As the Rod Blagojevich prosecutors continue to roar through the evidence, jurors heard their former governor assess his position as a dead end job late Tuesday, with an expletive-laden rant recorded by the FBI, November 10, 2008.
"The whole world is passing me by, and I'm stuck in this (expletive) job as governor," Blagojevich lamented to advisors. He was especially unhappy about the prospect of giving president-elect Barack Obama his pick as senator, without receiving something in return.
"Give this (expletive) his senator? (Expletive) him! For nothing? (Expletive) him!"
Blagojevich complained that he and his wife had few friends left, and told his political consultants he needed to get out and make some money.
To put the Blagojevich financial woes in context, IRS agent Sheri Schindler took the stand, offering an analysis which suggested the former governor and his wife were big spenders, even though they were deeply in debt. Between 2002 and the time he was arrested, Schindler said, Blagojevich spent over $400,000 on clothes.
On another tape, Blagojevich complained to advisor Doug Scofield about a particularly tough interview with NBC 5 political editor Carol Marin.
"I hate her! I hate her," he declares.
Earlier in the day, the jury heard the tape which became a worldwide sensation at the time of the former governor's arrest. In a now familiar refrain which many of the jurors could probably recite from memory, Blagojevich declared, "I've got this thing! And it's (expletive) golden!"
