I apologize that I tarred all elderly people with the same brush in my post. However, I am concerned that the elderly in particular are uniquely susceptible to bamboozlement, not because they are demented or stupid, but because they are nervously living on fixed incomes, for example. But, I find it ironic (at best) that the one group of people in this country benefiting the most from socialized government health care (from both Medicare and Medicaid, which pays for most nursing home care), want to angrily deny that hellacious benefit to the rest of us.

I also wanted to point out that the MCCA experience, where RICH elderly were expected to pay for additional benefits that would largely benefit POOR elderly, is the sort of thing gets coded into the political DNA of individuals and organizations serving the interests of senior citizens. Because of MCCA, their radar sensitivity is turned up to 11, and the President and Congressional Dems need to know that and act proactively to counter a likely hair-trigger overreaction. The corporate astroturf industry knows this and exploits it effectively, as we have seen, again.

The answer is "no." The deputy governor jobs are like the Deputy Mayor jobs in NYC -- staff jobs with too fancy a title. Blago will remain governor until he a) resigns or b) is convicted. If he leaves or is removed from office, Pat Quinn, the elected lieutenant governor of Illinois, would assume the governorship. Quinn, btw, is a good government/reform type from way back.