Saturday, March 24, 2012

Saying Goodbye to Blago

This is what happens when you stand with workers and threaten to cut off debt payments to banks here in AmerKa.  

"Still optimistic, Blagojevich steps from spotlight into federal prison" Associated Press, March 16, 2012

LITTLETON, Colo. - Convicted former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich walked into a federal prison in Colorado to begin a 14-year sentence for corruption Thursday, the latest chapter in the downfall of a charismatic politician that seemed more like a bizarre reality TV show than a legal battle.

With helicopters and TV news crews broadcasting his every move, Blagojevich stepped out of a black SUV and walked into the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in suburban Denver just before noon....

In what had become a familiar scene in the three years since his arrest, an optimistic if not defiant Blagojevich bounded down the stairs of his Chicago home through a throng of photographers and cameramen Thursday morning. Supporters were shouting encouragement.

“Saying goodbye is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,’’ said Blagojevich, who was not accompanied by his wife, Patti, though she could be seen through the windows. One of their two daughters peeked out a window before her father departed.

The night before, the famously talkative Democrat - who was caught on FBI wiretaps saying the opportunity to trade an appointment to Obama’s old Senate seat for campaign cash or a top job was “golden’’ - embraced the public spotlight one last time.

“While my faith in things has sometimes been challenged, I still believe this is America, this is a country that is governed by the rule of law, that the truth ultimately will prevail,’’ Blagojevich told supporters.

When he finally arrived at the prison the spotlight went away, and he became Inmate No. 40892-424. The man with a taste for fine Oxford-label suits was to be given khaki prison garb.  

The agenda-serving media seems smugly happy, don't they?

He now lives in institutional beige stone buildings encircled by high razor-wire fencing. Blagojevich, who left behind a spacious Chicago home, will share a cell the size of a large walk-in closet with up to three inmates.

--more--"

Related: Barber: Blagojevich's hair to turn gray in prison

Mine is from reading the Boston Globe.