A Guide to Blago's Rambling Testimony

In one hour of anticipated testimony, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich jumped from talking about his boyhood basketball aspirations to hair care in the days of disco.

And that's not all. Here are the highlights from Blagojevich's time on the stand:

Days One and Two

On law school: "I like to say I applied [to Harvard] on a Monday and got rejected on a Tuesday, but not literally, because I'm under oath." ... "I can't say I came out of law school knowing much about law."

On politics: Blagojevich says the assassinations of MLK and Robert Kennedy shaped his political views. "That's why I became a Democrat."

On name translation: The former governor says his Serbian birth name, Milorod, means "Happy Worker."

On family matters: He told his daughter, Amy, this morning that he was going to testify and "set the record straight." She said, "Good luck, watch your language."

On his foul language heard on secretly recorded tapes :
"When I hear myself on those tapes, I sound like an F-ing Jerk and I apologize."

On a significant moment in his life: Elvis' death on Aug. 16, 1977

On another biggie moment in his life: Meeting Patti on March 6, 1988. In fact, Blagojevich could barely talk about it, he was so teary eyed. Patty started tearing up too. The couple hugged after Judge Zagel called for a lunch break.

On basketball: "When I was governor, I think I was the only governor in the United States who could spin a basketball on all five fingers of his right hand.  At least I had that going for me."

On himself:
"I'm Rod Blagojevich. I used to be your governor, and I'm here to tell the truth."

Day Three

On being late: "It came natural to me, one of my many flaws."

On his favorite Elvis song: "I'll tell you what it isn't, it isn't Jailhouse Rock!"

On Judge Zagel:  "Can I say great minds think alike?" (In reference to Zagel telling him to shorten his answers, but that he's sympathetic "because I have the same bad habit.")

His wife on courtroom etiquette: Patti seemed to be flustered when she couldn't figure out how to turn off an alarm on her cell phone, interupting his testimony.

On his office: He admitted to working from home a lot, to get away from men, women and interests who wanted money.

Day Four

On his library: "I like to work out of there because I like the smell of old books.

On Winston Churchill: He says that Churchill is "one of my biggest heroes in history." He also has a bust of him in his library.

On all his books: Because he is under oath, he admits that he has not read all the books, but a "pretty good number of them."

On his feeling's for Illinois: He explained that when he said, "I want to get the [bleep] out of [Illinois]," he was just in the process of trying to gather options.

Day Five

On his secret goals: Blagojevich apparently wanted to head to Afghanistan and track down Osama bin Laden himself.

On vegetables: Blago starts in on a speech on the importance of veggies, but is quickly stopped by Zagel, who told him, "No campaign speeches."

On being a liar: Reid Schar asked Blago, "You are a convicted liar, right?" Blago simply answered with, "Yes."

On what he does and does not say to people: "I wasn't announcing all the dumb, ugly, stupid ideas."

On his own attorneys: Blago's attorneys keep trying to object, but he igores and answers questions anyway.

Day Six

On wanting to explain: Blago asks to explain a phone call, but Zagel tells him he can't.

On his sports loyalties: "I'm a Cubs fan. Keeping hope alive."

On Chicago newspapers: Schar asked Blago about The Chicago Tribune editorial board calling for his impeachement. "You wanted them to lay off you right?" Schar asks. Blago responds: "Yeah, and all the other newspapers."

On campaign funds: "I was scrupulous to never use campaign funds for personal use, so [campaign funds] were of no peronal values to me."

Day Seven

On the questions he is supposed to answer: Blago tells Schar "I was talking so much, I forgot your question."

On Jesse Jackson Jr.: When asked "Fair to say you are not a big fan [of Jesse Jackson Jr.]" Blago responds, "Yes."

On the word "tangible": He comes to the realization that he uses the word an awful lot.

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