Good Riddance #3

Monday, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 counts of corruption while in office.   In August of last year "Blago" was convicted on one count of lying to the FBI, and the jury could not reach an agreement on the other 23 charges.  Prosecutors appealed the mistrial counts, and the retrial on a reduced number of charges resulted in this week's overwhelming guilty verdict.

Among other things, Blagojevich was accused of conspiring to use the State Senate seat, vacated by Barack Obama on the occasion of his Presidential election, as a bargaining chip to further his political career and line his pockets.

Since his arrest he has been almost everywhere, on TV appearances and other public venues, in an embarrassing spectacle, in which he used his personal charm to convince everyone that he never did any wrong.  (When Blagojevich told David Letterman "I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way for the longest time," Letterman dryly replied, "Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me.")

He has appeared on Donald Trump's "The Apprentice", a local Comic Con, and made a commercial for pistachio nuts.  The tag on that one? As he cracks open a nut, a voice-over says, "Rod Blagojevich does it innocently."

I hope the circus has left town.

If there is another appeal, he will most likely need to sell a lot of nuts.