Illinois Prison Will House Gitmo Detainees

The Obama administration notified Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn by letter Tuesday that it intends to acquire a rural prison in his state for the relocation of a "limited number of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."
The underutilized Thomson Correctional Center is in the small village of Thomson, Ill., 150 miles east of Chicago. It has become the center of controversy over what to do for a limited number of terrorist suspects, about 200, held at Guantanamo Bay.

Republicans are stomping their feet because that's what they do. It pushes their narrative that Obama is a terrorist sympathizer, which plays to their wingnuts, who go even further, saying Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist. We already have 355 terrorists in prisons all around the nation. It's just politically beneficial for republicans to pitch a fit:

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blasted the plan to send Guantanamo detainees Thomson. McConnell dubbed the new facility "Gitmo North," and said the administration has failed to explain how it will make the United States safer.

"The American people and a bipartisan majority of the Congress have already rejected bringing terrorists to U.S. soil for long-term detention, and current law prohibits it," McConnell said. USA Today

Terrorists around the nation and not one escapee:

According to data provided by Traci L. Billingsley, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, federal facilities on American soil currently house 216 international terrorists and 139 domestic terrorists. Some of these miscreants have been locked up here since the early 1990s. None of them has escaped. At the most secure prisons, nobody has ever escaped, period. Slate

Illinois governor Pat Quinn says the Thompson Correctional prison will be a maximum security prison for Gitmo detainees. No one has ever escaped a federal prison, he said. Detainees won't be allowed to have visitors. It will create 3,000 jobs in a depressed area of Illinois.

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Gibbs on reporter's suggestion of an Illinois Gitmo. Sometimes our press corps is really disappointing:

Illinois Prison Could House Gitmo Detainees

The Obama administration may buy a near-empty prison in rural northwestern Illinois to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay along with federal inmates, a White House official said Saturday.
The maximum-security Thomson Correctional Facility, about 150 miles west of Chicago, was one of several evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and emerged as a leading option to house the detainees, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because a decision has not been made.
President Barack Obama wants alleged terrorism suspects from the controversial military-run detention center in Cuba to be transferred to U.S. soil so they can be prosecuted for their suspected crimes.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has been hinting at a possible new use for Thomson, and he issued a statement saying he would hold a news conference Sunday to outline those plans. AP

Fox News Sunday panel discussed this today:

Not on the video, is the discussion they had about Sarah Palin.
Liz Cheney says it would be sexist to say that Sarah Palin couldn't be president.
Bill Kristol fawns over Palin and Juan Williams sets them straight.
I'm surprised that they only briefly talked about Obama's bow to the Japanese emperor. It's on fire in wingnut circles. Bill Kristol says Palin wouldn't bow or even curtsy to anyone. That's because she doesn't know enough to know whether she should.
Republicans always talk about the need for less political correctness, well how about this, Palin is an idiot when it comes to international relations. Let's not pretend.
Liz Cheney also suggests Cheney 2012? Cheney Palin? Never. Never. Never. Ever.

Romney Says Spend

On Meet the Press this morning, Mitt Romney says government needs to SPEND! Wowsa. Romney seems like a smart guy but he disturbs me, more than Sarah Palin, if you can believe that. Perhaps it's that phony smile he always has plastered on his face. Even as David Gregory wished him well -- his wife is dealing with some health issues -- he still had that fake smile. You never see an emotion. He also seems self-righteous.
Seems to me that everyone--republicans and democrats--on the roundtable essentially agreed on the fix -- government needs to invest.
Carly Fiorina made an excellent point: Why did the banks get the bailout money without being required to lend money? They're sitting on the money and businesses need loans. It seems to me there must be more to the story, but wouldn't Fiorina know if there was?
David Gregory did a good job. I'll post video when it's up.
The Meet the Press lineup this morning:

LISA MADIGAN (D)
Illinois Attorney General

LT. GOV. PAT QUINN
D-Illinois

GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM
D-Michigan

FMR. GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R-MA)
2008 Republican Presidential Candidate
Founder, Bain Capital

CARLY FIORINA
Fmr. CEO, Hewlett-Packard

LEE SCOTT
President & CEO, Wal-Mart

ERIC SCHMIDT
CEO, Google

MARY MITCHELL
Editorial Board Member & Columnist, Chicago Sun-Times
Radio Talk-Show Host, WVAZ-V103

CHUCK TODD
Here's Carly:

Political Director, NBC News

Here's Mitt: