Blagojevich Will Go Down Swinging

Blagojevich, who’s dubious character has long been the butt of jokes and barbs in Illinois, was certainly being thrown under the bus. Now I’m not defending the certainly long line of illegal activities that happened either at the behest of Blago or his lackeys, but you must not know much about politics in Illinois in general (or in Chicago more specifically) to think he acted in a vacuum. Chicago invented the American style of pay-to-play politics. The current mayor’s father, Richard J. Daley, built ‘The Machine’, a political juggernaut that ran not only Chicago, but the entire state. It even had inordinate pull over some federal politicians, including men like John and Bobby Kennedy.

When the state legislature voted unanimously to throw Blagojevich out of office, it was without any serious evidence. While I have little doubt that United States Attorney Fitzgerald has reams of incriminating data, he has also almost positively run into the difficultly that to expose Blagojevich he will need to expose countless other officials in the state of Illinois. He may even need to implicate federal officials, perhaps even members of the President’s cabinet.

Ever since his arrest, Blagojevich has stressed his desire to have the public listen to all of the recordings the FBI made of his phone conversations. He knows there’s so much dirty laundry there that any of the really good charges that can be made against him involve the political players of Chicago, and therefore Washington D.C. (the 51st ward, according to The Chicago Sun-Times). So half the state is dirty, and Blago thinks he can use that to keep himself out of jail. I say to U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald, why not take on the whole of Illinois corruption and not just this goofy, bouffant-hairdo’d slimeball? I know it will be a big task, and will probably piss off Da Mayor and the president, but should that really matter?