Fascinating to watch the Illinois Governor use the Media as a tool to thwart any investigation of wrong doing.  He is appealing to the Court of Opinion.  The media, unfortunately, loves ratings over justice, and will continue to be used by Blagojevich until he is through with them.  His goals: get the people of the US to believe his story.  As long as he never admits anything, he believes he can keep this ball rolling.  But it is circumventing American Justice.  By blasting his testimony wide like this, he is of course tainting any future juries with his own twist of evidence.  Not that an impeachment trial needs a jury….

The man was caught on tape offering to sell a Senate seat.  How brazen is that?  And further, he just up and denies it.  And denying changes the facts?

This is a fascinating class in How To Use the Media.  As long as Blagojevich is newsworthy–he will be able to make the talk show rounds.  And today, dropping Oprah’s name as a possible Senate appointee, he jumps into Tabloid Reasoning.  Mentioning a high-profile positive person can gain you support.  Might as well say that he thought of  Ellen as a Senate pick….  it’s the thought that counts.  He’s ludicrous, but he’s playing the Media well.

Look at Roland Burris—there’s the example of how this works well.  Blagojevich throws off attention from the case of Bribery against him to making the case that Burris–an African-American and good candidate–should be appointed to the Senate–even if a dirty underhanded Governor appoints him.  The fight becomes Congress vs. Burris–who won’t back down.  Eventually, without a case against Burris (but with a great case against a corrupt Governor getting to appoint ANYONE), they are forced to seat Burris–pushed by the tide of Public Opinion.  Blagojevich’s appointment of a prominent African American also made the discussion about race.  Round two: the possibility of appointing Oprah to that Senate seat gets the discussion in his favor–he can throw conversation about his plans to do good in the world, rather than what he did bad.  He changes the conversation–masterful.

If he can say, in the same breath as he says Oprah, that the Illinois impeachment trial is bogus, the merits of one will transfer over to the subject matter of the other. Oprah–only invoked–could recast the conversation about the impeachment.  Brilliant.

And by dropping Oprah–he gets onto the View, Good Morning America, etc.  This is a Spin Tour to improve–no, to control–his image in American minds.  In the same way he made Burris completely innocent, cast as villain by Congress, he hopes to cast himself as innocent, running from “big government”–already he has tried to make himself seem like James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington–but, see, he’s already used this movie—when Burris went to Washington.  It worked for Burris–so Blagojevich is trying to make the Capra reference work for him too.  He plays on our distrust of the government–

–but HE is the reason that we mistrust government…..

Bribes, selling Senate Seats, being uncatchable, outside of Justice.  If Blagojevich doesn’t go down, his class in Media Manipulation will be Core Curriculum.  You’ll see everyone fight for their opinion, fight to be heard.  Why isn’t there a warrant for his arrest?  Accused people aren’t allowed to run everywhere and chat to the public.  But you will see this again and again if the Media lets this work.

I call on the Media to boycott Blagojevich–not allow him to use your show to make his case, or else we’ll see more and more of this circus, this circumventing of Justice.  I wish Burris had stepped down out of honor and courtesy to allow Justice to pursue its course.  But Blagojevich picked Burris carefully, knowing that Burris wanted that seat more than he wanted Justice.

And the Media wants ratings more than Justice.  And the People want Entertainment more than Justice.

But I bet Justice would be plenty Entertaining–let’s find out.