Blagojevich’s insanity defense?
Tuesday, Sep 1, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Quite a few people, including more than a couple of pundits, have claimed since Rod Blagojevich’s arrest that the governor had the goods on a lot of people and would eventually spill his guts. But Blagojevich has instead proved his insanity…
I’ve just closed the cover on Blagojevich’s 264-page blame-all, and I’ve got to admit that parts of it are kind of interesting, especially for the insights into his troubled mind. Those who have variously labeled our former governor a narcissist and sociopath will find nothing to dissuade them.
He seems to now imagine himself a Christ-like figure who is being crucified for the collective political sins of others.
And he doesn’t really back up much of his conspiracy theories…
Much of Blagojevich’s anger in the book is directed at the Madigans, though the conspiracies and deals he contends they were behind never panned out.
He even has trouble getting simple references right…
He invokes Daedalus and Icarus, but Blago gets the ancient myth wrong and insists Icarus fell to the ground after flying too near the sun rather than into the sea.
And then there’s this scary quote…
“I am not writing myself off,” Blago says, “with respect to a future in public service.”
* There are a couple of “tell-all” tales in the book, but the media hasn’t really picked up on them yet. Most everyone is focusing on the alleged attempt to auction off the US Senate seat, which will likely end up being a small part of his case. But this is from the Sun-Times’ Blago Blog…
Blagojevich claims he had a 2006 meeting with Madigan and his daughter, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, where the two allegedly hit him up for $400,000 in campaign contributions. [..]
“It was designed by the Madigans as a subtle threat. While dear old dad is literally and figuratively putting the arm on me from my left side, she is subtly holding a gun to my head from the right. Their message was easily interpreted. If I didn’t fork over (2 1/2) percent of my campaign fund … then they were both going to make trouble for me,” Blagojevich wrote. “It was subtle and but purposeful. And that’s what they intended and that’s what they did. And it made me feel like I was being shaken down.”
Blagojevich attacked Lisa Madigan — the same person he says later in the book he was to appoint to the vacant U.S. Senate seat — for being “unethical.” A year prior, Lisa Madigan had subpoenaed campaign fundraising records: “from the very office she was now sitting in.”
Blagojevich said he wouldn’t kick in. Michael Madigan’s payback, Blago says, was blocking his healthcare initiative. Lisa Madigan’s? Not endorsing Blago’s reelection bid.
The payback aspect is most likely just his delusion. But the allegation he makes about AG Madigan being at the campaign fund meeting after issuing subpoenas to his campaign fund is a good point. The AG has not directly answered questions about the book.
* In the end, though, this cartoon probably sums up the book best.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 10:56 am:
Prisons are filled with narcissists and sociopaths, so I don’t believe there’s an insanity defense, per se. But I bet he’ll be crazy enough to take the stand and think he can sweet-talk the jury.
Trouble is, juries get detailed instructions that don’t accommodate a smile and a shoeshine.
- Will County Woman - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 10:58 am:
what’s the bigger problem here blago or the way we do politics? let me see…blago is gone from illinois politics/government, but nothing has really changed. sos.
For what it is worth Blago is no worse than any other politician. they’re all pretty much the same and disgraced former chicago alderman arenda troutman was right when she stated, using urban street vernacular to describe a lady of the night, that all politicians are___.
maybe if…
politicians weren’t lawyers by profession
there were time limits on all public offices
nepotism in politics/government were outlawed
all politicians were held to the same standard and to account (yes, this means you too, lisa madigan–after yesterday’s sun-times story about your dad you should just resign from the AG office as a matter of “fiduciary” responsibility)
our lives would be better?
whatever.
- fedup dem - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:00 am:
An insanity defense would at least give his attorneys a chance to prevail in court. Otherwise, they had better insist on getting paid up front.
- TJ - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:02 am:
To be completely honest, at this point Blagojevich could say something like the sky is blue or fire is hot, and I’d seriously doubt him.
- A Citizen - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:05 am:
Last night my friend “Bill” summed it up succinctly in one word - “Sociopath”. Well said!
- lake county democrat - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:08 am:
While there are degrees of unethicalness and I’m not trying to compare Blago’s sins to Lisa Madigans, I can think of one instance where I’d call L. Madigan unethical. It’s hard to believe she acted in good faith when she sued to bypass the impeachment process and have Blago removed under the “disabled” provision of the Illinois Constitution simply because he was indicted. I don’t recall a single legal scholar agreeing with her and the Illinois Supreme Court summarily threw out the suit.
Put your Blago-hatred aside abd consider the case of Don Siegleman in Alabama and you can see how dangerous that precedent could have been in a more ambiguous situation. Even an expedited impeachment has a degree of due process to it, not to mention the gravitas of the legislature removing an elected governor on the merits, not by 4 individuals (possibly all of one political party) who can say a presumptively innocent person is “disabled” in his/her ability to govern due to the distraction of an indictment.
That said, I’d still like her to reconsider running for U.S. senate. If we can forgive John Adams for the alien and sedition act, we can forgive Lisa Madigan for this.
- Leroy - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:08 am:
Boy, if this guy is as whack is everyone says, you think someone would have noticed in 2002, or in 2006 before he got elected governor FOR THE SECOND TIME.
Stop telling me that Blago is crazy. If that is true, what does that say about the Illinois media, the opposition party, the Illinois voters, and the Illinois Constitution (checks and balances, don’t you know).
He’s not crazy, he endemic to the system. Just like all the other Illinois politicians that seem to be walking the fine line between sanity and insanity, with the only dividing line apparently being impeachment.
- The Doc - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:09 am:
==For what it is worth Blago is no worse than any other politician==
Really?
- Betsy - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:09 am:
I will just say that Blago has “testicular virility” to believe that we will buy this…
- Abe's Ghost - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:11 am:
Blago is like a gaper’s block. Even if there is nothing to see and no one is really looking, the traffic still slows down. It’s amazing that the guy still gets attention. He’s becoming Paris Hilton, who’s claim to fame is that she gets attention (that and the private sex video, which is sorta like Blago’s six years as gov.) But he’s really getting boring.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:12 am:
===I don’t recall a single legal scholar agreeing with her and the Illinois Supreme Court summarily threw out the suit. ===
Actually, some did.
- CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:15 am:
The most amazing element is the amount of time and space the media dedicates to Blagoof saying nothing new. And they wonder why they are all broke Check the mirror
- Will County Woman - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:18 am:
lake county,
you almost had me until your last sentence. mark kirk who by all accounts is above reproach and is as clean as a politician can get (which says a lot in Illinois), even if he is a lawyer by profession, is running for the U.S. and you still want lisa madigan, whom you admit is unethical, to run for the senate just so you can vote for her?????
ok. fine. so blago isn’t the problem, i guess the way we do politics/government isn’t the problem, it’s the electorate that IS the problem?
i have to exclude myself because i vote for the best candidate regardless of party, and when none suit me i write someone in who does.
okay, so stop blaming blago for all that is wrong with illinois government/politics. just blame yourselves instead.
- Rob_N - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:19 am:
Blago says, “she is subtly holding a gun to my head”
I don’t think there’s any way to possibly hold a gun to one’s head in a subtle fashion.
…
Leroy says, “Stop telling me that Blago is crazy. If that is true, what does that say about the Illinois media, the opposition party, the Illinois voters, and the Illinois Constitution (checks and balances, don’t you know).”
re media: Unable to connect the dots that apparently only those with wiretaps and other evidence-gathering powers were able to obtain (ie, AG Madigan, US Atty Fitzgerald).
To be honest, I recall plenty of news stories and opinion pieces about how “bad” Blago was. But, what we’re finding out now is based on evidence collected by law enforcement officials which by the nature of that beast the press wouldn’t necessarily be privy to til after the fact anyway.
re opposition party: Unable to muster a solid defense or offense against a house of cards.
re voters: Holding their noses to vote by ideology (not even by party) rather than personality… What do I mean by that? Look at how many votes the Green candidate got in 2006.
re Constitution: That the Impeachment Clause works just as intended when there is enough political will in the legislature to implement it.
…At least that’s my 2 cents.
- RMWStanford - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:23 am:
===He’s becoming Paris Hilton, who’s claim to fame is that she gets attention (that and the private sex video, which is sorta like Blago’s six years as gov.) But he’s really getting boring. =====
Please dont mention sex tapes, the last thing we want to do is give Blago any ideas.
- dupage dan - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:31 am:
I am no genius but had no difficulty figuring RodB out from the start. He was the great reformer who had accomplished, essentially, nothing during his time in Washington. No major legislation, no strong stances on much of anything. Dad in law, Dick Mell, boosts him up and suddenly he is the only person capable of reforming Illinois politics? Bull$#!+.
Didn’t vote for him in either election - that while I still would vote democratic.
No brainer.
- PFK - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:37 am:
Just three years ago, this guy got 1.7 MILLION votes. Yet, even then, all the signs were there. Some people even voted for Blagojevich BECAUSE they figured he would get impeached and Quinn would become governor. Now how insane is that?
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:42 am:
How did this guy become governor? Now that he is a political dead-weight, everyone who pulled for him in 2002 and 2006 is telling us lies. Blagojevich is like Billy Carter in that he didn’t change - who he was went from being “in” to being “out” in the Democratic Party. Yeah - he’s feeling dumped by the same people who cheered him on for the past ten years. Yeah - he feels like a victim, who wouldn’t?
Rod Blagojevich should never been close enough to the governor’s office to touch it’s door knob, but everything that could have prevented that moment went out the window within the Illinois Democratic Party. After his administration, impeachment and removal from office - we still don’t have any official apology from the Democrats for serving up the worse governor in Illinois history.
Blagojevich was no accident. He is the fruit of a political party rotted from the inside out.
Enough with the claims that he is insane. He isn’t. He is what the Illinois Democratic Party believed was perfect to lead this state! They made him governor, and what he did in the Office is what he believed he was to do as governor.
Blagojevich isn’t nuts - but the Illinois Democratic Party thinks Illinoisans are.
- Joe in the Know - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:47 am:
I think John Kass is on to something. (Did I just write that?). Blago is simply seeking to taint the jury pool.
Otherwise, didn’t Rod say that this book was going to “blow the lid off Springfield”, that he was going to “name names”? I wanted dirt dished, not some delusional “do over” in which Rod sees things through his own rose colored glasses.
- Will County Woman - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:51 am:
VM, I agree. And, if the republicans win next year it won’t be because Dan Hynes was some sort of spoiler for Pat Quinn, as top illinois democrats are trying to claim.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:55 am:
–How did this guy become governor?–
He got the most votes from Illinois citizens. He wasn’t anointed by anyone. One has to take responsibility in life.
In 2002, I voted for Vallas in the primary. I voted for Blago in the general because I wouldn’t vote for the guy who was willing to railroad an innocent man to an appointment with a lethal injection.
In 2006, I voted for Eisendrath in the primary and Whitney in the general.
- Capitol View - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:06 pm:
I would have categorized the Blago book under “fantasy” rather simply fiction or non-fiction in a book store.
And I agree that it is more fodder for his insanity defense. The self serving book demonstrates that he has no sense of reality, moral judgement, or relative self-importance.
I can’t wait for his appearance on the Jon Stewart “Daily Show”. Stewart says that it is coming, based on Blago writing a political thome.
- Secret Square - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:11 pm:
I only wish he’d signed up to appear on “The Colbert Report” as well!
One thing Blago says in the book (excerpt was in the Sun Times yesterday) that I would have to admit is probably true, is that a lot of laws are made by legislators with hangovers :-0
- Will County Woman - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:12 pm:
question about political etiquette…
Blago states that he was going to appoint lis madiagn, one of his political enemies to the U.S. Senate. I know that politicans have this thing where if called upon by the political higher-ups to serve they generally accept it as a call to duty. Because she did not like him could she not have refused the appointment? Saying something like she was honored and flattered that the gov would consider her worthy of replacing obama in the senate, but that she was elected by the people of illinois to serve as AG?(you know the kind of stuff she spinned a couple of months ago when she stated why she would not run for governor or the senate)
She did turn down the White House/President Obama so what made blago think that she would not have turned him down. Even if a deal had been made with her father, she and her supporters are fond of pointing out that Lisa is her own woman and does her own thing.
- Nort'sider - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:32 pm:
Insanity defense, or inanity defense?
- Levois - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:33 pm:
“Blagojevich isn’t nuts - but the Illinois Democratic Party thinks Illinoisans are.”
Perhaps nuts enough to actually vote for him!
- Leroy - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:42 pm:
Blago could have been sitting in a padded cell in a straight jacket, foaming from the mouth and Lisa Madigan wouldn’t have tried the insanity thing, until she got the nod and it suddenly became the politically correct thing to do.
She is a leader, but not that much of a leader. Corruption has run amuck in this state, who has she ever stood up to?
- dupage dan - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:53 pm:
Now we hear that PatQ may have supported the ethics legislation in order to thwart LM in her bid for the gov house and now that she has decided not to run he can safely veto the legislation since he no longer needs the cover.
Fact or conspiracy theory? Can the bumbler also be a secret member of the Machiavelli fan club?
A few years ago we were lambasting the GOP for the horrors that followed George Ryans’ administration. “The GOP is finished” was the cry. Now the Dem party is finished.
Careful now - this is how “reformers” get in the door. We are all wandering in the wilderness and are fed crumbs to show us the way out. Crumbs that come from the hand of the next “reformer”. Make sure to check out who is behind the curtain.
- Bill - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:57 pm:
A,
That was fake bill.
- steve schnorf - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 12:57 pm:
LCD, I think elected officials can and do make mistakes without being unethical. In no way do I consider LM’s venture into court unethical. I do think it may have been a mistake.
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 1:13 pm:
==“I am not writing myself off,” Blago says, “with respect to a future in public service.”==
He is anticipating that if he is convicted, community service will be part of his sentence. Look for Rod in an orange jump suit picking up trash along the highway!
- You Go Boy - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 1:51 pm:
Blago always comes off as one who has ingested a hodge-podge of pharmaceuticals, and then goes looking for 3 things: a mirror, a microphone, a camera. Mostly a mirror. I wonder why he hasn’t invented a harness/mirror contraption that would allow him to look at himself all day.
- A Citizen - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 4:53 pm:
-Bill-
“A,
That was fake bill. ”
Sorry, Bill - some of your recent . . . and past posts made it seem feasible. What one word would the real Bill choose?
- Zora - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 6:43 pm:
The “coordinated campaign” concept that so terrified Blago gets 103,000 hits on Google, and the top entry is the Green Party crowing about the approach. Doesn’t take much to scare this guy. Testicular what?
I’d be interested to know why he was so intimidated by MJM proposing one. Except for the office of treasurer, the Democratic party had a slate. Seems like a pretty cost effective way to run elections in a cycle when the Dems were positioned to do well.
He’s coming off as a weak martyr and a strong scaredy cat.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 8:05 pm:
–Insanity defense, or inanity defense?–
Nort Sider, that’s about right.
- DuPage Dave - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 8:06 pm:
How did Blago get elected in 2002? Basically 26 years of Republicans, George Ryan on the hot seat and a bad candidate in Jim Ryan. The public took a roll of the dice on the new kid.
How did Blago get re-elected in 2006? Lots and lots and lots of fundraising and a bad candidate in Judy Topinka. She never had a chance.
Few people were fooled by Blago in 2006. He got hundreds of thousands fewer votes than Lisa Madigan and Jesse White. But he had poisoned the well against Topinka and that was that. In our electoral system, it’s never the candidate all alone, it’s the specific opponent he is facing.
BTW- great cartoon in the Trib today re: Blago’s book.
- Steve Downstate - Tuesday, Sep 1, 09 @ 11:10 pm:
I started thinking about Blago’s book as I mowed the grass this evening. At first I thought, man, what a shame that a publisher would pay this no-count ex-gov/future felon for his collection of lies. Then I started hoping maybe Blago, in his stupidity and arrogance, might actually have put a few sentences in this book that will come back to haunt him at his trial. (Oh, hell, he’ll blame the ghostwriter, won’t he?)
I’m glad every time I hear he’s doing another interview or hosting a radio show. He’s fashioning his own rope; still hasn’t learned to keep quiet when a tape might be rolling.
- Hollis Elmore - Wednesday, Sep 2, 09 @ 8:39 am:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
- Excerpt from September 1, 1039
By W.H. Auden