CHICAGO -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday that if what he's done as Illinois governor is an impeachable offense, he's living on the "wrong planet" and is in the "wrong place."
That's not news to most of us. And we'd all like to launch him off of it, like maybe into the sun.
Where's a working Saturn V when you need it.
Some of us have been trying to tell him that for years, but put yourself in his place and try to understand his astonishment.
You're a mop-haired lawyer whose big claim to fame is that you competed in Golden Gloves a few times. You do a little horse-trading now and then, Chicago-style, because everybody does. You marry Patty Mell, and her old man asks you if you'd like to be a Congressman. You leave it all to him, do what he says, and you're elected to Congress.
Does it sound like time to change your ways?
In Congress, you're pretty useless, but you get some deals done and keep the seat warm for the Democrats. You have some earmarks to play with and the ones the party doesn't already have reserved for someone can be traded off for pretty good money. Nobody bats an eye at this, and then one day they ask if you want to be Governor.
Does it sound like time to change your ways?
You run for Governor against Paul Vallas, a guy who actually has some idea what he's doing, and you cream him. You piss off most of the other politicians in the state, but the Democrats mostly hold their noses and try to work with you. Nothing gets done. The state is pouring money out the window, the budgets come in six months late, contractors don't get paid. But you get your favors and your deals done, and at the end of the term, the Republicans put up an abrasive, annoying chain-smoking grandma who was a close ally of the last Republican Governor--by this time, he's in a jail cell--and you win by a landslide.
Does it sound like it's time to change your ways? Is anyone likely to hold you accountable for anything you do?
Well, that takes us to the present day, and when Blagojevich says "I'm SHOCKED that people are so shocked," I have to agree. I'm sure he had come to the conclusion that people just didn't care.
Politics ala Illinois. Nobody cares what you do as long as the pork keeps rolling their way...or until you get caught.