Don't Forget - For real representation in Albany, write in Rod Blagojevich for State Senate

[JB 2]

37 minutes ago, 19April1775 said:

I always like Rod because Obama was against him.

The only reason , to me , for the guy doing time.

 

101

[ginger]

Thanks for posting that...I couldn't watch the entire thing....too cheesy. I do think it's cute he calls himself a "Trumpocrat" now. 

[Bingoloid]

On 2/19/2020 at 4:08 PM, 19April1775 said:

I always like Rod because Obama was against him.

Rod had a strong beef because he had been under the impression the Clinton camp had guaranteed him their eventual support for the presidency. They were close. Bill had even sent him to Serbia to help Jesse Jackson negotiate a hostage release.

In 2004, they put Obama up for the convention speech because Rod was already out of control and had to be sidelined. Obama ended up struggling to keep him at a distance for years because even then, everyone in politics knew what was going on and that it was just a matter of time before the arrest, but Blagojevich kept trying to find an angle to get close to the next White House. Apparently, he was still upset about it 2010 when he declared himself "blacker than Obama".

If you dug through the archived history of his Wikipedia entry, you'd find some of my research for the GOP from back in the day cited about some of this. There were about a thousand different felony conspiracies they could have gone after him for, but this was just the one they ended up proving once the wiretaps were authorized. Some of his top fundraisers had already been arrested a couple of years before he was, and one of his closest associates committed suicide after his arrest, and Blagojevich went on the radio to more or less openly claim that the guy died to protect him.

Like what Battisti could have been with a better law degree. At the end, I think he was probably a week away from barricading himself in his office with a bunch of tuna and a rifle. Crazy, crazy days and a crazy, crazy guy, but fun political history. The book "Golden" is mildly entertaining if you're interested in this.