I can't believe these people are really this fucking stupid.

[smoogatz]

It's like Clinton and Spitzer all over again, except with actual corruption. They know they're targets, they know they're being investigated six ways 'til Tuesday, they have to know their phones are being tapped and their bank records examined, etc. This is likely to be true of any Democratic governor of any state. If you assume otherwise, you're a damned fool, obviously. I mean, obviously. But clearly, either Blago didn't know (or didn't believe) he was being tapped (damned fool) OR he did know he was being tapped and talked about direct, monetary quids prop quo for him and/or his wife anyway. And honestly, what that makes him I do not know. I don't think there's a sufficiently descriptive word for it.

[skooooo]

1. Makes you wonder how much...

..he's gotten away with before, doesn't it? I mean you don't develop patterns of behavior unless there is a payoff. Obviously, this arrogance has worked for him in the past.

[valerief]

2. DINO?

[Bluzmann57]

3. Arrogance may be a good word to describe it.

This guy has been dirty for a long time and his poll numbers are lower than bush's in a heavily blue state. So if the Dems even hate him, and he knew he was under investigation, which I believe he did, then arrogance is the only thing it can be.

[notadmblnd]

4. blinded by their greed

would be my diagnosis, if I had the credentials to do any diagnosing.

[NightWatcher]

5. hubris?

[NNN0LHI]

11. More like stupidity

[Bucky]

6. "Go ahead and follow me around," Gary Hart said, "you'll be bored."

Those who do not study history are condemned to be the subject of recycled Monkey Business jokes.

[robcon]

7. Blago probably trusted John Wyma, his former chief-of-staff.

But Wyma had made a deal with Fitz, and taped his conversations with Blagojevich.

[smoogatz]

9. My understanding was that it was a court-ordered tap.

You can't just tape someone without their knowledge and then use it as evidence in a criminal trial (unless you're the NSA). You have to have a court order or it's inadmissible. You would have to assume, if you were Blago, that every call you made, cell or landline, was being monitored, and that every office was bugged.

[robcon]

14. Of course it was court-ordered. Fitz knows it wouldn't hold up otherwise.

But the fact that his trusted associate, John Wyma, agreed to be wired (phone and/or personal wire - I don't know yet which) means that Wyma got something from Fitz, IMO. Wyma (Blago's former chief-of-staff) would never take that chance - that Blago wouldn't mention some past illegal activity that Blago and Wyma were involved in - so Wyma must have gotten some immunity from Fitz, IMO, to tape the governor.

[madaboutharry]

8. I don't understand people either.

I have never said this here before, but I have completely lost my trust in humanity. I no longer believe that most people are good. I once thought that most people did the right thing, but I haven't for a long time.

This is just one more example of greed and corruption.

[smoogatz]

12. I do think most people are good, as long as you don't stress them too much.

Make them compete for survival and good goes out the window in a hurry. I think people who hunger for big-time power and wealth are often borderline sociopaths: they lack conscience and empathy.

[blondeatlast]

18. I still believe people are good but that the nature of politics attracts

a certain personality that is easily attracted to greed and corruption.

[trollybob]

10. Nobody EVER believes what great lengths the government will go to

in order to have you prosecuted, whether you're the gov. or just some ordinary schmuck.

[Nye Bevan]

13. STUPID STUPID STUPID

We saw this with John Rowland too here in CT. A free hot-tub in your yard? So the evidence is right there for everyone to see? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

And with Blago- does the word *circumspect* mean nothing to him? How about *read between the lines*? I would never do anything like he did, but if I did, it would be with a nod and a wink and plenty of ambiguity so there would be no way I could ever go down for it. "I need to fill this senate seat... I'm thinking of this guy.... and oh, by the way, I've been thinking....". Something like that. NOT "a senate seat is a fucking valuable thing, you don't give it away for nothing"! Stupid!

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Immaturity would be my guess.

You know that stage of adolescence where you feel invincible and jumping off the garage roof with a handkerchief seems like a really really good idea? ( according to YouTube, anyhow).

It's like these former public servants, now felons, never got out of that stage.
All teenage ego, hormones, dreams of glory and vanity.
( Yet, strangely, enough sense to avoid the military, as a rule)

[yardwork]

16. Most politicians are in it for power, prestige, and money.

There are exceptions, and there are many politicians who are pretty careful about their behavior, but there are a great many who are just greedy as hell. That goes for Democrats as well as Republicans.

[Orsino]

17. Elitism.

They believe themselves untouchable, and see no moral obligation to serve We The People.

It sounds as though we will be well rid of Blagojevich. Hope he sings.