The promotional campaign for former governor Rod Blagojevich's sort-of long-awaited tell-all has begun - and inevitably, so has a new round of jokes, recriminations, insults and malarkey.
Has any ex-governor ever given so much to the punditry as our man Blago?
If turning manure into energy was truly possible, he'd be Alternative Fuel Source No. 1.
"It is a proclamation that the governor's side of the story must be heard," Blago's publisher said in a New York Times Book Review ad on Sunday. "And that the fight for American liberties and freedom must sometimes occur within its own borders."
Rod Blagojevich: Freedom Fighter.
Well, really, it's just called The Governor.
And from all accounts, The Governor really lays it on thick.
Politics
"Quoting from sources as diverse as Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics to Aeschylus, Shakespeare to The Purpose Driven Life, THE GOVERNOR provides not just an inside look at politics on a state and national level but a treatise on the proper place of government in the everyday lives of its people," says the Amazon product description.
"It is a mandate for healthcare reform, which the governor feels is the civil rights issue of our lifetime. It is a clarion cry, remarkably, against cynicism in modern governing and a return to a more thoughtful and informed sense of government that views its state budgets as 'moral documents'."
Yes, remarkably.
Or, as veteran statehouse political reporter Rich Miller puts it, what a freaking crock.
But will you read it? How can you not!
"Already pre-ordered the audio book so I can create ringtones for my readers," Miller says in a comment on Eric Zorn's blog post, "Blago's book-o is nigh: WIll you be reading?"
The Amazon price is $16.47, though the book may be made available for free to anyone with a reasonable chance of being in the jury pool.
And, yes, gift wrap is available.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
