-By Warner Todd Huston
Disgraced Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is at it again. In an interview with ABC News, Blago tried to, and clumsily at that, allude to the fact that federal prosecutors were pressuring him to out President Obama as a part of the gov’s Senate seat for Payola scam.
Blago told ABC News, “when they had me in custody they were very clear about how they wanted me to cooperate and talk about people in higher places.” He went on to say that there aren’t “a lot of positions higher than governor” naturally leading to the assumption that he meant the president was under scrutiny. But when pressed if he meant the president, Blago wouldn’t go that far.
But this would be a new found reticence because back in 2009 Blago was more than happy to tell anyone that would listen that the Feds wanted him to rat on Obama.
On a video made at a book signing party at Columbia College, Blago was heard seen saying the following:
(Caution, language warning)
“…part of what they wanted was sh*t on Obama. They lock you up. They do this shock and awe bullsh*t. They arrest everybody ok, and then they sit you down and say ‘you are a nice guy. We want to work with you. What can you tell us about Obama.'”
Once again we see the mental gymnastics of the troubled Rod Blagojevich. Clearly in his mind he is an innocent pawn in a conspiracy to topple a president. I’m sure he sees himself as the hero that saved Obama’s presidency.
Blao’s conviction on one count of lying to the feds was a close call. Only two jurors refused to agree with the rest on one of the more damaging counts, that of racketeering — and they even agreed that he was guilty on that charge until the last day of deliberations after which they abruptly changed their minds.
Blago will likely serve time on the one conviction but this isn’t the end of the court’s efforts because judge Zagel has said he still plans to schedule a retrial on the other counts.
Maybe this interview is Blago’s thinly disguised warning to President Obama that he could still spill the beans if Obama allows the Justice Department to retry him? Is Blago trying to blackmail Obama here?
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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