The Rockford Register-Star’s Aaron Chambers has written one of the best Hunter S. Thompson tribute column without ever mentioning the dead writer’s name.

On Tuesday, [Governor Blagojevich] explained during a news conference that Flushy, the steer he bought at an auction for $9,600, appeared destined for another auction to benefit 4-H, the agriculture development program for youth.

AFTERWARD, I asked Blagojevich if that meant Flushy would not be the subject of a finger-licking barbecue.

“There was an idea,” he told me. “Brunsvold (Joel Brunsvold, the natural resources director) recommended why don’t we just let him off, just kind of let him go and then go hunt him.”

With assault rifles?

“Right,” Blagojevich said. “But there’s no sport in that. Can you imagine? We’d take him down to Pike County and just kind of let him loose. We’d all kind of get dressed up in those fatigues, in the camouflage, and we go out and there’s stationary Flushy just kind of standing there. We’re like all positioned ourselves. And the way that would probably work is they’d probably give the governor the best first shot. Right? Like in ‘The Deer Hunter.’ But we’re not going to do that.”

Would you give him a head start?

“Yeah we’d give him a head start. But I don’t see him going that far. Do you? I’ve met Flushy, and he’s kind of (got) weight there,” Blagojevich said, motioning toward his midsection to indicate Flushy’s diameter.

If you hit him hard enough, don’t you suppose he would run?

“Anyway, I rejected that option, totally rejected it,” the governor said. “I thought it was unsportsmanlike.”