I like how Governor Blagojevich didn’t see the second and fourth items on his agenda as precluding the third:
Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, according to the affidavit, including:
- Frustration at being “stuck” as governor;
- A belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor;
- A desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016;
- Avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature…
John Dickerson observes that Obama comes off looking great in the indictment, quoting the charges themselves:
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants … are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him…”
Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but ‘they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.’
Dickerson’s conclusion:
It’s a little incredible that prostitutes weren’t involved (or aren’t yet, at least). Perhaps even more staggering is that the man at the center was so reckless while simultaneously aware of the advances in modern surveillance. As Blagojevich says at one point: “You gotta be careful how you express that and assume everybody’s listening, the whole world is listening. You hear me?”