Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns. After getting 63% of the vote. Why now?? Why did he run in the first place? Did he not have an idea two weeks ago that this would come to pass? I for one, can certainly empathize with someone experiencing mental health issues. But certainly as he indicated in the NY Times article, these issues had been culminating over several months. So why wait until two weeks after the election?
As Stacy McCain indicates, we have these five words to be thankful for: Former Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior. Stacy also had this to say:
There is no such thing as an honest Illinois Democrat, so we can trust that voters of the 2nd District will elect another corrupt buffoon to replace the crook who just resigned.
Indeed, we’ve certainly seen what type of politician comes out of Illinois. Ann Althouse shared this quote from the NYTimes, and her opinion in the paragraph following.
Voters, it seemed, did not care [about his mental and legal problems], particularly given the strong Democratic-leanings of his district and a group of little-known opponents who challenged him….
How can you tell they didn’t care? He was the Democratic Party candidate. You’d have to have a high level of objection to switch parties. You could very easily care yet still vote for your party’s candidate. You vote for the party and trust them to get it straightened out, which seems to be what is happening, since he has resigned.
Isn’t this just a bit disturbing? He gets 63% of the vote, despite all these issues. Typical…but disappointing nonetheless. As Stacy said, there’s no doubt someone equally corrupt will fill his shoes.
