I watched the spectacle of Rod addressing the assembly live on an internet feed. Then I read the transcript of the address. While the transcript showed the speech to be weak, unfocused and inarticulate, the written word was only a fraction as bad as the live version. This lad should have had someone speak for him, or at least worked from an outline or notes.
Watching Rod bumble and stumble for the better part of an hour was reminiscent of watching a kid who has only skimmed Cliff's Notes give a book report. I had to remind myself that the guy is a crook in order to keep from feeling sorry for his ineptitude as he pled his case.
Citizen Rod's address to the lawmakers was nothing short of amazing. He first attempted to reach out and lock in on some imagined common bond between his miscreant actions and the ways of his jury, creating a situation akin to an accused bank robber trying to connect with the judge by suggesting they both had jobs to do.
Fish ain't bitin', pal.
Rod circled back into pointless redundancy several times, as if reintroducing his argument, then launched into story telling mode, apparently with the intention of drawing the whole scenario into clarity. Unfortunately, there was no punchline, and Ol' Roddy drifted back to an approach that was a verbal rendering of wink 'n nod, slap my hands but then hug me 'cause I had good intentions.
A recurring phrase was " twice elected by the people". I am proud to point out that the thievin' SOB did not ever receive a vote from anyone in my household.
In the end, Rod did what Rod does: he ripped us off just a little more. He ran out of blather and then he grabbed the state airplane to go back to Chicago before he was fired and would have to travel on his own dime and not on a private airplane. Living the high life to the very last, Rod was, as We the People picked up the tab, as always.
The magnitude of Rod's misdeeds and runaway ego is still to revealed. The price will be staggering. Just taking the creep's name off the Illinois Tollway signs--and why is his name up there in the first place?-- is going to run nearly $500,000, and that is the tip of the tip of the iceberg. The state of the state is pretty dismal, fiscally speaking, with debts somewhere in the $5 million to $6 million range. Guess who's going to be ponying up for that tab?
The price Rod will pay is likewise yet to be revealed. There is still a list of federal charges that must be answered. That trial will provide more courthouse excitement than we've had since OJ. Here is where the irony will be incredibly sweet, should events go as expected.
You see, former Illinois Chief Crook George Ryan was probably going to get sprung from the big house by his pals, Dick Durbin and Jim Thompson, until Roddy boy stepped in the big pile of crapola. When Pat Fitz pulled the plug on Roddy's yard sale of the Senate seat, the nation focused a glaring spotlight on Illinois, home of it's newly minted and hope inspiring president, and Illinois, in turn, focused on Springfield and the whole rat pack. You can't cut loose the old crook when the new crook has doubled down on the size of the crimes. The incumbent governor's flagrant abuse of the public trust derailed the Poor Old George Movement, as Illinois rallied to win the Most Corrupt Government Outside the Third World championship. Rod's rap killed Ryan's chance to get out.
So, if the trial goes quickly and as expected, Rod's future prison roommate could be his predecessor in office, and won't that be a most amazing twist on the tale of the grifters of Illinois.
Oh, yes, Governor Pat Quinn, please don't make a bigger mess of things before Governor Madigan arrives.
PS: Rod takes the BS Tour to the Letterman show tonite. Ugh!
