The Capitol Fax Blog » The governor goes jogging while the House votes on impeachment

The governor goes jogging while the House votes on impeachment

Friday, Jan 9, 2009

* AP…

Blagojevich emerged from his home on the city’s North Side in a black jogging suit Friday. He berated members of the media for bothering his neighbors and refused to answer questions before running off down the street.

* NBC5…

Related…

A Blagojevich spokesman said the governor will not resign. A 2 p.m. news conference with the governor is scheduled for the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago.

Check back at 2.

- posted by Rich Miller

60 Comments

- wordslinger - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:24 am:
What is his jogging supposed to demonstrate. Lack of care? That he doesn’t go to work in the morning. He’s an odd duck.

- Anonymous45 - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:25 am:
There is nothing more left to say except “Go away and don’t let the door”…of course he won’t, which shows how seriously off his nut he is…

- Levois - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:25 am:
I hope he enjoys the days when he can jog as a governor. That is if he’s even concerned that his days as governor is numbered.

- Bill Baar - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:26 am:
Jogging keeps love in his heart. Check the YouTube for the Rod Blagojevich Story.

- Boone Logan Square - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:27 am:
Jogging is more aerobic than fiddling.

- HoBoSkillet - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:29 am:
He couldn’t even pull the old “I was up late re-reading the Constitution” or something like that?

- Bluefish - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:32 am:
When asked “how far are you running?” he should have replied “all the way to the Mexican border”.

- Paul - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:33 am:
Congratulations to the House members and the committee for their hard work and for passing these much needed articles of impeachment.

This what I call “basically an UP day” !!

- Say WHAT? - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:34 am:
I wonder how many times you would have to run around a jail cell to equal a mile?

- jwscott72 - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:36 am:
Why does Forrest Gump come to mind after watching that video? LOL

- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:36 am:
OK, people. Just envision the orange jumpsuit instead of black, and a chain link fence with some coiled barbed wire at the top instead of those buildings.

- Sweet Polly Purebred - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:36 am:
Nero fiddled, Rod jogs …. nuff said

- shermans ghost - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:37 am:
Probably not a comment that will be liked, but got to remember no matter how bad this buffoon has been, it’s the wise voters of this great state that elected him twice, even after hearing and witnessing the the first term, they sent him back.
Just a thought that is no way justifies or excuses, but a fact never-the-less.

- Cinho - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:41 am:
At least Nero had enough talent to fiddle.

- Cassandra - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:44 am:
Shermans is right.

Better jogging than making gubernatorial decisions
down at 100.

- wordslinger - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:45 am:
From the other thread, you can run, but you can’t hide.

- Skeeter - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:45 am:
The weather today in Chicago is pretty miserable. Blago’s a pretty calculating guy.
He may be doing the jogging to show any potential cell mates that he’s a tough guy and shouldn’t be messed with.
Typical Blago — working all the angles.

- SLICK NICK - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:47 am:
OH LOOK,
A Kitty!

- carbon deforestation - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:49 am:
Rich - you said this in February’s Chicago Magazine, further commentary and insight into why he won’t resign:

“A few people who work closely with Blagojevich’s office say they know that members of his staff have tried to get him to tone down the inflammatory rhetoric. But the governor shows no evidence of having a personality Plan B. “He can’t control himself,” says Miller. “I’ve heard people say that on his own staff.” A Democratic insider adds, “Rod sometimes just goes out of his way to have a fight, just because he can. It’s as though he relishes them.” “

- Ahem - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:52 am:
Mayor Daley said it best: “Cuckoo!”

- downhereforyears - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:53 am:
I’m actually starting to feel sorry for him and his young children. He has to be insane. He has no idea how rediculous he looks and how much people despise him for doing to the state all the harm he has done. He deserves to go to jail, I know, I know innocent until proven guilty, but it won’t take too long until a group of 12 of his peers votes to remove him from society and sends him to jail. It really is a sad day for Illinois. By the way Speaker Madigan says ” Check Mate”

- nixonian irony - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 11:56 am:
whats ironic is that Nixon went swimming the day the house committee voted to recommend impeachment…he recieved the vote while he was dripping wet in his pool house….

- Phineas J. Whoopee - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:01 pm:
Skeeter, that was cold. lol

I am convinced that it is the jogging that releases too many endorphins into this man’s brain that makes him do many of the stupid things he does, so it is only fitting that he jogged while being impeached.

* Please see the George Clooney character in the film Burn After Reading for an accurate portrayal of the Blago mind.

- Lurker - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:01 pm:
Was he just running in circles around the press or something?

- wordslinger - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:03 pm:
Nixonian, he spent that night guzzling bourbon and talking to the portraits on the walls, with his nuke football close at hand. And I don’t mean hairbrush,

Now, that’s a scary time!

- Macbeth - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:05 pm:
This guy and his jumpsuit. It’s amazing. He doesn’t get it. It doesn’t buy him “love” or “sunshine” with the voters when he’s jogging on what — presumably — is one of the state’s more important milestones.

He’s more than odd duck. There’s something significantly weird and out of touch with this newly impeached governor.

- VanillaMan - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:07 pm:
He is literally running in circles. We have been seeing corrupted officials and ne’er-do-wells running from television and journalists for years. To deliberately choose to wear a jogging suit and to be shown literally running in circles on a cold snowy day is a poor decision to make on a day you are impeached. Blagojevich isn’t aware of how these visuals play out making him look completely guilty.

I know he should have been a Ritalin kid. He is normally edgy and wired. The past few years has given his body too much to surpress. He can’t stop moving because he is afraid of being caught by events he cannot control. His body is expressing physically what his political mind cannot publically say.

Blagojevich isn’t crazy. A crazy person would act normal today. The Governor’s behavior isn’t normal. He is freaking out like a caged badger.

- Whizbang - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:07 pm:
JW Scott You alluded to it but it needs to be said. Sorry…

Run Forrest Run.

- ggd380 - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:12 pm:
Delusion in a track suit.

- 618er - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:13 pm:
Why does he run towards the vehicles and turn around and run the way he just came from? To talk to the reporters?

- Anon III - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:13 pm:
Jogging; he is demonstrating detachment from reality.

- chimack - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:13 pm:
If only Jerry Lewis was still young, he could play Blagovich in the movie version of this saga, “The Nutty Governor”

- Jechislo - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:17 pm:
You can run, but you can’t hide.

- Blago Sphere - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:22 pm:
I worked all night and then slept through the drama this morning; and I’m still wiping the remnants of the sand man from my eyes.

21-0 yesterday; Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

114-1-1 today

Expansion of medical coverage must not have anything to do with it because; assuming he was seated at the time, Patterson must have voted against the Governor’s GRT to fund it. If he is pro health care expansion, but anti tax increase, where does he think the money was going to come from to pay for it.

- Toni H. - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:26 pm:
The man is just stupid.

- lifer - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:28 pm:
“Somebody’s got to be unafraid to lead the freak parade!”

- Sweet Polly Purebred - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:31 pm:
BTW - do you think he will do the honourable thing like Mr. Fawell did and offer to take the brunt of the punishment in leiu of his female partner or do you think Rod will just push Patti further under the bus as he slips out the other side unscathed??? I bet the thought of Dick Mell e famiglia raising his girls while he and the missus will send him sideways and over the edge.

- Blago Sphere - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:31 pm:
Although I think it would be the wrong decision legally, I am still looking for the politicians in the black robes; Illinois Supremes, to kick the can down the road by denying Burris motion for a Writ of Mandamus to compel Jesse White to sign and Seal Burris’ Certificate of Appointment to the U.S. Senate.

I suspect they’ll send Burris to federal court to have him work to overturn the Senate Rule requiring the signature and seal on the Certificate of Appointment as an unconstitutional extra qualification for becoming a member of the U.S. Senate.

Reid and Durbin will be put in a box to either waive the requirement, or defend in court the 200+ year old rule that has never been waived before; according to Durbin.

This will bring the issues full circle to where it started; with Durbin, immediately after Burris appointment, when he called for a Special Election.

Do you think he will wait for Obama to tell him what to do again if this happens, or will he be able to make a decision for himself?

- Speaking at Will - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:34 pm:
For some reason the Lynard Skynard song, “gimme three steps” comes to mind. I would like to see a version of that tune re-written to reflect Rods Current situation.

- Sweet Polly Purebred - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:39 pm:
I will try again sans the JRT remark…. Maybe he’s jogging his way to Springpatch for the Elvis-a-thon that will be in town. As to the running back and forth, maybe he is calculating how far he can go from the house before a home monitoring device alarm would go off?

- observation - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:39 pm:
DownHere: Madigan says “check mate”. How true!

- Anonymous Coward - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:41 pm:
Nice pic… He looks absolutely deranged. (which we all knew anyway)

- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:42 pm:
word, did you know that the Dickster’s football was “disarmed,” so to speak, by members of his staff when he started asking to personally keep it close at hand?

The protocol was (and still is) that the football is in the custody/control of a an Army officer detailed to the WH and is not brought to the POTUS until the stuff may be going in the fan.
Even though RMN wasn’t likely capable of opening it up and starting WW III on his own, they wanted to remove any possibility of such and gave him a “football” without the necessary stuff inside.
The real football stayed with the assigned officers.

very scary, indeed.

If that were ever AA, God forbid, I would have probably taken out half of Asia by accident because I was trying to put some car magazines or some free stuff I lifted off Air Force One into the wrong briefcase.

- Anonymous Coward - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:42 pm:
Whoops, sorry..

http://www.sj-r.com/archive/x512381019/g100190e01becd898272169f2f8377d65bcff396881fcb7.jpg

- VanillaMan - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:42 pm:
If Reid, Durbin and Obama want to extract themselves from Burris and Blagojevich, they will need to change the senate rules so that they can seat Burris. Demanding that the Illinois SOS must sign a paper because their rules require it, just doesn’t work. It isn’t a law. It is one of their rules. If they don’t want to follow that rule, then they can change that rule.

Hanging Jesse White over a Senate rule is an act of cowardice by Reid and Durbin. Shame on them!

- Anonymous - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:44 pm:
I for one find today’s events sad, though necessary for Illinois. In 1992, Rod and I ran as a team in his first and my last campaign, he for state rep and me for connected senate seat, then held by Bruce Farley and later thankfully won by Lisa Madigan. The Rod Blagojevich I knew then, and also when he first ran for governor, was nothing like the man I’ve witnessed of late. I hope some good comes of this, not just for Illinois, but also for Rod and his family.

- Stu Kenney - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:46 pm:
I for one find today’s events sad, though necessary for Illinois. In 1992, Rod and I ran as a team in his first and my last campaign, he for state rep and me for connected senate seat, then held by Bruce Farley and later thankfully won by Lisa Madigan. The Rod Blagojevich I knew then, and also when he first ran for governor, was nothing like the man I’ve witnessed of late. I hope some good comes of this, not just for Illinois, but also for Rod and his family.

- Blago Sphere - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:48 pm:
This Just In;

Order entered for Mandamus

http://www.state.il.us/court/SupremeCourt/Announce/2009/010909_order.pdf
They must have gotten the call from Rahm

- Ghost - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:53 pm:
Nero fiddles, Blago Runs.

The end result is the same, Illinois is burning down.

- Justice - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:53 pm:
If the governor would show up for work in Springfield and stay in the Mansion, no one would be bothering his neighbors. He does make the assumption that this actually bothers his neighbors. Perhaps he should start focusing on running in place, much like he will be doing in his not soon enough to be new home.

- happy citizen - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:54 pm:
our government works! when there is wrongdoing we can remove someone without a revolution and bloodshead. our constitution and laws work.

- Ahem - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:57 pm:
With a little more straining and struggling the hairball is about to pass. Patience!

- Anonymous - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 12:59 pm:
I can’t imagine a person holding such a high position acting in such a reckless, chaotic, harmful manner without the assistance of drugs. If so, that will be one line of defense for him I’m sure.

- Little Egypt - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 1:05 pm:
Sweet Polly, I predict there will not be a MRS. to push under the bus, unless she stays around a while longer. Surely no woman envisions this kind of future when she marries.

- wordslinger - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 1:06 pm:
AA, I didn’t know that, cool.

I know in the final weeks, James Schleisinger, then Sec. of DOD, ordered the Joint Chiefs not to carry out any orders by Nixon unless they had his counter-signature. Whether that was prudence, insubordination or treason is in the eye of the beholder.

- ivoted4judy - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 1:10 pm:
In some of the Chicago and Cook County political corruption cases some one of the charges were that the indictees were doing “little or no work”. I think it might have been in the Bruce Farley case, and a few others. I would think that today’s jogging exhibit by elvis would give Fitz another charge. We all know of Rod’s no show work days, cmon Fitz add those to the next indictment. i would LOVE to hear Rod’s explanation of his work habits

- Mommy - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 1:25 pm:
I love a good comedy and this is a good comedy.

- Lurker - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 1:31 pm:
There’s just no dignity. He has no dignity. It’s getting REALLY embarrassing now.

- Inish Mein - Friday, Jan 9, 09 @ 1:37 pm:
Yes, the voters elected him twice- so what exactly does that say about the caliber of opposition?
Blago going out to jog and saying the press is harrassing him is much like Britney Spears going to Walgreen’s at midnight for a candy bar saying she has no privacy…….. don’t want to deal with the press…. use a treadmill-

- emyjo - Saturday, Jan 10, 09 @ 8:52 am:
Thanks for trying Lisa. I think it is pretty obvious this guy is truly nuts!! What is it about that black jogging suit that just seems weird??

Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.