He's Nuts, Yeah, That's The Ticket

The ability of David Axelrod to spin things to willing dupes in the media however he wants never ceases to amaze me. The latest line on Governor Rod Blagoyevich being spun to the media is that he's nuts. Political columnist like the Sun-Times' Mark Brown lap up whatever Axelrod feeds them. "Rod Blagojevich's defense lawyers might want to consider an insanity defense," Brown suggests. "He's utterly mad. Completely and totally off his rocker." "And here's where it might actually work as a legal defense: He's incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong."

As I've previously warned, if Blagoyevich goes down he will do all he can to take down Obama with him. Conveniently, Axelrod is going about to discredit through preemption anything Blagoyevich might blab to prosecutors during plea discussions. Ergo, the "he's nuts" argument has emerged. He's figuring that most Americans will buy into the notion that even a Chicago politician couldn't possibly be as dishonest as indicated by the quotations contained in the government's complaint based upon wire-tapped telephone conversations of the governor. You would be wrong, however, to buy into it. The Blagoyevich Chicago political insiders heard about yesterday is the same Blagoyevich they've known and supported for years, and that includes Axelrod and Obama. Don't let them fool you into believing otherwise.

And by the way, a little birdie tells me Patrick Fitzgerald is still interested in that Obama-Rezko land deal. How could a presidential aspirant and sitting U.S. Senator take along a political fixer like Tony Rezko, knowing he was under investigation by federal agents, to purchase a dream home with his assistance? A real "bone-headed" move as Obama now says? Or someone unable to distinguish between right and wrong? Government prosecutors won't need the governor to nail that one down.

UPDATE: As usual, we can count on the Tribune's John Kass to put this latest "he's nuts" defense into perspective. He writes today, "But one thing is clear: The pundits who make such diagnoses have never talked to a Chicago machine politician in their lives." "How do they think Chicago politicians talk in private when they're muscling some other guy for cash?" "Like Helen Mirren playing the queen?"