Stories like this have apparently struck a nerve with the usually impossible to rile Gov. Blagojevich.

Questionable hiring practices that got two state workers fired by Gov. Rod Blagojevich still were going on months after the workers had been removed, the governor’s own inspector general found.

The special treatment of politically connected job applicants continued even after Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey were transferred out of the Department of Central Management Services in the spring of 2005, according to an investigative report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

And this.

The administration’s filing with the Civil Service Commission talks at length about DeFraties and Casey helping favored applicants. It says little, however, about how the pair knew the applicants merited special attention.

But at one point the filing does say that the special treatment was for applications sent over by ‘‘the Governor’s Office, Legislative Affairs, or other agency heads.'’

When those applications arrived by fax, DeFraties and Casey would cut off the portion of the page showing who had sent it, according to the administration’s filing.

And this.

The two CMS employees have been fired. The people working for Blagojevich who made the referrals and allegedly applied the pressure are still around.

And so the man who could not be ruffled finally cracks.

“Look, I’m modest. You want me to pat myself on the back? I’m not going to do that,” he said.

Later, however, the governor compared himself to Lincoln during the Civil War, saying there have been “ups and downs” as he’s attempted to reverse 26 years of Republican dominance in the governor’s office.

“Not every military initiative from the Union Army was successful. It took awhile to kind of get that together and get it right. But the whole purpose of what they were trying to do was absolutely right, keeping the country together and then emancipating the slaves and providing freedom to millions and millions of people,” Blagojevich said.

And then he blamed reporters for making his child cry.

As tensions with reporters mounted, the governor picked up his 3-year-old daughter, Annie. Moments later, she burst into tears, which the governor attributed to reporters’ questions.

“I’ve got a baby crying here,” the governor said angrily, as he handed the girl to wife Patti. “You guys are asking questions like that.”

And then things took yet another bizarre turn.

After the tumult involving Blagojevich’s child had settled, he was asked whether he thought U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe into the administration will yield indictments before the November election.

Pausing, Blagojevich inquired why reporters weren’t focusing on how the administration is “shaking things up and making people be held accountable. Do you ever ask a question like that?”

In fact, yeah, that’s pretty much what all of these questions have been about.

A sideshow developed when the governor attempted to slam Topinka for daring to suggest that maybe he shouldn’t bring his 3-yhear-old to a press conference.

“I was never one to do that with my son,” she said, alluding to putting a child in the middle of a question-and-answer session with reporters. “I tried to keep him out of that stuff, but everyone does it their own way.”

The guv shot back the following day.

“With regard to Topinka criticizing me,” Blagojevich said. “You can ask her what she’s thinking. I’m just going to keep being the best possible governor I can be and be like any other parent and enjoy the state fair with my kids.”

To which Topinka replied:

“I’m not trying to be critical,” said Topinka. “Just decide where you want to have your child in terms of politics. My way is I always kept my little guy out of it when he was small. It’s just a rough and tumble game–not for little kids.”

UPDATE: From a reporter friend:

Gov refused to take questions after his Veterans Care event - Rebecca Rausch told me he “still had a bitter taste in his mouth after what happened Friday.”