Rod Blagojevich: I'm "blacker" than Obama

[Sdiver]

This guy really is a tool.


http://www.wbbm780.com/Rod-Blagojevi...-Obama/6085156

Rod Blagojevich: I'm "blacker" than Obama

CHICAGO (CBS) - Deposed Gov. Rod Blagojevich is apologizing for comments in a new interview, in which he claims he is "blacker" than President Barack Obama.

Blagojevich told WLS-AM radio that his comments were a "stupid thing to say" and that he is sorry if he offended anyone.

In the interview with Esquire Magazine, Blagojevich says: "I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little Laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived. I saw it all growing up."

The White House has declined to comment on the interview. But people who spoke to CBS 2 were not impressed with the former governor's comments.

"Because one may have been through a tragic experience in their life does not mean that their ethnic cultural background makes them blacker or whiter than anyone," said the Rev. Richard Bush.

"When you look at him, you already know what color he is," said Pastor T.C. Raven. "I think that statement could have been made in another way."

"Maybe he's doing it for entertainment purposes, because he's trying to get his name in the news," added Isaac Lindsey.

In the article by Esquire writer Scott Raab, Blagojevich's comments are laden with profanity as he repeats his long-standing claim that he was falsely accused by prosecutors.

"(T)he people of Illinois had their governor stolen from them based on false accusations that were made knowingly," Blagojevich says in the article.

He compares himself to Galileo, and also to Mordecai of the Purim story in the Biblical Book of Esther, who is to be executed for not bowing down to a high official in the kingdom of Persia, but is later vindicated by the king. Blagojevich erroneously calls Mordecai "falsely accused."

He also repeats a claim that the real story behind the allegations that he tried to sell President Obama's Senate seat, claiming that he was really striking a deal to appoint Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the U.S. Senate in exchange for public works jobs, expansion of health care for Illinois citizens, and a promise against a tax hike.

He says he talked to Rahm Emanuel about engineering the deal to put Madigan in the Senate. This, Blagojevich says, was even though he "hates" Madigan and her father, state House Majority Leader Michael Madigan.

Later in the article, he uses an infamously vulgar word to refer to Madigan when paraphrasing the wiretaps used to build charges against him.

"If I can get this, how much do I love the people of Illinois to make that (expletive) senator?"' Blagojevich said.

Blagojevich's trial is set for June 3. But before that, he is set to appear on the reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice."