It was bound to happen.  A snarling pack of hopefuls waiting to pick up the leavings amassed from a too long, too nasty and too revealing contest.  Eventually it all comes out in the wash.  What is tantalizing about the Illinois debacle is the retentive nature of dirty politics.  "What is in it for me?" seems to be the watchword of the present Governor who was stung in a sting set up to watch what he said and did.  We do have our standards, you know.  We live in a democracy which condones the avaricious nature of Mr. Blagojevich while drooling over the revelations of his activities through spying on him - in a democracy.

It is hard to admit that Democrats can be as unhygienic (dirty hands) as Republicans.  The Republicans for years have been holier than thou because they got away with so much.  Now it is the Democrat's turn and it looks like dissension in the ranks is standard.  It wasn't nice to see Jesse Jackson turn on B.H. Obama and then to find Jackson's son, Rep. Jackson, Jr. return the compliment.  But, hey - this is America and we invented democracy as we know it.  Our version, yet needing a lot of work, is much, much better than the rigid class society worked out by the ancient Greeks.

What is really unpleasant about the snarling and clawing now filling our screens and minds are the really human response to access to power.  Mr. Blagojevich sincerely believes that he deserves to earn as much personal money and power over the disposition of Mr. Obama's Senate seat.  So much for elections.  He had the power to appoint Mr. Obama's replacement and could have forthrightly picked the pick of the knowledgeable.  He could even have picked himself and there would have been none of the present nastiness.

I don't think there will be a generational healing between Jesse the Senior and Jesse the Junior.  Too much has been said which is too much to regret or to say you are sorry for. Politicians choose strange bedfellows for people in the public eye. We have witnessed too many (even one would be too many) politicians and people in the public eye making asses of themselves and sullying what should be a spotless procedure.

And this brings us to acknowledging that politics is a blood sport.  It is sad to record that all of this bloodying the name of individuals and the Law itself comes when there are all these lovely sound and visual bits about Christmas spirit and memorializing the Prince of Peace who died for your sins.  The contrast is vivid and unsettling and right on the mark.