Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2011—Grand corruption:
When former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich heard the verdict last week in his corruption trial, he reportedly turned to his lawyers and asked "what happened?" Blagojevich later told the press he was "stunned" that a jury of his peers found him guilty on 17 of 20 federal corruption charges.
The years-long circus of the Blagojevich saga with Blagojevich himself willingly playing the jester in the middle would certainly make one think that he is a political animal with no peer. His taped statements about trading a "f*cking golden" U.S. Senate seat and levering his public office for personal gain were so jaw-droppingly outrageous and Blagojevich's hubris so great it seemed that he would forever be in a class of his own.
The fact is, when it comes to corruption, Blagojevich has many, many peers. While his "every politician does it" defense was legally laughable, it had a shade of truth to it.
The marriage of politics and corruption isn't some newfangled concept. Bribes and the horsetrading of favors have shaped public policy since the very beginning of democracy. While many, if not most, of those in public service are hard-working, honest individuals, real power tends to concentrate itself in hands clenched with money.
As Blagojevich listened to the verdict being read in a courtroom in Illinois, in a town square 5500 miles away, Greek citizens battled tear gas and police as they protested their government's imposition of austerity measures.
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Greg Dworkin visits to describe how Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are shaking up the presidential election, and Jim Carrey is screwing up medicine and science.
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