Governor Blalegovich made the rounds of many talk shows today; in fact, he went to eleven.
The transcript of his appearance on Rachel Maddow’s show is already up, in advance. He has absolutely no idea she had him for lunch, and in fact she was in need of a toothpick and floss by the end.
Transcript: Rod Blagojevich, one on one – Rachel Maddow show- msnbc.com
BLAGOJEVICH: And it’s just so unfair to him, to hold him, somehow, responsible for allegations on me. He’ll be judged on his own record as senator. And I predict he’ll do a great job, he’ll be reelected. And I’ll point out he has never lost a statewide office to a Republican. Now, he’s lost some primaries to Democrats. He lost to me for governor in 2002. He lost to Mayor Daley for mayor of Chicago. He’d lost to Paul Simon for the senate seat.
MADDOW: You’re not selling his record on that very well.
BLAGOJEVICH: But he’s won every statewide office against Republicans.
MADDOW: Republicans.
BLAGOJEVICH: And I don’t see a Democratic in Illinois who’d want to challenge a man like that, a historic figure. And the only African-American in the United States Senate. Why would a democrat from Illinois want to run against him and deprive the African…
MADDOW: Because of his association with you.
BLAGOJEVICH: Well, he’ll win.
RACHEL MADDOW: Because—
BLAGOJEVICH: He’ll win that race. And he’ll win big.
MADDOW: You probably (UNINTEL) Roland Burris for life now. You don’t have very many other political allies. You have become a national figure in a way that I’m sure was not the way that you wanted to become a national figure. Are you mad?
BLAGOJEVICH: I’m not mad. I’m philosophical about it. Dr. King had a quote. Said that, “In the end, you remember not the words of your enemies, but the silence of your friends.†And when something like this happens to you it becomes very lonely. – Ibid
Rachel sees right through Blago’s enthusiasm for Sen. Roland Burris; he’s never lost to a Republican, but then the Republicans seldom field anybody worth crossing party lines for in Democrat-heavy northeastern Illinois. There are some exceptions, though – Judy Baar Topinka, for one. There’s a few others. But Sen. Burris will be up against a whole slew of Democratic challengers in the primary 2 years from now, and if Blago thinks he’ll do well against them all, he’s even more delusional than we thought.
I do give props to Maddow: “Are you mad?” is priceless. Of course Blago’s mad: he’s bat-shit crazy!