Blago says he's not a crook, sort of

by Frank James

Taking one more step in his Monday morning media blitz, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared on ABC's "The View" program where Barbara Walters pressed him to admit that he made comments in the federal criminal complaint against him in which he seemed to be trying to auction the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama to the highest bidder.

"I cannot confirm or deny anything without having heard the tapes," Blagojevich from the New York studio as the Illinois Senate readied to begin his impeachment trial this afternoon in the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield in a effort that could find him ousted by this time next week.

Blagojevich was supposed to have been accompanied on the popular talk show by his wife Patricia. But Walters said the program was notified yesterday that she was canceling on the advice of her family.

Walters, who interviewed the governor remotely by closed-circuit television from Los Angeles, repeatedly pressed Blagojevich on why he wouldn't confirm the comments in the criminal complaint. At times she seemed exasperated with Blagojevich's defense that his recorded statements were being taken out of context.

"Did you say those things?" she asked. "Here's your chance," said a clearly frustrated Walters. "Otherwise, why are you wasting times on these programs?"

Blagojevich never directly answered Walters' question, instead saying the tapes, when then are finally released, will show "the whole story."

After a commercial break, Walters was gone and Blagojevich was on the couch being interviewed by the rest of The View's cast, including Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Sherri Shepherd. After he tried his convoluted defense on them, i.e., that the process being followed by the Illinois legislature was unfair and unconstitutional, ticking off mind-numbing details, Goldberg at one point said: "We've lost you." After he tried again, she said. "It's too much," with Behar chiming in "Too much."

The funniest moment came when Behar said she heard that Blagojevich did a good impersonation of Richard Nixon, the president who resigned in disgrace because of Watergate. "Say 'I'm not a crook,' " she asked the governor to peals of laughter. "C'mon," she insisted.

Blagojevich declined. But he did try another Nixonian line. "I'm not going to do that. But let me make this perfectly clear," he said. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing."

The governor started his day on Good Morning America where he revealed that he had considered television superstar Oprah Winfrey to replace Obama. "The View" panelist asked him about that, with Behar quipping "All you would've gotten was a car," an allusion to the kind of gift Winfrey has been known to give to people in need.