Word: blagojevich
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...Idol rejectee's confidence. We would all know his true heart someday, he assured us. All we need is to hear his words in complete context. That may never be possible, however. Not until they invent a microphone that can record what it sounds like inside Rod Blagojevich's head...
Governor Rod Blagojevich's 47-min. closing statement at his impeachment trial was the only real hiccup in the state senate hearings that had gone very smoothly in his absence. "It's painful to hold your tongue," Blagojevich said of the accusations leveled at him in December. But he insisted that he did not commit a criminal act, adding, "I didn't resign then, and I'm not resigning now." He went on, "You haven't been able to show wrongdoing in this trial," said Blagojevich, who called the proceedings an "improper impeachment not based on evidence" and hinted that...
...Blagojevich had originally boycotted the trial, calling the proceedings, which began on Monday afternoon, a "kangaroo court." That allowed prosecutor David Ellis to present his case at a steady clip without any real hitches. Witnesses testified, evidence was presented and the occasional wiretap tape played. Blagojevich's soliloquy did not slow Ellis down. The trial moved swiftly to a conclusion and the unloved governor was sent packing a couple of hours after what turned out to be his valedictory. (See pictures of the remarkable world of Rod Blagojevich...
Through it all, the governor, as he did at his closing statement, painted himself as a defender of the poor and infirm, someone who is being unfairly targeted by legislators who want to reverse his progressive health-care and social-welfare policies. Indeed, despite the criminal charges against Blagojevich (including allegations that he tried to sell Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat), the trial is focusing on the governor's alleged "abuse of power": ignoring the wishes of the legislature by vastly expanding health care and other programs at a time when his critics say the state could least...
...have a serious governance problem," says Bob Reed, a top aide to Democratic Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, who is taking over now that Blagojevich has been ousted. "So much attention has been focused on the impeachment and now the trial that everything else has been placed on the back burner...