Illinois's Illustrious Governor

Rod Blagojevich is having a rough campaign start. He's running some tone-deaf TV commercials in which he says, "I know sometimes you wonder what the governor's up to." No, Rod, I can't say I've ever wondered what you're up to. I hope you're up to doing your job, but I don't think I've given it any thought beyond that. But don't worry, he tells us: "It might surprise you to learn the progress we've made." It might, but if your people were effective in getting their message out, it shouldn't.

But, yow, that's nothing compared to today's story. Blagojevich was interviewed a couple of weeks ago on The Daily Show about his executive order requiring pharmacies to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. The only problem was, the governor was unfamiliar with The Daily Show and its approach to news and apparently expected a normal sit-down. Even when Jason Jones, after a couple of false starts in pronouncing his name, started calling him "Governor Smith," he didn't quite catch on. At one point, he turned to an aide and asked, "Is he teasing me or is that legit?" Take a look for yourself.

My first reaction on hearing about this--after laughing--was to wonder why, if this was on The Daily Show two weeks ago, it's only becoming an AP story now, three days before the official kick-off to the governor's reelection campaign. The timing seemed suspicious until I noticed that the original St. Louis Post-Dispatch story was based on a meeting Blagojevich had yesterday with the paper's editorial writers. Presumably this interview was one of a series the editorial board is holding with all the candidates for governor. Once it appeared in the Post-Dispatch, it was fair game for the AP to pick up. It's all above board, which, quite frankly, takes a bit of getting used to. We live in a time when a straight-forward answer to a suspicious question is awfully unexpected.