Pressing the Question

Joe Klein finds the whole thing rather breathless:

"I've been watching cable news this afternon -- I know, get a life! -- and you know, Barack Obama comes from the same state as Rod Blagoyevich. That is really suspicious! What did he know and when did he know it? This is the first major scandal of the Obama administration! He has to explain himself. . . . Will Obama be the first president to be impeached before he's inaugurated?"

Chicago Trib columnist John Kass wades into the mental-health aspect of the story:

"Is Blago some blithering maniac ready for a padded cell?

"Of course not. 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?"

Blago's approval rating in the Land of Lincoln is 7 percent, raising the burning question: Who are these people?

"Eighty-four percent of Illinois voters say indicted Governor Rod Blagojevich should resign, according to a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state Wednesday night. Just nine percent disagree."

On the insanity watch, the Chicago Sun-Times is quite helpful:

"Gov. Blagojevich's glossy locks -- perfectly sculpted in rain or snow -- may be an indication of a sickness beneath his scalp, said one local psychologist."

A hair-raising conclusion (forgive me).

Patrick Fitzgerald continues to feel the media love, such as the NYT profile that began: "In New York, he earned his prosecutorial spurs going after terrorists and mobsters. In Washington, he brought down the powerful top aide to the vice president." (Anyone call Judith Miller for comment?) But TruTV's Lisa Bloom is the first I've seen to challenge his fiery press-conference rhetoric:

"We are only at the indictment phase, and Governor Blagojevich is, at this time, a citizen of the United States, presumed innocent. And U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald has an obligation to seek justice, not to seek a conviction by any means necessary. . . . Would Lincoln be rolling over merely from an accusation?"