Yesterday Rod Blagojevich held a press conference got the media together so that they could listen to him proclaim his innocence. He said he did nothing wrong, that his critics were basically azzholes and that in the end, if given time by the people of Illinois he'll be in the clear. Realistically, the Illinois legislature is chomping at the bit to impeach him and criminal court is not going to be a friendly place, that is unless the judge throws out all the damning evidence against him. Yet in his statement, I get where Rod is coming from.
From TPM:
In an unwavering statement of innocence, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday he will be vindicated of criminal corruption charges and has no intention of letting what he called a "political lynch mob" force him from his job. "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong," Blagojevich said, speaking for about three minutes in his first official public comments since his arrest last week on federal corruption charges.Oh yes he will fight, I believe that. I also believe that he means it when he says he's done nothing wrong. To the majority of us that do not sit at the top of a local, state or national government, it is hard to contemplate that selling out our government is a legitimate practice. To Rod however, it is perfectly acceptable because so many elected officials are doing it. The majority are just smart enough to not be caught on tape, especially when aware of being investigated by someone like Patrick Fitzgerald.
In many a State House and in Washington, D.C., lobbyists have bought many legislators with steak dinners, "fact-finding" trips to an exotic golf course and home renovations. To the lay person, the lobbying culture is obscene and excludes the common man from the political process. Yet to insular elected officials, lobbyists are just regular people like you and I. That is complete bull but sadly, entrapment in a political system that rewards the well-connected shields them from what really goes on in the world. When George Bush shows incredulity that the price of gas topped four dollars, that was for real.
The bubbles built with aides, lobbyists and the beltway (or in Rod's case, the Loop) are extremely powerful. So for soon to be ex-Governor Blagojevich, he'll be kicked out of office (and potentially into a jail cell) thinking he had done nothing wrong because so many others were doing the same thing.
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