The Story of a Bastard
Illinois is not noteworthy for its scrupulous politics. The state’s back alleys are awash with tales of discarded votes and large-scale fraud—even murder—and the tendrils of corruption reach far into every level of the government. I’ll spare you the historical examples suffice it to say that Rod Blagojevich’s arrest by federal agents this morning is long overdue.
I can’t claim a truly deep knowledge of the troubled governor’s tenure in Illinois politics. I know the bullet points (none of them are good), and I’ve listened to his half-cocked justifications for the “Free Rides for Seniors” program that would have further crippled an already atrocious budget by allowing senior citizens to ride the CTA buses without paying. It was a futile effort to save face in front of a constituency bearing almost unanimous disgust for him. I certainly know enough to consider him one of the most acidic politicians in my consciousness. He is marked by a savage ambition to fuck over anyone who stands in his way and a willingness to sell any political assets necessary to further his own standing. His management is inept, and his self-image is a cohort of grandiose delusions imbued with narcissistic rage. Thirteen-percent approval rating be damned.
Simply put, he is the definition of scum.
So his attempts to literally sell Barack Obama’s now-vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder should come as no surprise to anyone even tangentially aware of Blagojevich’s history as a failed politician. We’re used to it out here. From the Daleys to former governor George Ryan and now Blagojevich, the expectation is that our politicians are embedded mobsters or serial prostitute killers, and yes, even sometimes good, old-fashioned municipal despots looking to run a burn on the citizens before slinking back into the woodpile.
I’ve read the charges against Blagojevich, and I plan on paging through a decent portion of the FBI affidavit before tackling my nightmares. The details are almost too sordid to reiterate just now before I steer my car into this blizzard and head for home, but if you want to read something that sounds like a bad John Grisham novel, you’d do well to just skim the Associated Press article. Reading even a couple of those wiretapped quotes is enough to seal the deal in my head. (The only secret recordings I might want to hear more are the old Nixon tapes.) No governor or politician has the slightest excuse to say these things, and when all is said and done, I hope Blagojevich goes down for every charge levied against him. He should spend the next twenty years dry-cleaning prison uniforms in a penitentiary for what he’s done to the State of Illinois and its people, and the way things are looking at the moment, he just might.
Never trust the kingmakers of this world.
