Amazing, isn’t it? I guess if there’s one thing some Chicago pols know how to do, it’s how to play the game. Anyone who has followed the trial of Rod Blagojevich knows that something doesn’t add up, specifically how Blagojevich and Rezko, can be in jail, while the man who played the game with them, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama has managed to come out squeaky clean…
Oh well, only in Chicago folks, only in Chicago. Do you guys think Obama shall grant him a Presidential Pardon?
PumaPundit
Rod Blagojevich, Illinois’ 40th governor, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday for the attempted sale of a U.S. Senate seat, illegal shakedowns for campaign cash and lying to federal agents.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel handed down the sentence after a somber Blagojevich, his voice cracking with emotion, pleaded for a lighter sentence with a round of apologies to the judge, to the jurors who convicted him, to the public and to his family.
“I’m here convicted of crimes. The jury decided I was guilty. I am accepting of it. I acknowledge it, and I of course am unbelievably sorry for it,” Blagojevich said.
“I want to apologize to the people of Illinois, to the court, for the mistakes I have made…. I never set out to break the law. I never set out to cross lines.”
Blagojevich said he thought he was acting in accord with the law when he did things for which he later was convicted.
“I was mistaken. The jury convicted me and they convicted me because those were my actions…I am responsible. I caused it all. I’m not blaming anybody. I was the governor, and I should have known better. And I am just so incredibly sorry.”
Blagojevich expressed remorse for challenging the integrity of prosecutors. Noting that Zagel said Tuesday that Blagojevich appeared to treat the process like a boxing match or a duel, Blagojevich agreed, even noting that he romanticized it like the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Blagojevich said he acted in a childish and immature manner, self-centered and self-absorbed.
“I am accustomed to fighting back and I did and it was inappropriate,” he said.
He apologized to his brother, Robert, his former campaign chief, for dragging him into the criminal case, and most of all he apologized to his wife and daughters for destroying their family.
“My life is in ruins,” he said. “I have nobody to blame but myself for my stupidity and actions …I’m not blaming anybody. I have accepted responsibility for it. ”
Blagojevich spoke for less than 19 minutes, and it was a very different man than the one who rambled for nearly an hour at his Senate impeachment trial two years ago, lecturing lawmakers on why they were flatly wrong to try and boot him from office.
Wednesday, the former governor simply fell on his sword, admitting he had let everybody around him down, in particular his wife and children.
“My children have had to suffer,” he said. “I’ve ruined their innocence….It’s not like their name is Smith. They can’t hide. I have nobody to blame but myself.”
“I accept the people’s verdict, judge,” he continued. “They found me guilty. All I can say is I never wanted to hurt anyone, most of all Children’s Memorial Hospital. I am before you now as a person convicted of crimes….I would hope you could find some mercy.”
Before Blagojevich spoke, prosecutors opened a preemptive strike on the former governor’s anticipated plea for mercy in sentencing.
Source LAT
