Blagojevich Takes His Innocence Tour To The Daily Show (VIDEO)

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich continued his innocence/book-promotion tour with a trip to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Thursday night.

The impeached governor trotted out his now-standard defense, accusing federal prosecutors and political rivals of misconduct and maintaining that he never tried to sell President Obama's Senate seat for personal gain.

"I'm the anti-Nixon," Blagojevich told Stewart. "I want every tape recording heard by you. I want those tapes released to the public. My accusers are the Nixons."

"I mean no disrespect," Stewart said. "People can convince themselves of a lot of things."

Stewart also got his hands on Blago's 'bleepin' golden' locks, which may have won him a bet with his wife.

Watch the complete interview (WARNING: PROFANITY)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Rod Blagojevich Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Rod Blagojevich Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Rod Blagojevich Extended Interview Pt. 3
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Comments

[fitley]

People may mock Chicago politicians, but we have plenty of them in jail. They do pretty good for a while but they all pay to play.

[Lakeview Greg]

Private citizen Blago.
Sounds much better that Governor Blago.

:-)

[TheAlchemist]

Who's he accusing of being "cynical politicians?" He doesn't include himself among them?

[Cogs]

I sensed that Blago is truly frightened at the prospect of going to jail. He knows that the tapes will damn him. His daughters will be young adults by the time he's eligible for parole.

[johnnygoodwud]

sociopath,­,,,,,,,,,,­,,,,,these people are never wrong, never do wrong, and everyone is out to get them. dilussional

[Hailardri]

More like narcissism. Look it up!

[Michmod]

The way the system works prosecutors, when indicting someone, paint the worse possible picture they can get away with. They do not need to back up any of the allegations in their indictment and the facts presented are not an accurate portrayal of the case. The media should remind people of this fact when they report on indictments. Blagojevich might well have a point.

[naschkatze]

The media as well as the prosecution have tainted the jury pool.

[necer65]

I am sick of Rod Blago. This guy is a total loser. I live in Springfield, Illinois and we all know that he is guilty. We are just waiting for him to be thrown in prison. He is very narcisstic and delusional. I really feel for his children.

[Catch22isms]

I agree. I'm sorry, but to all of the people who don't live in Illinois you just don't have the whole picture. If he gets off, it'll be because of a technicality, not because he didn't do anything wrong.

[FooFighter007]

Blago was framed

[miksmaster]

The tapes will hopefully prove this one way or the other. I will really be interested to see what comes out of this.

[naschkatze]

I don't especially think he was framed, but I think he did not operate in a vacuum whereas the prosecution is trying to create that illusion, that the others on the tapes were just innocents. Bull, I say.

[miksmaster]

Agreed.

[imsscott]

The man is mentally ill. He really believes he's innocent. The tapes that have been released are a drop in the bucket compared to what will be revealed in the trial. He's goin' down.

[josephine12]

Yes, Bipolar is my guess.

He makes two points which paint him as victim - 1 - that he wasn't allowed to "testify at his own trial" which is bullshit because it was a grand jury hearing, to determine if there was enough evidence to indict him - defendants DO NOT TESTIFY at these hearings.

2- that the prosecutors want the tapes withheld, thus proving some kind of conspiracy. More bullshit. The tapes are evidence for the trial. They will be released during the trial - not before. Prosecutors do not release evidence to the public before a trial even starts.

[bring in swat]

for the record...Blago was a right wing REPUBLICAN until he started dating his future wife, patti mell daughter of the infamous richard mell...big rich told him that in order to succeed in illinois politics he would need to switch over to the Dems. just like Regan, he was a liberal Democrat until his movie career went down the crapper and was urged to get in to California politics in the 60's...then magically he becomes a conservative republican and ends up as Gov. of California and the rest is a devastatingly pathetic and embarrassing part of US history.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

We should not have political corruption in Illinois, but we do.

No one in Illinois thinks that Blagojevich was uniquely corrupt.

But some in Illinois know that Blagojevich was not arrested until Republic Windows & Doors closed its doors, Bank of America would not honor any severance arrangements for the laid off workers, and Blagojevich publicly said that he would direct the State of Illinois to discontinue doing business with the Bank of America.

Sure, he's corrupt. But the lesson appears to be "Don't mess with the big money people."

When are they ever going to prosecute all the other corrupt politicians from Illinois? Are any of those politiicans in D.C.?

[writerjohnny]

The entire legal case against this guy depends on the tapes and I think he is right that releasing selected edits by the prosecution poisons the jury pool unfairly. The point that the tapes should be released in their entirety is valid whether you like this guy or not.

[jsijason]

Agreed. The fact that only a fraction of them have been released makes me wonder...

[naschkatze]

I agree. It's as if the prosecution can suppress evidence which doesn't suit them. Especially in the charge of trying to sell Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder. Blagojevich wasn't talking to himself on those tapes. There were people on the other end of the line, and we have a right to know what they said as well as the former governor. I have a hunch that the Senate seat part of the charges will be dropped before the trial because Obama administration officials and other politicians were talking to Blagojevich.

[traveling1]

As an Illinoisan this guy is a real embarrassment and the sooner he's in a cell next to our other former governor (George Ryan) the better. Just for the record (to VotingPresent) Ryan is a Republican.

[jacksjg]

Yep. This guy is definitely evil. He begins where Mitt Romney leaves off.

[VotingPresent]

Just for the record, he's a Democrat.

[sgrevp]

Right... He's a Democrat. And I'm a Democrat from Chicago. Just one detail...We tossed him out! Blago is an Idiot. Although we were way too slow, we figured that out..