Arrested Development

It has been said that timing is everything, so it is only fitting that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich got himself arrested for corruption on... drumroll please... UN Anti-Corruption Day!!!

The FBI phoned Blagojevich at 6 a.m. Tuesday, telling him of a warrant for his arrest and informing him that there were two FBI agents at his door. Blagojevich's first comment was, "Is this a joke?" (Interesting side note... when Blagojevich was "interviewed" by Jason Jones of the Daily Show two years ago, he didn't comprehend that the interview was a joke... oh the irony...)

Blagojevich, who was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and solicitation to commit bribery, let friendly union officials and fundraisers know that for the right price, Barack Obama's vacant Illinois Senate seat could be had. Blagojevich was also in the midst of an attempt to raise $2.5 million by the end of the year, before a state anti-corruption law he tried to veto (Obama got the state senate to override it) took effect. This led the Feds to wiretap his phones and the rest is history...

The House of Blagojevich was a “pay to play” operation and the governor had a price... $250,000 to $300,000 a year, and an influential job with a nonprofit foundation or union... and a plum board of directors gig for Mrs. Blagojevich. He even had fantasies of being Obama's Secretary of Health and Human services or an ambassador...

The desire to ingratiate himself into the Obama Administration may well have led to his eventual undoing... Rumor has it the Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel may have tipped off the FBI to Blagojevich's hair brained scheme... Note to self: Rahm Emanuel is not to be crossed... that G is a straight up gangsta IDF mofo...

Not only was this genius caught on FBI wiretaps conniving to sell in exchange for bribes, the dimwit was fully aware that he was being investigated for fraud and MUST HAVE KNOWN he was under surveillance... Just Monday he challenged reporters stating, "I don't care whether you tape me privately or publicly. I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful."

Ummmmm... ok... perhaps his definition of lawful is just "different" than ours...

Among some of the "lawful" things he said were these whoppers:

"I've got this thing (the Illinois Senate seat) and it's fucking golden, and I'm just not giving it up for fucking nothing. I'm not gonna do it."

"They're (the Obama Administration) not going to offer me anything of value, I might as well take it, They're not going to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them."

"Consultants are telling me that I have to suck it up for two years and do nothing and give this motherfucker (the President-elect) his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.”

Sounds like someone saw a few too many episodes of the Sopranos...

The level of Blago's chutzpah even got the typically staid U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (yes, the prosecutor behind Plamegate) seeing red... "The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering. They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator. The Senate seat, as recently as days ago, seemed to be on the verge of being auctioned off. The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave," said Fitzgerald.

Apparently the typical, run of the mill fall from grace didn't pass muster for Blagojevich... you know, getting caught with heroin, or with a prostitute, or with a teenage boy, etc... that must have been deemed as too passe... And based on this assumption, we must at least give Blago points for creativity... Nicely done Rod... I spose if you are gonna go down, you might as well go down in flames...

This cat might well be one of the most brazen idiots in American political history... take a moment to let that rattle around inside your noggin for a minute... think of the competition... that is A LOT of brazen idiots... which leads me to ask the obvious question, how the hell does someone like this get to be a governor?

During his term in Springfield (The state capital of Illinois, where he refused to live in the governor's mansion and commuted from Chicago several times a week via private plane at the cost of $6,000 per round trip...), he has battled friends and foe alike, all the way down to a 4% approval rating (no, that wasn't a typo) according to one poll... Some of his fellow lawmakers have described him as "disengaged" and "dictatorial"... a "madman" and "insane"... a 10-year-old child and yes, a "cuckoo"...

The arrogant SOB even considered appointing himself to the Senate seat, thinking that it might help him avoid impeachment and help rebuild his image for a possible presidential run in 2016...

Yes, you read that correctly... this sociopath had designs on the Oval Office...

Blagojevich also sweated the Chicago Tribune, threatening to withhold state assistance to parent company Tribune Co. in an attempt to force the newspaper into firing editorial writers who had been critical. Supposedly Tribune CEO (and resident evil troll and slumlord) Sam Zell got the message and was very "sensitive" to the issue.

Ah yes, Illinois... where dead people vote early and often, governors go to the big house, and the Cubs have crushed hopes and dreams for 100 years and counting...

As for President-elect Obama... how is he wrapped in all of this?

So far he's not... Prosecutors backed up the president-elect's claim stating that he had no contact with the governor or his office, was not aware of what was happening. However, one can trust that his claim of ignorance won't stop political enemies from pegging this as his first scandal...

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