January 5, 2009 — I have been very worried about the mischief that the outgoing president could engage in during his final days in office. Now, I am mortified and angered by the destruction being done to democratic (small d!) politics much closer to home.

Posted at The Root.

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from two semi-drunken friends who were at a bar on the East Coast. They demanded I write about the idiot formerly known as Gov. Rod Blagojevich. I promised to do so, but deep down I probably wanted the whole shameful situation to go away. As an Illinois native, I had always held, not necessarily convincingly, that there were states like Louisiana and Rhode Island that were far more corrupt than Illinois.