"Twenty-three down and one to go."
That's how former Gov. Rod Blagojevich began his appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" Monday night, one of several national media appearances within a week of being convicted on just one of 24 counts, including trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat.
In the edited television interview, host Jon Stewart quizzed the felonious governor on two main points:
- Portions of the "bleeping golden" tape that Blagojevich said on a previous appearance would exonerate him.
- Blagojevich's ultimate failure to take the stand in his own defense when, for more than a year, he promised he would.
"You said to me, so adamantly, 'If you could only hear the tape, the next thing you would see I'm saying, 'But orphans just need food,'" Stewart said, throwing in a trademark joke. "And yet, the reality of what you said is very different."
Stewart told his guest that Blagojevich has to, in a court of law, take the stand and clear his name.
"You didn't have to come out ... standing in front of a camera, going, 'Let me at 'em!" You're the one that said you wanted to do it, not me. I don't give a s*#t," said Stewart. "I do not like seeing someone stand up and say, 'I've been wronged. Let me have a chance to clear my name,' and say nothing."
The full interview, in two parts, has been posted to The Daily Show website:
