save Obama”.
Dec 12, 2008 - 8:56 pm 9. Mahon:This thing is too low-rent for a cutsie name. The various -gates, from Water- to Plame- were complex and interesting; there were points of view. Was it the crime? Was it the cover-up? Was there a crime in the first place? Who were the bad guys and who was just caught in the cross-fire? Who was spinning how? This is just common thuggery – we shouldn’t dignify it with a name. And we can hope we won’t have to talk about it long enough to need one.
Dec 12, 2008 - 9:59 pm 10. jayne_cobb:I don’t know about the scandal but a good slogan for the current Democratic party would be “doing our best to recreate ‘94″.
Dec 12, 2008 - 10:04 pm 11. jj mollo:It’s so blatant and so low rent. It’s like Spiro Agnew’s scandal (spirogate? spirocheat?). It’s such a mess, maybe we could call it a roddybrook. I have a feeling that the last name itself will hold the meaning, as in, “Oh no, it’s another Blagojevich!” Though, maybe the next one will be a Sonojevich.
Dec 12, 2008 - 11:52 pm 12. bgates:It’s a Democrat trying to get money, so the suffix should be “-water” not “-gate”, and the object of the scandal is a seat in Congress, and the whole thing must have half the politicians in Chicago wetting themselves, so I say “Seatwater”.
Dec 13, 2008 - 3:14 am 13. Alan Kellogg:I do know what we should call the congressional hearings covering the affair; the Serb Board. Blagojevich turns an anybody we could call it ‘hanging friends’.
Dec 13, 2008 - 4:14 am 14. Wellspring:Something Chicago. To believe the press and chicago politicians, Blag is this crazy aberration who sprang from the brow of Zeus and is unconnected to anyone else. I just don’t buy it.
Or do I dare call it “The Big Fix”?
Dec 13, 2008 - 6:11 am 15. Wellspring:Actually you know thinking about it, the Big Fix is a nice name in and of itself (apologies to you, Roger; I was trying to be cheeky at first but this actually sounds pretty good). It can be made to encompass Blag, Rezko, anyone else snared their mess — and I assure you that if more aren’t caught, they’re still out there.
It can also encompass Friends of Angelo, Rangel’s problems, and the medias refusal to report on them until the election was safely over, and presents them as all part of the same culture of corruption.
Dec 13, 2008 - 6:21 am 16. marymcl:I like A Sale of Two Cities
Slightly OT(or not)Hillary is from Chicago, too. I don’t know that it means anything but one wonders what she knows.
Allan Kellogg – I’m sorry I called you an idiot last week. I’ve thought since maybe you were making a joke and I just didn’t get it. Anyway, my apologies.
Dec 13, 2008 - 7:31 am 17. cfbleachers:We look to Rezco, Ayers and Blago
For how things are done in Chicago
Try to kill kids at Fort Dix
Grab a seat in the house on the fix
While the press puts the truth on embargo
Farrakhan, Pfleger and Wright
Have spread “the word” with all of their might
Hate’s alive in Hyde Park
“God Damn America!”, they bark
While the press puts the lid on it tight
If Chicago’s the place where you’re born
You might be taught by Ayers, Khalidi or Dohrn
Then you can brag
About how you stomp on the flag
While the press finds a perjury to suborn
You see, Chicago takes us all back to school
To learn the dangers of one party rule
Add the complicit, conspiring press
You get the inevitable mess
When it registers, you feel like a fool
So make of all this what you will
Dec 13, 2008 - 7:45 am 18. Silvering:If it opened your eyes, well..better still
The problem arose
When the media chose
To define themselves as “The Big Shill”
My scandal name: The Blag Hole.
Dec 14, 2008 - 12:22 am 19. Mikey NTH:The senate seat scandal – S3.
Dec 14, 2008 - 11:52 am 20. Rheinman:If Rahm Emannuel becomes a more central figure – Blagorahma
Dec 15, 2008 - 4:14 pm 21. gadfly:A VISIT FROM SAINT FITZ …
‘Twas the night before Fitzmas,
when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a spouse;
The talking points were hung at the Obama pad with care,
In hopes that a new Senator soon would be there;
The Prez-elect was nestled all smug in his cred,
With visions of Mary Jane a-dance in his head;
And Barry with a Marlboro, a pack he did tap,
Had just settled down for a leisurely crap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
Barry sprang from the crapper to see what was the matter.
Away to the window he flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw out his uh, ash!
While ignoring the queen of some TV show,
(But it is not nice to put down Oprah y’know),
When what to Barry’s lying eyes should appear,
But a black Hummer, and eight gummit agents — oh dear,
With that federal prosecutor, so lively and quick,
Barry knew at that moment he was going to be sick.
More rapid than eagles Fitz’s coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Axelrod! Now, Rahm-bo! Now, Little Jesse Jackson!
On, Tony Rezko! On Billy Ayres! On Rashid Khalidi, if you ever want a pardon!”
Get to the bottom of the Chicago Way! Get them setup for a fall!
‘Cuff away! ‘Cuff away! ‘Cuff away all!”
Fitzgerald sprang to his aides, to his team gave a dead fish,
And away they took Gov. Blago, who swore like a feckin’ oirish.
But I heard Fitz exclaim, as they drove out of sight,
“You Chicago guys are all crooks and for sure I’ll indict.”
Dec 15, 2008 - 5:38 pm 22. mojo:Putzgate
Dec 16, 2008 - 11:02 am